West Virginia Derby Day

[Peter Berry]

The 95 entrants on West Virginia Derby Day at Mountaineer on Saturday have combined earnings of $23,479,299, an average of $247,150 per horse.

[Donttellmeshowme]

What happened to the 2 yr old races on Derby Day?

[cj]

Originally Posted by Donttellmeshowme

What happened to the 2 yr old races on Derby Day?

It would have drastically cut down on the earnings per horse so they eliminated them!

Great card, by the way.

[EMD4ME]

Originally Posted by cj

It would have drastically cut down on the earnings per horse so they eliminated them!

Great card, by the way.

Tough crowd Just kidding! Yes, nice card Peter ! Look forward to your awesome calls.

[Zaf]

Originally Posted by Peter Berry

The 95 entrants on West Virginia Derby Day at Mountaineer on Saturday have combined earnings of $23,479,299, an average of $247,150 per horse.

Looking forward to it

[arw629]

I've been against Suddenbreakingnews in every one of his starts but I think Saturday is the day...i don't think Cupid will get 9F and Suddenbreakingnews will get last run in a field full of pressers...I'm thinking he will.be 3-1 to 4-1 range

[Zaf]

What about Mo Tom with the super hot Jersey Joe Bravo !

Z

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Really loving the WV Derby this year.

No "supposed" superstars, but a field of 12 colts all looking to take a solid step forward. Hopefully I can put my Suddenbreakingnews affection aside and make a reasonable wager.

I'm not only nose deep into that one, but ears deep.

And then you have Plueven, Jasizzle, Notte 'd Oro, S'marvelous, Athena.

Yes, yes, yes. I'm very interested.

[arw629]

Connecting the dots ....the 3rd place finisher in the ohio derby Discreet lover beaten 5 lengths by Mo Tom also ran 8th in the Indiana derby beaten 11 lengths by Cupid ....this horse 3 back ran 5th to American Freedom beaten 7 lengths at Pimlico ....

Discreet Lover won an allowance race at Parx Tuesday against a bunch of claimers which tells us absolutely nothing

[Zaf]

If Cupid gets an easy lead from the inside what happens from there ? If No Distortion doesn't challenge him he gets a clear easy lead.

Z

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Originally Posted by Zaf

If Cupid gets an easy lead from the inside what happens from there ? If No Distortion doesn't challenge him he gets a clear easy lead.

Z

Maybe, but I just can't see an easy lead.

Horses like the will need to change up tactics to have a chance as they aren't closing better than others in here. And like you mentioned No Distortion or even the Pinson shouldn't be letting him get too far away.

Economic Model could sit a really really good trip.

[arw629]

Originally Posted by Lemon Drop Husker

Maybe, but I just can't see an easy lead.

Horses like the will need to change up tactics to have a chance as they aren't closing better than others in here. And like you mentioned No Distortion or even the Pinson shouldn't be letting him get too far away.

Economic Model could sit a really really good trip.

I really like Economic Model as well buy he will have to pass speeds and pressers and hold off deep closers...i like Suddenbreakingnews

[rrpic6]

Originally Posted by Donttellmeshowme

What happened to the 2 yr old races on Derby Day?

2 Restricted West Virginia Bred Sprints are a nice change to the card. Looking forward to watching it live. Hope they get a nice crowd.

RR

[mountainman]

Firmly entrenched between the same competing stakes for years, our derby lends itself to profiling. Look at the pp's on past winners and clear patterns emerge:The last 14 winners total just 5 triple crown starts; 5 of the last 6 came in as graded- stakes winners; 8 of the last 11 posted career beyers in taking our derby; 10 of the last 11 were first or second at the furlong pole.....

So, while it requires a somewhat accomplished horse to win the WV Derby, runners beaten up in pursuit of triple crown glory are best avoided. And our derby winner is invariably a horse pointed for the race-or, at least, peaking at the right time.

In addition, neither the race , nor the surface tend to set up for deep closers. Which is NOT to say that closers can't win-in fact, most winners have rallied from well back. But a strong interior move-even of the sort probably premature on other ovals-is critical to victory. And it should also be noted that Mnr's persistent anti-rail bias sometimes catapults deep-closers into the picture earlier than normal, which skews defined running styles and contorts running positions at the pre-stretch and stretch calls.

And the mountain-main often does play dead-rail on our big day, and that generally compromises speed-types.

Incidentally, making the line on Saturday's card was just brutal. Soooo many good horses, so few points to play with. But it's the kind of problem I love to be confronted with!

Good luck Saturday, guys.


ps-I have yet to encounter anyone who DOESN'T love Economic Model in the race. Can you say "wise guy" horse??

[mabred]

listen to zaf that man can handicap

best i've seen at nyra!!!!!!