Two Phil’s has an ankle injury - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

affirmedny · 06-25-2023, 05:30 PM

Geno_Gino · 06-25-2023, 06:09 PM

Hopefully the colt makes a full recovery. If he is retired, they can always advertise his value as a stallion by stating that he lost the Kentucky Derby but "ran the best race" ...

CheckMark · 06-25-2023, 06:21 PM

Hoping for a Godspeed recovery for this guy.

One one of the best horses I have bet on in the Derby.

zico20 · 06-25-2023, 06:47 PM

They are already talking like he is going to be retired. I guess it comes down to how much they can get for him. What a shame they can't come out and say we plan on running him as a four year old and lets hope for the best.

Spalding No! · 06-25-2023, 08:30 PM

It's that tough Triple Crown grind.

10 furlongs then 9.5 furlongs two weeks later followed by 12 furlongs three weeks after that.

The races are spread too far apart.

If they tightened the schedule up, these trainers wouldn't have time to work & gallop the starch out of their horses between races.

Would only have time to lope into a race plus or minus a "lung opener" the day before...

cj · 06-25-2023, 10:32 PM

Reminds me somewhat of that Chad Brown horse that ran so well in the Derby, Normandy Invasion. Both would have had a great shot in the Preakness. But instead, skipped the Preakness to get ready for the rest of the season. At least Two Phil's added an Ohio Derby to his resume I guess. Normandy Invasion retired with some G2 placings.

SG4 · 06-25-2023, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

Reminds me somewhat of that Chad Brown horse that ran so well in the Derby, Normandy Invasion. Both would have had a great shot in the Preakness. But instead, skipped the Preakness to get ready for the rest of the season. At least Two Phil's added an Ohio Derby to his resume I guess. Normandy Invasion retired with some G2 placings.

Probably best for the breed he didn't have more success on the track to make him more appealing at stud, he's probably the worst stallion I've seen who was given a large chance to succeed as a sire. In fact I didn't know this before, but now I see he was gelded & given a new career late in 2020.

Spalding No! · 06-25-2023, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

Reminds me somewhat of that Chad Brown horse that ran so well in the Derby, Normandy Invasion. Both would have had a great shot in the Preakness. But instead, skipped the Preakness to get ready for the rest of the season. At least Two Phil's added an Ohio Derby to his resume I guess. Normandy Invasion retired with some G2 placings.

Maybe the most egregious "overthinking it" Triple Crown management in the modern day was in 1998 with Coronado's Quest.

He had dumped his jockey a couple of times in the Gulfstream winter preps earning himself 'rogue' status. They blamed his poor FL Derby effort on his pre-race antics but the reality was he had a throat issue that required minor surgery & even his trainer, Shug McGaughey, said he was "a different horse" after the surgery. Went back to NY & promptly dominated the Wood Memorial in a fast time with no post parade outbursts on what was presumably a crowded afternoon (it was a multi stakes program).

Nevertheless, they skipped the Derby lest he act up again and pointed instead towards the Met Mile. Then they changed their minds & rerouted to the Preakness which was 9 days earlier than the Met. This required training on an off track at Belmont which was plagued by bad weather. Lo and behold...foot bruise the morning of the race. Scratched. And couldn't get right in time to make the original plan, the Met Mile, which would have put him in the frame for the Belmont Stakes. Both those races were now out the window, too.

Ended up starting on the Belmont undercard & won the 7 furlong Riva Ridge before going on a tear to win the Dwyer, Haskell, & Travers.

I guess you could argue based on his win streak that they did the right thing, but you might also say they played it too conservative not running in KY or MD. Maybe he would have stayed in KY after the Derby & not gotten the foot bruise that kept him out at Pimlico.

The hilarious part is all that worry about him acting up went out the window the second half of the year as the Haskell & Travers certainly had large crowds & furthermore they had no problem running him in the BC Classic (at Churchill Downs, no less) after getting trounced in the Woodward. The final punishment was tossing him in the NYRA Mile a couple of weeks after the BC, presumably to try & salvage the 3yo Eclipse Award. He lost both the race & the award...

classhandicapper · 06-26-2023, 12:10 AM

Too bad. It looked like he had a shot to take the leadership of the division. At least it sounds like the horse is going to be OK.

Publius · 06-26-2023, 07:29 PM

A real shame. Hopefully he returns to the track as a 4 year old. If the quotes on Bloodhorse are accurate the owners are looking at breeding deals.

Good thing there are a lot of other sound and healthy 3 year olds. Should be a fantastic summer at the Spa and at Monmouth with the Haskell.

Spalding No! · 06-26-2023, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Publius

Good thing there are a lot of other sound and healthy 3 year olds. Should be a fantastic summer at the Spa and at Monmouth with the Haskell.

Always tenuous with the Baffert barn, and each of these have their question marks, but as it stands currently (based on the worktabs), he has these 4 horses ready to run:

Reincarnate - bullet 6 furlong work this past weekend, 5th work since the Derby

National Treasure - 1/2 mile work yesterday 15 days after the Belmont

Arabian Lion - 1/2 mile work this past weekend 14 days after the Woody Stephens

Arabian Knight - aggressive work pattern, has 5 works in a 4 week span including a bullet 7 furlong work this past weekend

I presume something will go for the Los Alamitos Derby. Be interesting to see if they stretch Arabian Lion back out for the Haskell & what they have in store for Arabian Knight as the only race at Del Mar for 3yos is the Shared Belief which is not until September. Will he send one for the Jim Dandy? Don't think he's run in that race since Congaree...

Spalding No! · 06-26-2023, 08:34 PM

Liaison 2012 & Code West 2013 were Baffert's most recent Jim Dandy horses. Had a couple dead last runners in between those & Congaree.

Publius · 06-26-2023, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spalding No!

Always tenuous with the Baffert barn, and each of these have their question marks, but as it stands currently (based on the worktabs), he has these 4 horses ready to run:

Reincarnate - bullet 6 furlong work this past weekend, 5th work since the Derby

National Treasure - 1/2 mile work yesterday 15 days after the Belmont

Arabian Lion - 1/2 mile work this past weekend 14 days after the Woody Stephens

Arabian Knight - aggressive work pattern, has 5 works in a 4 week span including a bullet 7 furlong work this past weekend

I presume something will go for the Los Alamitos Derby. Be interesting to see if they stretch Arabian Lion back out for the Haskell & what they have in store for Arabian Knight as the only race at Del Mar for 3yos is the Shared Belief which is not until September. Will he send one for the Jim Dandy? Don't think he's run in that race since Congaree...

Pletcher has a few, as does Cox, and the winner of Belmont Stakes Arcangelo is stabled at Saratoga. Going to be three excellent races Jim Dandy Haskell , and then the Midsummer Derby.

Arabian Lion looks like the best runner in Bafferts barn. I think National Treasure could use a break. Not sure how the GOAT will handle his horses. I have happy he can run horses in New York.

PalaceOfFortLarned · 06-28-2023, 12:59 PM

Not real surprising, but Two Phil's has been officially retired.

affirmedny · 06-28-2023, 03:06 PM

Evidently Rivelli wears rose colored glasses