Sit or Pull

[badcompany]

This seems to be the hardest decision for a driver.

I caught the 9th at Yonkers, last night. A longshot, #6, was parked the mile. Sears was sitting third, with the fav. He had the opportunity to pull and go three wide around the longshot or sit third and wait for the longshot to die.

Sears went with the latter option. Another longshot and the second choice went around the longshot, and never looked back. When Sears finally got loose it was way too late.

Agree with Sears decision? Obviously, it didn't work out in this race, but in the long run?

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l142/thinlizzy21/489164973488c8910336aabcc7fe0b79_zpse53545a5.jpg

[pandy]

Sears is going to sit in with that horse more often than say, Bartlett, since Sears is more of a patient, finesse driver. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's hard to fault his overall performance at Yonkers.

[mrroyboy]

Very true Pandy. See my other post.

[banacek]

Not sure when his chance to pull was in the race, but if he had a concept of the pace of the race (which he should have), he should have pulled out. (1st half 55 4/5 2nd half 59 3/5). The cavalry was going to be charging from behind and he should have been leading it.

[cecil127]

id guess all those clowns (on "another network") with >25K worthless posts prefer both ...and do...all day long :lol:

[pandy]

Personally, I like when the drivers on the horses I bet are aggressive. Ron Pierce, for instance, would have definitely pulled there and at least your horse has a chance.

[badcompany]

Personally, I like when the drivers on the horses I bet are aggressive. Ron Pierce, for instance, would have definitely pulled there and at least your horse has a chance.

Agree. If you pull and get caught from behind, at least you went down swinging.

To be fair to Sears, when he finally did get out, the horse didn't seem to have a ton. That might have influenced his decision.

[pandy]

when I interviewed Sears last year, he told me that he isn't going to change his style. He said something like, "I'm just not a driver that is going to kill his horse..."

I do like watching a talented finesse driver like him. He's won a lot of races from off the pace with horses that other guys could never have gotten home.

[badcompany]

I like watching Sears, too.

While he's not an "exciting" driver, his timing and handling are amazing. Sometimes he makes it look so easy that it appears he's not trying that hard.