Going back and watching the replay, and the ride becomes more and more fascinating.
At the 1:25 mark the field is really bunching as the front end is in full collapse. RS is in 15th/16th and there are 6 horses in front of him that are outside of him. It is tight quarters, and where the split second decisions that need to be made when you have to pass well over half the field.
Move to the 1:30 mark and he is really in tight quarters now. He and Mo Donegal are about in the same path, but RS is pinched inside Simplification and he is committing to an inside run. Those 3 horses finish 1st, 4th, 5th in very different ways from here on out.
At the 1:33 mark a rail run looks more than a bit tough if not impossible. There are 6 horses in front of him that are inside of him. Still pinched in by Simplification, Sonny's mind has to be racing. He has horse, he needs room, and it has to be very hard to remain patient.
At 1:35, Summer is Tomorrow has completely backed out, and the rail is opening up. And at the 1:38 mark he is rewarded and pot commits to his rail run. At 1:41 he is fully rewarded, but it is far from over. As his rally is fully underway, he has the final decision left to make at the 1:47 mark. He wants to skim the rail, but Messier is now in full anchor mode in the 1/2 path. He makes that final split second decision, and while nearly clipping heels with Messier, ducks out into the 2/3 path to get around that tiring rival. Crown Pride gives him just enough room to squeeze in at the 1:49/1:50 mark. Now it simply comes down to if he has enough horse, which he definitely does.
Really memorable ride. We all know how difficult it is to overcome so much traffic when coming from downtown in the Derby. You need courage, patience, and no doubt about it, a lot of racing luck to pull off a rail run in the Derby. Calvin Bo-Rail has to be smiling.
https://twitter.com/NBCSports/status...2xSziEpXKc76Dw
