You know who I felt sorry for yesterday?

[sq764]

Smarty? no
Service? no
Philly fans? no (well, yes a little, considering I am one)

How about Edgar Prado? The poor guy wins the Belmont Stakes with a great ride and not only is he villianized, but he is apologizing like he just commited a crime.

Talk about an empty feeling victory..

[penguinfan]

I have more respect for him now than ever. I honestly think he did not want to win the race and wanted Smart Jones to win, but despite his personal feelings he did his job, he did the right thing, a Triple Crown is meaningless if someone lets you win.

[rokitman]

On the inside, Edgar's as sad as I am for all the nitwits that bought SJ tickets to sell on Ebay. It's tearing me up, I tell ya :D

[sq764]

The same 'nitwits' that got $200 for a winning $2 Preakness ticket and program.

Yeah, those freaking morons.. They only netted about $190 for the trouble..

[rokitman]

Congratulations on your Preakness program and ticket purchase.

Whatever someone may have sold useless Preakness memorabilia for does not have thing to do with my happiness over the failed exploitation. Do you handicap races the same way too?

[sq764]

I didn't sell anything on ebay..

But..

Do I handicap the same way? Working to a profit? Absolutely.

Don't you?

The nitwits aren't the sellers, the nitwits are the buyers.. The sellers are opportunists, why would you have issue with them?

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally posted by sq764
Smarty? no
Service? no
Philly fans? no (well, yes a little, considering I am one)

How about Edgar Prado? The poor guy wins the Belmont Stakes with a great ride and not only is he villianized, but he is apologizing like he just commited a crime.

Talk about an empty feeling victory..


YES! I agree completely. He and the whole Birdstone crew should have been dancing in the winners' circle, as far as I'm concerned. It's a HORSE RACE for goodness sakes!!!

Besides, that's probably the last Grade 1 race Birdstone is going to win this year.

[alysheba88]

Very impressed by the class of the Birdstone connections. Nick usually is very exhuberant when he wins, but he was very restrained. Quite a contrast between last year with Frankel who acted as if he won the TC, Powerball and a lifetime supply of super models.

[timtam]

No wonder someone threw a beer bottle at Frankel last year

[Valuist]

Whoever threw a beer bottle at Frankel last year is a classless moron who should be in jail. I hope they were sent there.

[brdman12]

sq764 is right. Prado showed grteat class in winning on Birdstone, as did the trainer. In fact, I was thinking as I watched the interviews how much class was displayed by ALL the paries involved and how refreshing it was to see. Horseracing did itself proud on Saturday.

[mudcat]

prado didn't even raise his hand after winning, it looked like he raised it shortly after, then brought it down and hit his leg, like he was saying damn why did i do that. hahaha $136.00 exacta .
everyone should have bet against him. glad they didn't.

[Valuist]

Nobody should be ashamed of winning. Prado and Zito did not need to apologize. They were gracious in winning but if you don't want to win, why bother competing?

[mudcat]

thats right . if they were going to let him win why run the race, just give him the 5 million.
but if he had won and i had lost my bet, i wouldn't get upset about losing, because i bet him to lose and got beat myself.

[JustRalph]

Originally posted by Valuist
Whoever threw a beer bottle at Frankel last year is a classless moron who should be in jail. I hope they were sent there.

I have a feeling that wasn't the first beer bottle Bobby Frankel has ever ducked................

[Valuist]

It wasn't from me. Last year alone I did quite well with those "first time in the barn" Frankel runners, as well as the Allw runners moving into graded stakes.

[sq764]

I wouldnt throw a bottle at Frankel for spoiling a triple crown bid

I would throw one at him for being such a jerkoff.

[Valuist]

I don't know why Frankel is the one getting ripped here. If anyone should be getting ripped, its Bailey and Solis for their questionable rides.

[sq764]

So you really think in The Belmont Stakes that Bailey and Solis are going to forego their chance of winning this race, only to do what they can to try to toast Smarty Jones?

Are you kidding me?

[chickenhead]

that sure looks like what they did. To my mind, not to keep SJ from winning, but to keep SE from winning. Totally unsubstantiated and uninformed, but that is my opinion.

[Valuist]

Based on how they rode their horses, they had no chance to win.

I think Chickenhead is right. There may have been some jealousy of Elliott and the fact that he had a great chance at the Triple Crown; something they hadn't accomplished.

