Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bacasper]

My pick, especially at morning line odds, would have to be Pyro at 6-1. His only bad race was his last but I give every horse one bad race. Glad it was then and not now (I hope).

Except for that race, if it weren't for War Pass, who would have been the favorite if he were in the Derby, Pyro would be 5 for 6, including two Grade 1's. Big Brown may be better but he must prove it. And at 6-1 vs. 3-1, I'm going with Pyro. I suspect those odds are false however, and I would not be surprised if Pyro were the favorite at post time, in which case the calculus may lean the other way. I'm definitely boxing the exacta.

I really like Big Brown, 3 for 3, awesome Beyers, and he has the speed to get at or near the front even from post 20. He outran the other Derby contrender, Smooth Air, in a 3 furlong workout yesterday by 2 1/2 seconds! Yes, Secretariat smashed the Belmont track record by 2 3/5 seconds, but that was a mile and a half! For that kind of margin in 3f is unbelievable. (Of course I know they weren't racing, but still.) And he's not only 3 for 3, but he just kept widening his lead in every race from start to finish. If he had a bit more experience, he'd be a formidable favorite. 3-1 is not a bad price for him, altho I wouldn't like it to go much lower. One great thing about the Derby, you get great prices, what with the 20-horse fields and all.

You can't help but compare Big Brown to last year's Curlin' who also entered undefeated after only three starts and looked formidable. But it is really hard for such a green horse to win the Derby but this guy just may be special. Of course, Curlin' finished third in the Derby, and that was all he needed to go on and win the Preakness.

Colonel John, out of six races winner of four, including the Santa Anita Derby, has never been worse than second lifetime. He will be up there. Include him in your exotics.

For the Superfecta, you may want to throw in Tale of Ekati. Although beaten soundly twice by Pyro, he did beat War Pass last out. Only trouble with that is it was a very subpar performance for War Pass.

Longshots: Smooth Air, Court Vision, Bob Black Jack.

It's a horse race. Anything can happen. Good luck to all.

[Rteacher]

"Big Brown" proved to be the most talented horse, but the lone filly in the race provided the most dramatic story...

The most valiant effort in the Derby, however, was not Big Brown's. He established his superiority with aplomb.

Eight Belles ran her heart out -- and she was all heart. Eighteen males finished behind her. The nearest, Denis of Cork, was 2� lengths in her wake and overmatched, while the others staggered toward the wire outclassed not only by Big Brown, but by the only filly in the field whose effort will be remembered in eulogy rather than history.

Eight Belles' heart carried her to places she had never been, surrounded by a thundering phalanx of horses, racing a distance that carried them all into the unknown, well beyond any in her experience. For every stride of 10 furlongs she gave everything she had, then, the race over, a statement made in exclamation, she gave her life.

Eight Belles ran on with a courageous determination seen in few horses -- the best horses, the horses you remember -- running the race of her life, which would not see another sunrise. She followed the early speed, and ran past them when they tired. Though Big Brown ran past her -- no horse was going to beat Big Brown on Saturday -- the others never threatened Eight Belles.

Thirty-nine fillies have run in the Derby. Three won. Only one other, Lady Navarre in 1906, finished second. After delivering what was by any measure a truly remarkable effort -- one of the five best by a female in the Derby in 134 years -- Eight Belles galloped beyond the wire and around the clubhouse turn beneath jockey Gabriel Saez. Entering the backstretch, her front ankles collapsed simultaneously. While a crowd of 157,770 thundered in salute to Big Brown's victory, she fell.

"She started galloping funny and I tried to pull her up," Saez said, "but she went down."

When veterinarians reached the spot at which the gunmetal-grey filly lay motionless, there was no choice. Eight Belles was euthanized. Her heart had carried her to a place beyond where her legs were meant to go.

"She didn't have a leg to stand on," said Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian who represents the American Association of Equine Practitioners. "In my years in racing, I have never seen this happen. This was tough enough had it been one, but it happened in both and it happened on the same stride. She just collapsed right in front of the outrider, so there was not really any warning.

"When horses really tire they are taking a lot of load on the skeleton because their muscles are fatigued. So, we will occasionally see a catastrophic injury after the wire, when the horse is slowing down. The difficult thing to explain with her is that it was so far after the wire and she was easing down like you'd like to see a horse slow down by that point. Then, all of a sudden, she goes over the brink in both legs. I don't have an explanation because I have no background to draw on. I've never seen anything like this before."

Trainer Larry Jones, awaiting the return of the filly to be unsaddled, was celebrating her effort a year after Hard Spun, whom he trained for the same owner, finished second in the 2007 Derby, unaware of the cruel fate that met Eight Belles until he saw Saez return on the back of a pony ridden by broadcaster Donna Brothers.

"We were kind of high-fiving. But then horses came back, were unsaddled and led off the track. Someone said, 'That's your rider on that pony,'" Jones said. "I said, 'What's up?' He gave me a hug and said, 'Mr. Larry, they put her down.' Both cannon bones were broken when I got to her."

It is not insignificant that Eight Belles was withdrawn from Friday's Kentucky Oaks, which was won by her stablemate, Proud Spell. But a decision by owner Rick Porter to run probably the best 3-year-old filly in the nation against 19 males in the Derby put her in the precarious position that she overcame on sheer talent at the cost of her life. She proved her owner's point, but the cost was far too great.

"She ran the race of her life," Jones said. "We were through racing; all we had to do was come home. There's a reason for everything, but I see no reason for this. The main thing is that she didn't suffer. She went out in a blaze of glory. � Losing an animal like this �

"I don't know what to say."

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown08/columns/story?columnist=moran_paul&id=3380352

A lot of casual fans viewing the race on TV responded on Internet forums by angrily calling for the abolition of horseracing.

While that's not likely to happen anytime soon, I think that more safety measures (eg: installing synthetic track surfaces and raising the age of eligibility of Triple Crown entrants from 3 to 3.5 years old) should be instituted to protect both horses and jockeys.

[bacasper]

I admit I am astounded by Eight Belles' performance, as she really did show a lot of heart in that race. None of the other colts even tried to challenge Big Brown, and she did get a little bump down the stretch, altho it would not have changed the outcome. It certainly put a tragic damper on the day.

There will always be accidents and breakdowns in all sports. While attempts ought to be made to minimize them, we should not overreact.

What might help horse racing at this point is Big Brown's very real chance at winning the Triple Crown this year. It seems like he will have all new foes in the Preakness Stakes. I wonder if War Pass will run, altho BB does seem like he may be a once in a generation super horse.

That being said, I'm keeping my eye on Denis of Cork for the Belmont Stakes. With his strong closing move in the Derby coming from last to 3rd, he will be well suited to a mile and a half. While BB was increasing his lead over the rest of the field, Denis of Cork may have been the only one to gain ground on BB, as he did from the mile pole to the stretch. Of course, BB then pulled away even from him from there to the finish.

[catman]

Sports involving animals should be banned.

[bacasper]