Great day in Saratoga, all first class

And if Pletcher keeps the horse.

Yeah , the younger riders are definitely taking over as the older ones tail off. That’s just how sports work. Mike Smith has to be close to my age it’s kind of remarkable he still does that well. That race was not much for betting and as it turned out many of the other races were the same way. The Sword Dancer was probably the most open race in the stakes tab. The only shot I had was Lake Avenue. She made a run but wasn’t gonna catch Gamine and at 18-1 the exacta paid a whopping 12.40. I hit a pick 3 and it paid 29.80 after the Travers. There were a couple of good, close races but it was about as chalky as it can get so I got beat. It definitely was not a good day for finding prices. I believe two horses paid over 5 dollars out of all the stakes races. And those two were not much over that. Not a lot of competition. Betting wise it was the worst Saturday so far .

Who knows what’s going to happen with the Baffert case, how long it’s going to take to resolve, and how some of his owners are going to respond when it’s over.

Over the years you can probably count on one hand the number of times I have criticized a ride. I did not like Smith’s ride. He used the horse hard enough to take a clear lead from Jackie’s Warrior! :eek: Then instead of saving some ground he rode like he was planning on floating some closer way outside or the rail was bad (it clearly wasn’t) and allowed Jackie’s Warrior to cut the corner (giving up a length or more) Then after using the horse to get the lead like that he didn’t start riding again until about the 1/8th pole. Then he started coming back. If I owned that horse I’d feel like he cost me a Grade 1 and have to make a change. Smith is an all time great, but that one shouldn’t be on his resume.

Like I said Mike Smith is almost my age, I’m 58 he’s 56. Try holding a race horse down at any age let alone our age. Have you ever looked closely at any riders arms…….? Even the girls have “Guns”. He’s at the end of a Hall of Fame career. He got outridden plain and simple. It’s the pattern of this entire meet. The younger guys take way more mounts and win more .,,,,, the older guys don’t. The faster the horse the more strength and endurance you need to hold it.

Agreed. It was terrible ride. If he takes the rail after he cleared and made Jackie's Warrior move outside I think he wins.

Life is Good ran well.

He wasn't quite up to his Baffert-level of 'generational talent', but he ran damn well. I didn't notice a significant drift. Galloped out as well.

Jackie's Warrior ran a big race.
Haven't looked at the division, but perhaps to be favored in the BC Sprint?



Surprised to see that the 'Dirt Mile' is still a Grade 1. Is that true??
Seems like a perfect fit for Life is Good.

He's always avoided the rail with the horse, seems by design. Must be a reason.

You might be right about that. LIG has had a tendency to misbehave a bit in the stretch. He could have moved in a path or so and made Rosario think about whether to go inside or outside. That was too easy.

Worse imo was sitting chilly until the 1/8th pole while JW was going past him. If he hadn't gone out so hard early I would say it looked like Smith gave him a prep race. :lol:

I would even have dismissed not going out really hard early given that Jackie's Warrior is ridiculously fast. But once you go and get clear, you can't sit there and allow the other horse to go past you and then start riding. The whole point of using him early was trying to gain the advantage. IMO overall he did worse than give it away. Again, the guy is a great rider. I just didn't like that one at all in a high profile race.

VERY SHARP POST

With a better rider the horse wins by 5, no doubt.

Was the horse even asked for speed the first 5 furlongs, sure didnt seem like it.

Notice the trip comment

LIFE IS GOOD had a post position edge over JACKIES WARRIOR and still lost. what happens the next time when the positions are reversed?

They are heading in different directions...

I would love for there to be a next time but that is not likely to happen. Jackies Warrior will stick to sprinting and Life Is Good will stretch out.

I will say this. With that race under his belt I would take Life Is Good over Jackies Warrior in any sprint no matter the post position.