My friend told me one of the folks on the telecast said : Super Saver lost weight

[BeatTheChalk]

during the Past Two Weeks " Did anyone hear that or read about it ? How
did he look on the track paddock etc. I missed it all. Thanks for any comment. I could not find much about it - in my search around the Net.
Thanks

[duncan04]

Yeah its true. Donna Brothers mentioned it right before the race. She mentioned it also in one of the online chats earlier in the week leading up to the race.

[offtrack]

Donna, as the horses were loading into the gate, mentioned that SS looked drawn, and she explained that she meant the horse had lost weight.
Funny since all week I had read from several commentaters that the horse had blossemed, added weight, and looked super.

[JustRalph]

great time to come out with that tidbit huh? a minute or so before they rang the bell.......... :bang:

[Bullet Plane]

Donna also mentioned that the 12 hole was bad for Dublin. The track at Pimlico is narrow and there is not much space to the outer rail. The horse has a tendency to bear out of the gate. And then that is exactly what happened.

[horses4courses]

That's right.....

I recall hearing Wayne Lukas being interviewed less than a week ago.
He was full of praise for Super Saver, commenting on his appearance
on the track in the days after the Derby.

Looks can be deceiving......... ;)

[Robert Goren]

great time to come out with that tidbit huh? a minute or so before they rang the bell.......... :bang:It was about 10 seconds before gates open. I knew then that my tickets weren't worth the paper they were printed on. Too late to do anything.:bang:

[Stillriledup]

Geez, how much more do i make if i know this piece of info? More than i made for sure.

One of my 'rules of thumb' is to automatically throw out the Derby winner at Pimlico or the Derby/Preakness winner at Belmont for the simple reason that a horse going for the TC is 'obligated' to run no matter how unsound or sick he is leading up to the race. A certain percentage of the time, you're betting on a horse who will be running regardless of his condition. How many derby winners have actually skipped the Preakness because the trainer said "he didnt come out of the race all that well, we're going to do right by the horse"

[duncan04]

That's right.....

I recall hearing Wayne Lukas being interviewed less than a week ago.
He was full of praise for Super Saver, commenting on his appearance
on the track in the days after the Derby.

Looks can be deceiving......... ;)


Especially since Wayne Lukas doesn't train Super Saver ;)

[Stillriledup]

Especially since Wayne Lukas doesn't train Super Saver ;)
Lukas was very excited that his 'thanks for the jockey' GoGo took his charge Dublin into the grandstand for a hot dog as the race started. I guess he was thanking Baffert for firing Gomez because he knew Gomez wouldn't let Dublin go hungry!

[JPinMaryland]

Also Mike Battaglia some time earlier in the telecast said SS looks great. He also mentioned that he thought First Dude would run a big race.

[SmartyLane]

I watched HRTV all week and all I heard was Super Saver was looking good. Never heard anything about him losing weight. I am still learning how a horse looks visually. I will admit I have a hard time seeing a horse that has "lost weight" compared to two weeks ago.

They did say multiple times that First Dude looked wonderful.

[horses4courses]

Especially since Wayne Lukas doesn't train Super Saver ;)

Wow....thanks for setting me straight on that.

[Spalding No!]

One of my 'rules of thumb' is to automatically throw out the Derby winner at Pimlico or the Derby/Preakness winner at Belmont

And if that doesn't work try, try again. How about tossing the Derby/Preakness/Belmont winner from the Travers?

For a second after they crossed the wire in the '78 Travers, I thought I was going to have to toss Affirmed from the Jockey Club Gold Cup...

[DeanT]

I watched HRTV all week and all I heard was Super Saver was looking good. Never heard anything about him losing weight. I am still learning how a horse looks visually. I will admit I have a hard time seeing a horse that has "lost weight" compared to two weeks ago.

They did say multiple times that First Dude looked wonderful.

This is a good investment if you are interested:

http://watchingracehorses.com.au/about/ (http://watchingracehorses.com.au/)

It is better than some of the other books out there which are referenced (imo)

PS: When I saw SS in the PP, I was not like HRTV. I thought he looked drawn. Whether I was right in that or not I do not know, but that is the way I felt when I first saw him.

[Donnie]

On the walk-over from the barns, did you catch the interview with Romans? Just before cutting back to the next in line, he was asked about First Dude.....

The first sentence was delivered with a chuckle = "Oh, he IS live! He's been training as well as any horse in my barn!!"

I quickly opened up HTR. He has 54 horses in his barn. Romans has hit 24% of his Stakes entries over the past 365 days.

I kept telling myself that Pletcher seemed to be giving the politically correct answers in every interview they had with him. Romans was VERY genuine.

