"I'm disappointed with the trip", Brown said
 

Maybe Jose went against him. I think Jose did the right thing. Justify might’ve won by 10 if he let him go (maybe some hyperbole here

During the TV telecast, Jerry Bailey said that if he were riding today, he'd go to the lead and wouldn't care what anybody told him (because speed was holding so well in the earlier races).
Maybe Jose was watching.

Ortiz takes the blame, says not his best ride

http://www.drf.com/news/i-messed-say...c-jockey-ortiz

I don't know how you can really blame the ride there though. Found himself inside without any other speed to keep the favorite honest.

Of course you'd rather be outside but...

Good Magic was more than game in that race.

It felt like there was pace but with all the riders sending the real pace (Justify) out ran them, and Ortiz broke well. Bad spot, I dont blame him at all.

He dueled the whole way and was only beaten a length or so, tremendous effort and horse he is.

Feel bad for Jose. It’s not his fault. Maybe if he broke from the 7 hole he wins. We will never know

Have to wait on some figures and they should be accurate with the Barton right before to see... but I suspect both may have bounced a bit and still carried the field while dueling.

Honestly if posts were switched outcome could have been different... never know.

Silly talk. About the only thing he could have done better was push harder to get in front a little.

I dont know if Justify wants any part of 12F but I do know that trip today is underated, duel for that far with a good horse and still prevail. Not easy at all.

I think that was his C effort, his A race is not at 10F or 12F, he wins those on sheer talent.

Yeah I wasn't knocking him at all.

Both the first and fourth finishers ran brilliant races to finish like that even if it wasn't top of form cycle for either of them.

Brown likes riders the grab.
Ortiz did the only thing he could have done.
That is how good horse race - they take it to the competition,n not sit back and hide like Brown likes do.

The better horse beat him and Brown can cry all he wants to .
Blaming it on the rider is pretty classless IMHO....but Brown has never impressed me as having any class.

Agree. I hope that was just company talk because I thought Ortiz road GM to win. Anything else allows Justify to just Magnum Moon this field. After his last two races I can definitely say GM proved me wrong (never was high on him myself) but now I have total respect for that horse, Justify is just better.

Looks like most of us agree that if justify had the lead on his own, he probably wins this race for fun, and that possibly the only thing that might’ve changed the outcome, meaning a good magic win, was post position

Yeah, these riders should not apologize for trying to win. If he lets Justify cross over to the inside, sure, Good Magic may have finished second, but he would have had no chance to win and the race would have been boring. Instead, we got a thrilling race with an exciting finish and Good Magic tested Justify. Horseracing, like all sports, and gambling, is a form of entertainment. The horse's and riders put on a good show, and Jose Ortiz made it interesting by being aggressive.

Years ago in a major harness race, a great horseman from Europe, Stig Johansson, came over to race in the Breeders Crown Trot with a great trotter named Victory Tilly. He had a tough post and there was a strong American trotter in the race, Fool's Goal, who drew inside of Victory Tilly. Anyway, Fool's Goal gunned to the lead and Victory Tilly left and tucked second. But then Stig pulled Victory out of the two hole on the final turn and went after Fool's Goal. They battled but Victory Tilly weakened late and finished third. The next week they met again and Victory Tilly got the better post and won and set a world record.

But after the Breeders Crown loss, when talking to the media, Stig Johansson said, "I could have stayed in second and I'm sure we would have finished second. But I didn't come here to finish second. I gave my horse a chance to win."

I'm glad to see most of us agree and understand that Jose tried to win the race.