Pat Val on Mayakovsky

[thirtyMTP]

As most of you probably know, Pat Valenzuela has been named to ride Mayakovsky in the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday. This is (another) big break for one of the world's most talented riders.

It doesn't take long watching Pat Val to realize he still has most of the skills that made him a top rider near the turn of the 90s. While I am not sure how I feel about the amount of chances he has gotten when he has undoubtedly endangered his fellow riders in the past, I am hppy to see that trainers are aware of his abilities. Pat Val can only help Mayakovsky's chances of handling things on Saturday.

His ride on Western Pride in the Big Cap was great, even though they finished second!

Thoughts anyone?

-thirtyMTP

[cj]

Be interesting to see how he does against Came Home this weekend. Both are probably at the extreme limits of there distance abilities and both like to run up front, so a superb ride will be needed for either of them to win. Time will tell (The teletimer that is!)

CJ

[Lefty]

Pat V. is a World Class Jockey who "blew' a World Class career. I hope he makes the most of his newest chance and overcomes his weakness.

[Observer]

I hope for the same thing. He has had his chances, and the track record for athletes with these types of problems isn't all that good, but maybe he's finally past his demons.

As for Came Home and Mayakovsky, they may both have distance limitations in their pedigrees, but I really like what I've seen from Came Home. We see horses outrun their pedigrees, and maybe he can. On the other hand, I thought Mayakovsky was pushing the envelope in the Gotham.

Isn't it interesting that Edgar Prado takes off Mayakovsky, a Kentucky Derby prospect, to ride Bowman's Band in the Oaklawn Handicap? I don't know what kind of commitment Prado had for Bowman's Band, but if he truly felt Mayakovsky was a special horse that could take him to the Derby winner's circle, wouldn't there be some chance he could have broken that commitment? I know Prado has Harlan's Holiday, who, at this point, seems to have a much more legitimate shot at winning the Derby, but by taking off now .. doesn't that kind of say something not so good about Mayakovsky?

[GameTheory]

Pat V. once accidentally spit on me shortly after mounting a horse at Santa Anita.

I hope he has finally cleaned up his act!

[GR1@HTR]

54 races since early Jan.
won 1.85%
1.09 ROI (1.00 break even)

[thirtyMTP]

Regarding Prado, he has had a few questionable situations like this since teaming up with Bob Frieze. But I think it is more that he has a committment to Harlan's Holiday, and remember they were originally supposed to run on the same day.