Chartmaker a PA member? Blames Jockey for loss

[NorCalGreg]

In Sunday's 2nd race....was a SEEMINGLY "can't lose" horse-SPOTTY ZEALOUS.

These kinds of "Locks" somehow manage to lose every day, but rarely, if ever does the chartmaker come out and basically put it all on the jockey's shoulders.

EMD may frame this chart. :lol:

Here's the comment in case it's hard to read:

"SPOTTY ZEALOUS vied inside a pair early on on a clear path, had the rider sneak a peek back and wrangle his charge off the dispute five furlongs from home to angle three wide with half a mile to run, losing about four to five lengths to the top in the process, came under light coaxing midway on the turn, swung four wide into upper stretch, kept on to chase the winner home safe for the place honors"

*NOTE--Spotty Zealous finished 2nd by 4 lengths

[Dahoss9698]

I totally agree with him/her. Considering how tilted that track was towards speed Saturday and with the 1st race being won wire to wire that was an odd ride/race.

Spotty Zealous was a terrible 1/5 favorite but got no favors with that ride.

[pandy]

I took a shot against the favorite in that race, thought it was a huge underlay.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

In Sunday's 2nd race....was a SEEMINGLY "can't lose" horse-SPOTTY ZEALOUS.

These kinds of "Locks" somehow manage to lose every day, but rarely, if ever does the chartmaker come out and basically put it all on the jockey's shoulders.

EMD may frame this chart. :lol:

Here's the comment in case it's hard to read:

"SPOTTY ZEALOUS vied inside a pair early on on a clear path, had the rider sneak a peek back and wrangle his charge off the dispute five furlongs from home to angle three wide with half a mile to run, losing about four to five lengths to the top in the process, came under light coaxing midway on the turn, swung four wide into upper stretch, kept on to chase the winner home safe for the place honors"

*NOTE--Spotty Zealous finished 2nd by 4 lengths

Spotty Zealous was somewhat of an odd entrant to start with. He had broken his maiden in a $40K statebred, going wire to wire over the inner and then went into a OC$75K statebred, showing some pressing ability but fading to last. So the question was, where did the horse belong? Landing in a NW2L for $16K seemed like a negative drop, especially considering it shouldn't have been that hard to find a statebred NW2L for $25K. If he wasn't claimed, that was another clue the horse was taking a negative drop.

So you have a horse that wins wire to wire two races back, breaks sharply from the inside, and then makes that strange move to drop back in fractions (22.88, 46.53) that didn't appear to be killing (the first race, a $25K NW3L, went 22.73, 45.69 and was won wire to wire) considering one of the leaders was the winner. That was a pretty weak looking field on paper.

The jockey certainly owes the stewards an explanation. He was overbet considering his maiden victory may have been as much related to the inner dirt and he was making a negative drop, but he still looked like he should have been the favorite. I'm not a big one to blame the jockey, but in this case, the ride was very strange indeed. He did not give the horse its best chance to win.

[EasyGoer89]

Looked like lone speed on paper. also, the outside horse, who has been sharp and 'full of run' for a cheapie was ridden like it was a 9 mile race, he was far back and never really 'let run' either. The winner was ridden like the jocks life depended on it and the top 2 faves, not so much.

[wisconsin]

The cynic in me says someone heavily played the ALL-:2: exacta wheel, and maybe the rider of the :6: played the same ticket.

On paper, come on, it was all :2:-:6: :6:-:2:

A 1 for 25 beats them both?

[PaceAdvantage]

We discussed this race in the NYRA Best place to play everyday thread...Dahoss brought up some good points why this heavy chalk was a terrible heavy chalk...

[NorCalGreg]

I looked at the winner's past performance...at first glance, like everyone else--I thought "No way in hell"

But (I realize no one has 10 minutes to spend looking at one apparently-crappy horse) the longer I looked ---the more I believe the trainer (Friedman) had BEAR CLAUSE tuned up like a fine Steinway Piano.

Look at the flurry of works/races..the general improvement in finishes from race10 his last race.

A big tip-off....look at that inexplicable odds drop 2-back. And if anyone read my article or knows Sigeloff's ODDS POPS--this is classic: a clear "cycle-5 POP" with the last race showing the familiar fade.

I didn't show the entire pp's..but his works aren't fast--but they are there. I believe trainer Friedman is very sharp and knows exactly what he's doing.
The final killer---he doesn't switch from the jockey with the worst record on the grounds--as is normal when going for the win--he stayed with 2 for 65 rider Reyes.

This horse has no wins--and beaten half the field maybe twice in 10 races at this same level...I would have demanded a higher payoff--NCG

[rsetup]

Seems as if similar tactics, generally, were applied by Maragh on Adulate in the 3rd and Arroyo on Highway Star in the 5th. The former ran 3rd but the latter won.