When I watched his races and works it always seemed like it took him a little longer to get rolling than other horses of similar quality. Maybe his size had something to do with that.

It may have been an issue at the start of the Derby too.

He was off a little slowly and appeared to get brushed, but it wasn't a disaster. It became a disaster because he was probably a little off balance and was so slow to recover and get rolling he wound up at the back of a large field instead of mid pack or closer where he's usually positioned. Another horse with the same start may have recovered quicker and got into the race with its better turn of foot without being used too hard to do it.

I view it differently. The start was a half length slow, and he got clobbered by the horse to his inside, costing him two more lengths. He then recovered and was only two lengths from Tiz a hundred yards into the race. Smith then assessed the situation, and decided to get to the rail and save ground. That decision was correct, but lost the race for Honor.

This is the best part of this game. Both of us would have bet our opinion in his next race.

Honor A.P. was wide throughout; Smith never attempted to get to the rail.

You beat me to it.

This was my note:

sg (1/2); bumped a little sideways (1-2 more?), slow to get going; dropped far back.

Thorograph has his ground loss as 4t1; 5t2. They average the ground loss for the entire turn into one number and I'd say tend to round up.

Mike Smith rarely rides in traffic any more. He is either in front or he is wide the vast majority of the time.