Quote:
Originally Posted by PhantomOnTour
Looks like a lot of folks did think like me
Mage should have been way less than 7-5 vs that field...wonder why he wasn't.
Maybe a lot of people know that deep closing Derby winners tend to struggle at Pimlico, and now you do too.
He did pay $2.40 to show though
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Mage is the fastest horse early in the race, he should have been right off of National Treasure flank down the backstretch. The problem is Delgado and Castellano had their game plan to sit three lengths off National Treasure no matter what the fractions. Had that race gone in 50 and 115 Castellano still would have been three lengths behind. A jockey needs to adjust in race and that was never going to happen. Why? Because the two of them feared that had they been up on the lead and lost they would be criticized for the ride. Baffert never worries about what anyone thinks of him or his decisions because no one is going to pull their horse from him.
It was a horrible decision to sit that far off, Mage had zero chance of winning. Even Rosario on Red Route One saw the slow pace and moved quickly to get into contention and even passed Mage where Castellano sat there doing nothing. Castellano said he had a dream trip, a beautiful trip.
They were flying around the turn, the fourth quarter went in 23.2, no one can make up ground. Mage never should have left the rail either.
If Mage were to transfer to Baffert in two months he would go to the lead in the Haskell in 111 and change and win. With Baffert Mage would win multiple grade one races, unfortunately Mage will most likely never win another race as Delgado is obsessed with Mage not running faster than 113 to six furlongs in any future race.
People whine about the top trainers getting all the best horses. Well there is a reason for that. No one is going to spend a million dollars on a horse and give it to any second rate trainer. Baffert and Velasquez know what they are doing and that is why they are winners. He went off 7-5 instead of 4-5 because many didn't trust the connections to win two races in two weeks. Once Baffert retires we may go 50 years or more without another Triple Crown winner.