[Buckeye]

They gangbanged him and should be ashamed What they did is deplorable but should have been expected.
Either Smarty was not prepared, or could not be prepared for it. Bird-Brain won the race because Smarty fell into the trap-- and I for one am disappointed. It is doubtful that each and every Triple Crown winner from the past would have been able to avoid Smarty's fate, but some of them surely could have. In the final analysis, "Close, but no cigar."

[Buckeye]

The great Cigar, with Jerry Bailey, lost in the 1996 Pacific Classic, ending Cigar's 16 race winning streak. Bailey fell into the trap that day, set by Siphon, and the winner was Dare And Go with Alex Solis aboard. I don't think pedigree had anything to do with it.

[sq764]

I think you few people are being ridiculous about this..

Furthermore, do you think Solis and Bailey were in the grassy knoll in Dallas??

[Buckeye]

Not suggesting a conspiracy at all.

Bailey later did admit he made a mistake with Cigar in that race. He would rather have let Siphon go out there if he had it all to do again. If you ask me, the similarity in the running styles of Cigar and Smarty Jones is remarkable. My main point here is Cigar was beaten by the pace he attended.

[TRM]

I have to agree with penguinfan. Would everyone have been happier if Prado just sat on Birdstone and let Smarty waltz home? That would have been a total joke, kinda like Brett Farve giving the sack record to that defensive lineman last year. He just ran outside and LET the guy sack him.........whatever.......

Did Bailey and Solis conspire against Stew? Maybe, but doesn't stuff like that go on all the time? Jockey politics at it's best. If that was the case, that would be some really $hitty dirty pool but I guess we will never know.

I really think SJ just got caught in a middle move where everyone pushed on the gas and that was that. If you break the 1/2's it was run in 48.3 - 46.8 - 52.0. Turning for home I kept waiting for him to make this huge move and pull away by 10 or so, but it just never happened. After fractions like that, I can see why.

Thanks Smarty for a great run......Salute......C-ya at the BC at LSP hopefully.

[Valuist]

I'm not saying there was a conspiracy. All I'm saying is that Bailey and Solis gave very stupid rides. If they wanted their horses to have any shot at hitting the board, they would've rode differently.

[Buckeye]

I will have more to say later about how the 1996 Pacific Classic relates to spoiling the Party.

[Latin Qtr]

Any talk about a conspiracy of Bailey and/or Solis is absurd.
It's a RACE or does that fact NOT matter. The rules of racing
say to a jockey, RIDE TO WIN. I bet Eddington because I was
sure, after his speed workouts, that he would be closer to SJ..
not just wait for SJ to be ahead by 10 then move. SJ had NO RIGHT to win .... where does that notion come from? If SJ moved
like he did in the Preakness he would have won. But he did not.
RHT & Eddington weren't rabbits for Birdstone. The Belmont
unfolded just like races do, day after day in all tracks at all distances.

[Buckeye]

Oh really?
So you think that Dare And Go was better than Cigar and Birdstone is better than Smarty? I've already backed off the conspiracy thing, which by the way, I never said to begin with. You believe that Bailey and Solis were "riding to win," now who's talking wacky? They were riding to prevent Smarty Jones from winning. Big difference. Legal? yes. Sportsmanlike? I'll let you decide that.

[PaceAdvantage]

One could also say that if you see Smarty as your main competition (and ALL the riders in the Belmont saw Smarty as their main competition), then by DEFAULT, if you make the race difficult for Smarty to win, don't you ENHANCE your own chances?

yes.

Bailey rode the way he said he was going to ride on WFAN on Friday. He has a horse who needs to stay FOCUSED, and who has EARLY SPEED. I still fail to see how Bailey could have ridden Eddington much differently....

[Buckeye]

Depends on what you do with your horse as to whether or not his chance of winning is enhanced vis a vis Smarty Jones. It does not necessarily follow if what you do diminishes your own chances as well.

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally posted by Buckeye
Depends on what you do with your horse as to whether or not his chance of winning is enhanced vis a vis Smarty Jones. It does not necessarily follow if what you do diminishes your own chances as well.

Very true. So then we can agree everything isn't so cut and dry, black and white....

Decisions must be made on the battlefield, and many jockeys made the wrong decision. But, that's what makes a horse race.

Elliot could have done a number of things in response to the pace setup that was materializing around him. He had options.