I’m looking forward to the race today, and excited to see how Arrogate does. I hope he recovers his form. I’m a little bummed out because I wanted to go to Del Mar today but we had tickets to a show so I couldn’t go. THEN at the last minute we got an email that the show was cancelled. Bummer. Well, I’ll watch it on TV.
Arrogate? Accelerate? Collected? Who are you rooting for?
Equibase Entries:
http://www.equibase.com/static/entry/RaceCardIndexDMR081917USA-EQB.html
Not sure what to make of it. Should we be encouraged by Arrogate picking it up in the end, or disappointed he didn’t run to his previous form. Baffert didn’t look too excited post race, wonder if he regrets running Collected?
Accelerate didn’t embarrass himself, but I think 10 furlongs is a bit too long for him against this kind of company. (Though I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win a 10 furlong grade 1 that comes up light)
Super horse having a couple of bad races? Or a not-so-super horse just not able to live up to his hype? The commentator said he got started late today, but what I saw was him getting started early, then dropping back and not being able to come back.
Ummm… Dubai World Cup is 2000 meters which is about 10f, Pegasus World Cup is 9f, Pacific Classic is 10f, Breeders’ Cup is 10f, Travers Stakes is 10f so I’m not thinking distance or company is an issue.
I don’t think Baffert regrets running Collected. he wanted to win the race and he did, just maybe not the horse he was hoping to win it with.
In a snippet of the TVG post-race interview with Baffert he made a comment that he thought the San Diego Hcp messed with Arrogate’s mind a bit.
I thought Arrogate ran a better race than the San Diego but still not the horse we’ve seen in the past. He maybe doesn’t like the surface and maybe Bob is right and his brain is in a bit of a bad place at the moment.
Baffert also sounded a bit noncommittal to me if we’d see both Connected and Arrogate in the BC Classic :eek:
Okay yes if Accelerate wins any one of these I’ll be proven wrong 
Ummm… he’s won all of them but the San Diego Hcp and the Pacific Classic 
Dubai WC check
Pegasus WC check
BC Classic check
Travers check
I don’t believe he’s won a race at Del Mar and I do personally believe that track surface is part of his problem.
Check again - here’s his complete race record: https://equibase.com/profiles/Result…stry=T#results
As you can see his longest win was the G2 Los Al Derby at 9 furlongs.
I’ll wait while you remove your foot from your mouth.
It will be interesting to see how Arrogate trains from here on out. He just he seems to be very lackluster & uncomfortable in his works lately.
It’s almost looks like he’s not using himself as effective & effortlessly as he was last year & the beginning of this year.
Makes me wonder if he’s gone through a recent growth spurt.
What the heck are you talking about??? He most certainly has won the above mentioned races, so you may want to check the additude at the door.
I think the mix up is because you two are talking about two different horses. Arrogate & Accelerate.
I’m obviously missing something. I have always been referring in this topic about Arrogate, not Accelerate.
I suspect two horses with very close names that I didn’t catch. Perhaps this distance is a bit much for Accelerate but not Arrogate
My appologies.
I think he just doesn’t like the Delmar surface. He never looked comfortable to me. Given his other races, I don’t think we can say he just needs a light field or the distance was too long.
Learned my lesson
He is Arrogate or Accelerate? Arrogate has raced at 10f and won numerous times so not the distance.
I think track surface (didn’t catch any interview with Mike Smith to know what he felt during warmup and the race).
Sounds like Baffert is going to use the ‘chill out’ program on Arrogate with, currently, no planned races until the BC Classic. Sounds like Connected may well race again between now and the Classic.
All I gotta say is Baffert did not look happy after the race despite Connected winning.
:ambivalence:
My first theory is that Arrogate doesn’t like the Del Mar surface, but here’s another theory: Arrogate is intimidated by Accelerate and has a hard time passing him. He definitely lugged a bit right at the time he was passing Accelerate. Then Accelerate veered to the inside, away from Arrogate, and at that point it looked like Arrogate began to run more comfortably in the last part of the stretch.
So do any of you experts ever see something like that happen, that is, that a horse has a problem racing against a particular horse?
Let’s see. Accelerate will be aimed for the BC Dirt Mile as the longer distance doesn’t appear to appeal to him
Baffert still sounds like both Arrogate and Collected are being aimed for the BC Classic but he’s not quite sure how each will get there (besides on a van ). Both came out of the Pacific Classic fine.
It took me most of 2016 to get his name right - I kept calling him Aggregate.
Mike really got after him out of the gate and Arrogate needed that. He has a history of bad starts ( Dubai WC, San Diego). He is a sloth out of the gate and if his head isn’t in the game; he really has no chance with a bad start. Arrogate did hit the right side of the gate pretty hard coming out and with that I was surprised to see him make the progress he did. Arrogate looked game around the entire first turn but he really started to suck back mid way down the back stretch. He got going at the head of the stretch but still not the gears we have seen in the past. about 10 strides of the finish is when he finally kicked into the gears we have seen in him before; that change in stride to the big, effortless, reaching stride.
Collected ran his race and he has been training so well. Really nice horse; interested to see where they take him in the fall
As for Arrogate; not sure if he will win the BC Classic. Del Mar is requiring all horses to leave and go back to Santa Anita and not return until very late in October. This is not going to work well for a horse who already doesn’t like the track; whether it be the surface or the tight turns. I am favoring Gun Runner going into the fall races but Gun Runner hasn’t seen the distance of the classic. Time will tell but I think Arrogate should’ve been turned out after the Dubai WC. He looks like he needs a refresher.
Arrogate has been running a year and a half and has a total of 10 starts, 4 in 2017, per equibase. It’s just as likely that he needs MORE races to keep his head in the game. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him retired before the BC Classic because of…you insert physical reason that wouldn’t affect his stud career.
I know Baffert isn’t happen that Del Mar is closing their training track at the end of this meet and reopening for the fall meet at the BC series.
Based on looking at Baffert’s face and reaction, I’m thinking even if Arrogate had another 1/16th on Collected and actually got his (Arrogate’s) head in front, still not sure Bob would have been happy with the performance. Mike really had to get after him on the far turn and just not the huge ground eating strides we’ve seen in past races.
Classic this year will be interesting for sure
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