Mike Smith - Unique Bella - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

menifee · 04-13-2018, 06:42 PM

How does he keep this mount? He's given this horse two terrible rides. What was that? I get the bad break, but why rush her up like that. He did the same thing to Abel Tasman. They are not machines.

Immortal6 · 04-13-2018, 07:20 PM

Watched the replay and I feel like Smith did what was necessary to try and win. Had he taken Unique Bella back and let Farrell walk up front the fractions set might have been completely different and Farrell might have been the winner, never know. For me it's hard to know who is at fault at the break? Did the jock not anticipate the gate opening or is the onus on the horse to break cleanly?

Either way, one thing I've never noticed is Unique Bella's size...maybe it's just my eyes but she looks considerably larger than Farrell and the others in the field.

Tom · 04-13-2018, 07:41 PM

I was watching TVG2 all afternoon, waiting for this race.
Then the @#%$#^&#morons who run TVG move it to TVG and I miss it.

Do these useless idiots purposely try to piss off their viewers?

At least I didn't have to listen to Todd Schrupp at all today!

GMB@BP · 04-13-2018, 08:27 PM

Vic said she stood there but she went to her knees watching the replay, I have no idea how the rider stops that but if you watched the video from yesterday she refused to load for 5 minutes, clearly not a happy horse going into the event.

cj · 04-13-2018, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

Vic said she stood there but she went to her knees watching the replay, I have no idea how the rider stops that but if you watched the video from yesterday she refused to load for 5 minutes, clearly not a happy horse going into the event.

She actually looked to kind of brace against coming out of the gate. I don't think there was much Smith could do after that. She is pretty headstrong and fighting her wasn't going to make things better.

RunForTheRoses · 04-13-2018, 09:09 PM

I didn't play at all today, so, was the rail really bad? Very wide trip on UB not that the 2 was not really rolling at the end.

Fager Fan · 04-13-2018, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

Vic said she stood there but she went to her knees watching the replay, I have no idea how the rider stops that but if you watched the video from yesterday she refused to load for 5 minutes, clearly not a happy horse going into the event.

Bingo. Something's up with her.

And to the person who noted her size, it was really noticeable today, not just that she's bigger, but that she almost looks like a draft breed instead of a Thoroughbred. Not very attractive.

Tom · 04-13-2018, 09:44 PM

Lady's Secret syndrom?

cj · 04-13-2018, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

She actually looked to kind of brace against coming out of the gate. I don't think there was much Smith could do after that. She is pretty headstrong and fighting her wasn't going to make things better.

My wife got a pretty good shot of the break:

GMB@BP · 04-13-2018, 11:34 PM

Great work team CJ!!!!

Like I said on Twitter, running second after all that may have been better than it looked. Not sure I would be shipping much with her. She may be a tough mare to please.

Pensacola Pete · 04-13-2018, 11:52 PM

Unique Bella's head was sideways before the start. The starter didn't wait for the horse to settle down. When the gates opened, Unique Bella was shifting around and almost went to her knees. It didn't look like Smith's fault.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom

At least I didn't have to listen to Todd Schrupp at all today!

I stopped watching TVG when I saw Schrupp and Nakatani's golf match for the 10,000th time.

The commercial of the dog and woman making annoying high-pitched noises to each other was another gem.

Honorable mention goes to the Thorograph commercial and the actress with the sing-song voice "And we know this becaaaaauuuuussssse?" It looked like the guy wanted to reach over and swat her.

SharpCat · 04-14-2018, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pensacola Pete

Unique Bella's head was sideways before the start. The starter didn't wait for the horse to settle down. When the gates opened, Unique Bella was shifting around and almost went to her knees. It didn't look like Smith's fault.

You got it wrong mate. Unique Bella's head was straight and she was settled. Only thing that happened here was that she absolutely blew the break. No ones fault just something that happens on occasion.

Pensacola Pete · 04-14-2018, 03:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SharpCat

You got it wrong mate. Unique Bella's head was straight and she was settled. Only thing that happened here was that she absolutely blew the break. No ones fault just something that happens on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpgkygmqes4

As the video shows, her head was pointed to the left before the gate opened. She was antsy for a quite a few seconds up to that point. The starter could have waited at least a few more seconds to see if she settled down. When the gate opened, the sound probably spooked her. Her head jerked all the way to the right, and she fell against the grandstand side of her stall.

owlshead · 04-14-2018, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMB@BP

Great work team CJ!!!!

Like I said on Twitter, running second after all that may have been better than it looked. Not sure I would be shipping much with her. She may be a tough mare to please.

no expert, but she just appears to be a Cali girl?

Ruffian1 · 04-14-2018, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SharpCat

You got it wrong mate. Unique Bella's head was straight and she was settled. Only thing that happened here was that she absolutely blew the break. No ones fault just something that happens on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpgkygmqes4

When the tape first starts and a few seconds before the break, watch her suck back for a moment putting all her weight on her back end. Her ears quite pinned as she is obviously upset with something. After a quick second, she redistributes her weight so as to be standing somewhat OK. Then at 02 seconds her right ear unpins and she is starting to be somewhat OK with things. Her left ear starts to unpin slightly it seems but then it pins again. She is really worried about something on her left side, probably the gate guy or maybe the way he is holding her. She then starts to suck back and shift all her weight back again and just as she does, the gates open, catching her standing with too much weight moving backwards and in a refusing type position.
That is what caused her to break so badly. Like what you see a cat do when the first get scared. She was not a happy horse in there. That's for sure. I would look for a much better break next time as they will probably stand her in the mornings quite a bit before her next race. Only way that does not happen is if she is always bad in the gate but you guys would know that not me. Pretty sure the rider was helpless this time.
Hope that helps.