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[Robert Fischer]

Franco's Derby ride seemed fine to me.

He had the best horse in the race. He got a clear trip with the forward group. Ended up 2nd best, when Authentic ran a fast race.

Could have sent to the lead - but I can't recommend that without hindsight. Maybe it would have been the winning decision, with a time machine and an infinite number of scenarios to try? Seems like a poor tactic in real time.

Could have rated mid-pack, and made a big closing move - But, that seems like bad advice, knowing what we know about how most derbies are run, and with the fact that he was the horse to beat. Even in hindsight, I can't really rationalize that the pace was falling apart or hurting the forwardly placed runners.

As it played out, the one weak thing that I saw, was a little bit of flawed technique entering the stretch. Doubt it would have made any difference, even if he had made a perfectly coordinated entrance, and fought for position.

Authentic just ran a faster race, and he did it after breaking poorly and rushing up into the first turn. Overall, Authentic's 'performance' was probably the top 3yo derby-related route of the year.