[nearco]

So what think ye?
Should horses be weighed and present and past weight be printed on the race card?

[Spalding No!]

So what think ye?
Should horses be weighed and present and past weight be printed on the race card?

No.

It will drop attendance.

[cj]

When I was big into harness racing the weighed and printed the weight of the horses before each race at Freehold. Good luck finding something useful from that angle. Maybe t-breds would be different.

[toussaud]

If i have learned one thing it's that I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER, listen to a trainer tell me how good a horse is doing. it's about as worthless as a beach house on the gulf right now.

[DeanT]

So what think ye?
Should horses be weighed and present and past weight be printed on the race card?
If they are on lasix they will all be skinnier after the race, but I bet if we looked race to race we'd find some killer ROI. I'm in :).... scratch that, it will kill the sales of books on bounce.

I remember going to a harness sale way back when and there was a kind filly who was a sweetheart, but she was skin and bone. I felt so bad for her. She was racing terrible and I almost bid, and if I had a farm I certainly would have, but I could not. She went for $1200, but the people who bought her were nice and fattened her up. She took a new lifetime mark after that, and had a baby last year after she was retired. Weight means a lot, in my opinion.

[Donnie]

If i have learned one thing it's that I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER, listen to a trainer tell me how good a horse is doing. it's about as worthless as a beach house on the gulf right now.

In this case, he was first asked about Paddy, and his stance was one of VERY cautious optimism; almost like he was saying "Well, we're hoping for the best today." No confidence. His chuckle in his response about Dude was a TOTAL attitude change. Romans is not one they spend a whole lot of time with on the tube. He didn't seem as adept at being politically correct, or hiding his true feelings.

[toussaud]

okay let me reprhase.


never,ever, ever, ever listen to todd pletcher when it comes to how his horses are doing. it's about as worthless as a beach house on the gulf right now.

There are a few trainers who I just would not listen to if my life depended on it Julio Canani, Todd pletcher, D wayne... the rest you can somewhat read between the lines for the most part.

All you heard about Super Saver for 2 weeks was how great he was doing then 2 mintues after the preakness it's like everyone knew he wasn't going to run his race.

[Donnie]

Toussaud--
I agree with you. I get "nothing" from d'Wayne. Nothing. I feel his best days are behind him now. Pletcher is the "frontman" for his operations. With a stable that big, he has to be.

This all has gotten me really paying attention to "how" people are talking, and less about what they are saying.

Borel, being interviewed on the way back from winning the Derby:

"You know what? I'm gonna win the Triple Crown. (now, the next line that stuck with me the past two weeks) I have got to do it." Wouldn't you say that about the horse you are sitting on?

[DeanT]

Sound advice Toussaud! Add Dutrow to that. He was blaming a rider for the Belmont last year when he knew full well his colt had two and a half feet.

SS is interesting tho, because if you go back through the clipping's before the Derby, TP's asst made most of the comments. He did not get the memo. What he said was bang on.

[Robert Goren]

Weight would be much of a help unless it is taken the day of the race. JMO

[toussaud]

You could make a todd pletcher doll.. you pull the string and it would say

"Yeah he worked a good half mile today in 49 seconds, right what we wanted, we didn't push him too hard and he did it like a good horse should, everything looks like it's on track"

[InsideThePylons-MW]

okay let me reprhase.
There are a few trainers who I just would not listen to if my life depended on it Julio Canani.

You mean "my horse is doing great".....as he's standing in his stall with a bow the morning of the SA Derby?

[Deepsix]

Well, weight taken at some consistant timeframe referene the actual race (just before, or after) would give us an indication of growth/conditioning. I'd like that to use as I may find interesting.

[joanied]

I know I'm glad I couldn't bet $$...because the instant Barton mentioned SS's weight, I said, forget it...and just looked for Lucky to win...trainers are just so much BS...most of them would make good politicians...in the NBC post parade, the shots of the horses weren't good enough to really get a good look at them...and they had nothing from the paddock worth a crap...
bet we don't see Super Saver again until Saratoga!!

[rastajenk]

I wouldn't be surprised if we hear soon the Super Saver has a mysterious injury and gets the full retirement package.

That's not based on anything other than cynical gut feelings about protecting the worth of a Derby winner. I don't think he's got the stuff to be a consistent winner, so it could be better to just not prove his averageness on the track.

[Hedevar]

Dean T you were the first to notice that Super Saver lost weight and you posted it here but I don't recall what thread. As for scales, CJ I believe when Remington first opened they had a scale and weighed all thoroughbreds but that was a while back and I could be in error.