Stellar Wind Beats Beholder

[whodoyoulike]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

I think Chrome vs. Dortmund, Carina Mia vs. Songbird, and Stellar Wind vs. Beholder were all ridden correctly. IMO, the idea is to get out good, stay close, keep the pace honest, and make a strong bid when you would normally make it. If you have the best horse you will win and if you don't, you can still get second. If you get too aggressive or move too soon you could easily blow positions if there are other decent horses in the race (especially if the horse you are chasing is simply a lot faster and better than you are).

In this race, Beholder and Stellar Wind were so much better than the others, I don't think it mattered much that it got a little hot in the middle. Plus The Dream-Chi helped with the pace also. You just can't let the leader walk on the lead. None of them did and no one committed suicide in a futile attempt to out duel a faster horse.

I think Beholder should've let SW take the lead and pressed versus having SW press her.

[cj]

Originally Posted by whodoyoulike

I think Beholder should've let SW take the lead and pressed versus having SW press her.

Not sure how that would have been possible. She was drawn inside Stellar Wind and went about as slow as she possibly could have.

[pandy]

Originally Posted by cj

Not sure how that would have been possible. She was drawn inside Stellar Wind and went about as slow as she possibly could have.

Yep. When a jockey is riding a 1/9 champion and has the rail he's going to try to wire them most of the time. Why would you try to get cute? She didn't get beat by a bad trip, she just was second best this time.

[whodoyoulike]

Originally Posted by cj

Not sure how that would have been possible. She was drawn inside Stellar Wind and went about as slow as she possibly could have.

I've only seen a handful maybe 5 or 6 of her races and she never led but seemed comfortable pressing. I think Stevens has ridden her every time so I would think he knows better. The fractions were 23+, 47+ and 70+ which isn't considered slow to me for 8.5f. Again, I think Beholder likes to press and then decides when to make her move, by her being pressed early changes her strategy and running style.

[cj]

Originally Posted by whodoyoulike

I've only seen a handful maybe 5 or 6 of her races and she never led but seemed comfortable pressing. I think Stevens has ridden her every time so I would think he knows better. The fractions were 23+, 47+ and 70+ which isn't considered slow to me for 8.5f. Again, I think Beholder likes to press and then decides when to make her move, by her being pressed early changes her strategy and running style.

The Del Mar track has been very quick. Those were quite slow. Beholder has done plenty racing on the lead in her career though not as much lately, probably by design.

[whodoyoulike]

Originally Posted by cj

The Del Mar track has been very quick. Those were quite slow. Beholder has done plenty racing on the lead in her career though not as much lately, probably by design.

Because of your comment above, I just checked her last 10 pp's prior to Saturday's race and she never led from the gate in any of the races. My comment was referring to the last 6 +/- replays / races which I had viewed.

I haven't been paying close attention to very many Del Mar races and they are usually considered fast. But, I was looking at 70+ for 6f in an 8.5f race which I consider fast not slow. I think 71 - 72+ is usually good for 8.5f.

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

Even though my comment was made in another thread, thanks for the props. You're one of the select few who knows what it's like to step out boldly and make a call, have it come in, and get nothing but crickets....That's what it's like in the 2% club...

Wanted to take Stellar Wind badly. Had her in the BC Distaff as she ran her heart out to finish a tough 2nd. She just runs hard every time out.

The odds board was crazy, as one should have expected. Early money was ridiculously all over Beholder, and SW was 18/1 with a couple minutes to post. And then the late money rolled in as she went off at 9/2. If I could have got 8/1 or better I was gonna play her, but just couldn't do it at 9/2.

Great to see her run huge again.

By the way, how about this Distaff division this year? Why should Beholder and/or Songbird run in the Classic when the Distaff may well be tougher.

[outofthebox]

Originally Posted by whodoyoulike

I think Beholder should've let SW take the lead and pressed versus having SW press her.

Impossible. SW has absolutely no speed and was being urged to keep up. If Mandella was worried that Beholder needed a target to chase, he would have sent his other entry. Best horse won on this day.

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by pandy

I agree. That is racing in today's world. Some of the comments on Beholder on TVG yesterday were hyperbole. They were saying things like, "you've got to put her in the elite class like Zenyatta....". There's only one filly I'd mention in the same breath as Z and that was Ruffian.

""you've got to put her in the elite class like Zenyatta"
As everything is relative, that is not a very intelligent comment
Reason I say this is because Zenyatta raced vs different horses than those presently in training.
I have this "thing" about making comparisons where the conditions are not the same.
We will never be able to determine whether or not this horse is better than that horse because A) they never faced each other. B) they never faced the same opponents.
Save for the few historical standouts, The Secretartiats, Man o Wars, etc. I steer clear of these comparison discussions.

[whodoyoulike]

Originally Posted by outofthebox

Impossible. SW has absolutely no speed and was being urged to keep up. If Mandella was worried that Beholder needed a target to chase, he would have sent his other entry. Best horse won on this day.

Obviously, the best horse won Saturday but to state "SW has absolutely no speed and was being urged to keep up", I'm just not seeing it your way.

The early fractions per the chart were 23.63, 47.38, 70.70 and 94.88 with SW bl's of 1, 1/2, hd and led by a head at 94.88. These numbers are pretty fast to me.

My point is that Beholder's running style is to press the leader(s) and at some point in the race decides to make her move which basically is to tell the others to just look at her ass because that's the last thing they will see in the race.

[JimmyQ]

I'm Surprised the thread hasn't been more critical of Gary Stevens ride. I think he thought she was good enough to win and save almost everything for another day. This isn't the race the connections are looking to ultimately win so let's keep that in perspective and maybe I shouldn't get on Gary's back too much...time will tell. Had Gary gotten to the bottom of her early on and been aggressive I think she wins although Stellar Wind was excellent on this day.

JimmyQ