San Felipe - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

arw629 · 03-06-2021, 06:06 PM

Medina spirit herded The Great One going into the first turn and then pumped the breaks in the backstretch letting Life is Good get away. Medina Spirit didn’t make it easy at all for the rest of the field. It seems like that was his mission. I’m a fan of Life is Good but have to feel for the other connections who had to face the Baffert tag team today. I bet life is good in a double and in the pick 6 exclusively so I don’t want this post to come off like I’m whining. This was tag team racing at its best.

cj · 03-06-2021, 06:20 PM

I think this post is going a bit too far, but I also don't think Medina Spirit was given his best chance to win. Given the result it probably didn't matter, but his only real chance was to take it to him early. No trainer is going to have two horses duel each other on the front end. It sucks, but that is racing in 2021 when too many good horses are in the hands of too few trainers.

arw629 · 03-06-2021, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

I think this post is going a bit too far, but I also don't think Medina Spirit was given his best chance to win. Given the result it probably didn't matter, but his only real chance was to take it to him early. No trainer is going to have two horses duel each other on the front end. It sucks, but that is racing in 2021 when too many good horses are in the hands of too few trainers.

Medina Spirit drifted wide ride into The Great One into the first turn. Once he established second, backed it down stringing out the field.

cj · 03-06-2021, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arw629

Medina Spirit drifted wide ride into The Great One into the first turn. Once he established second, backed it down stringing out the field.

I saw it, but I also think if you aren't going to go up and engage the leader, that is probably the next best move rather than get shuffled back. Like I said, it sucks, but we know how the game works by now, right?

arw629 · 03-06-2021, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

I saw it, but I also think if you aren't going to go up and engage the leader, that is probably the next best move rather than get shuffled back. Like I said, it sucks, but we know how the game works by now, right?

I totally agree with everything you’re saying. It just sucks for the other guys.

Robert Fischer · 03-06-2021, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arw629

I totally agree with everything you’re saying. It just sucks for the other guys.

I agree, it's annoying.

I don't know any ideas to improve the situation. I'm not in favor of 'coupling' the entries, but almost all trainers avoid dueling stablemates, and many use tactics such as herding, bumping, impeding, collapsing a pace, or simply giving one entry 'first run' with the 2nd-stringer stalking in case the favored entry falters.

Certain trainers dominate with multiple horses in many races, at times in short field stakes races.

Makes it more difficult to find value.

I had a race today where I liked a rail-drawn

horse. -However, the

and maybe the

?(IDK, another stablemate drawn outside) were stablemates, and I didn't 100% trust that my rail horse wouldn't be affected by the

... = PASS except for a small pick-3

Life is Good happens to be another one of Baffert's annual 'generational talents', so it wouldn't have mattered in win and horizontal wagering.
Medina Spirit is also nearly as much of a gap back to the 3rd best horse(s), so if some poor sap keyed the

3rd and 4th in superfectas or something, it's unfortunate, but it wasn't a play with a wise foundation.

Still annoying to see a stablemate herd a rival into the first turn.

Robert Fischer · 03-06-2021, 07:52 PM

Life is Good is certainly a Derby prospect.

Robert Fischer · 03-07-2021, 08:02 AM

Not sure if I missed an incident/injury, or if the 'herding' was edited out, but the 'head-on' replay cuts out and does not show the first turn or backstretch.

classhandicapper · 03-07-2021, 09:19 AM

Nothing was going to beat Life Is Good yesterday. He's freakishly fast and has enough stamina to at least get these middle distance routes comfortably.

Baffert knows Life Is Good is the much faster horse.

Medina Spirit sat off him last time and was closing really well. If Life Is Good had an off day or couldn't get the extra 1/16th as well as Medina Spirit then based on the last race he'd have a had chance to turn the tables. Going after him would have been suicide for anyone that attempted it yesterday.

Most of these really good Baffert horses are speed types. No one wants to duel a superior horse and blow positions setting it up for someone else and he's certainly not going to do it himself. The only alternative is to enter a rabbit. But don't be surprised if someone enters a rabbit if the horse sits off him and lets the rabbit run until he wears himself out, then takes over easily, and is in the same position anyway. He's already working on rating this horse in his workouts.

The question with this horse is how far he can carry his speed and is anyone crazy enough to run with him.

GMB@BP · 03-07-2021, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arw629

Medina spirit herded The Great One going into the first turn and then pumped the breaks in the backstretch letting Life is Good get away. Medina Spirit didn’t make it easy at all for the rest of the field. It seems like that was his mission. I’m a fan of Life is Good but have to feel for the other connections who had to face the Baffert tag team today. I bet life is good in a double and in the pick 6 exclusively so I don’t want this post to come off like I’m whining. This was tag team racing at its best.

I was really pissed off because I was sure that the two riders, working for the best dirt trainer of all time, were certainly going to go at it for a 1/2 mile and burn each other out.....where do I get my money back, crooked game.

You move out a touch so you dont engage head to head with the other horse and then they get aggressive, he didnt move out to cut any other horse off.

arw629 · 03-07-2021, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

I was really pissed off because I was sure that the two riders, working for the best dirt trainer of all time, were certainly going to go at it for a 1/2 mile and burn each other out.....where do I get my money back, crooked game.

You move out a touch so you dont engage head to head with the other horse and then they get aggressive, he didnt move out to cut any other horse off.

Obviously everyone knew the 3 wasn’t going to engage the 1 early. I’m not sure it’s ok that the tag team partner was going to compromise the rest of the field. It’s expected tho.

arw629 · 03-07-2021, 11:22 AM

It’s also interesting that the head on into the first turn and backstretch was edited out. Jeremy Balan pointed this out on his Twitter last night. I wonder how much pull Baffert actually has?

jay68802 · 03-07-2021, 12:20 PM

7 horses started and finished the race. No inquiry, no incident can be seen on the other replay. Why edit the head on replay? No reason to do this.

cj · 03-07-2021, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

The question with this horse is how far he can carry his speed and is anyone crazy enough to run with him.

I think there are more questions than that about the horse. That bearing out is never a good sign, and he bears out badly.

cj · 03-07-2021, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arw629

It’s also interesting that the head on into the first turn and backstretch was edited out. Jeremy Balan pointed this out on his Twitter last night. I wonder how much pull Baffert actually has?

Apparently they do this often at Santa Anita. Why, I have no idea. Saving on cloud storage?