About two weeks before the Kentucky Derby is set to run, I often hear rank amatures make some pretty ridiculous comments about the contenders. Not only aren’t these things true, but often they don’t even apply to the horse they’re talking about!
Let’s start with Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown; I’ve heard many people say that he is a one dimensional horse and needs the lead.
This is 100% FALSE.
In his second lifetime start, he raced against a small field of 5 horses and sat off the leader until the far turn. In fact, jokcey Kent Desormeaux sat like a statue on this horse and the horse never pulled at the bit until Kent let him loose down the stretch. Most of these comments started AFTER Big Brown went wire-to-wire in the Florida Derby. However, he drew the outside 11 post that day and his connections were confident that they had the classiest colt in the field and decided to send him right to the front, rather than getting a wide trip or shuffled back by the inside traffic.
Second, other’s point to the DRF interview with Brown’s trainer, Richard Dutrow, who made comments that Big Brown is “bullish” and when he worked with Diamond Stripes they wanted to rate him behind and then have the two stars battle head to head (so both horses got something out of the work), but he acted “bullish.” However, plans changed when Big Brown broke ahead of stablemate Diamond Stripes and Dutrow was quoted as saying, “he wouldn’t let him by.”
FALSE!
Novice horse players misinterrpreted that statement. Dutrow is an experienced horseman, and doesn’t “bumb down” his comments for the general public. What he wanted you to take away after reading that article was that Diamond Stripes in an older, proven stakes winner and the inexperienced Big Brown was up for the challenge. Brown’s “bullish” behavior was a good thing- it didn’t mean he couldn’t be rated- but rather that he wasn’t intimidated. He looked Diamond Stripes right in the eye down the stretch and a very talented, older horse, with tons of racing experience could not get by him! There might have even been a little bumping, or tight quarters, but Big Brown held his ground. If he did it against an older mulitple stakes winner, no one in the field of 20 on Derby day should be able to make him loose his cool either!
I’ve heard a lot of talk about Pyro not being a route horse.
FALSE!
What??? His sire is Pulpit, who’s father is Belmont Stakes Winner (a 1 1/2 mile race and the longest of the Triple Crown) and leading sire-of-sires, A.P Indy. A.P. Indy’s dam is Weekend Surprise, sired by “Big Red” himself, triple crown winner, Secrateriat.
Pulpit has also sired Corinthian, winner of the Gulf Stream Handicap and Breeder’s Cup Mile. Purge, the Jim Dandy Winner, former Derby candidate Sky Mesa, Super Derby winner Essance of Dubai, Del Mar Oaks winner, Rutherienne, multiple stakes winning turf route specialist Stroll, and many other route winners.
This horse CAN run all day and has proven it on the track, never finishing worse than second in his 4 dirt efforts at a mile or over.
Another issue about Pyro was his dissapointing effort in the Blue Grass over Keeneland’s Polytrack. Many horseplayers have said, “if this horse was really that good, he would have run better on the Polytrack.”
FALSE- This makes no sense.
It’s common knowlede that some horse just don’t fire on certain surfaces. As a horse owner, I can tell you that I’ve personally owned horse that were Stakes winners on the turf, but couldn’t beat $10,000 claimers on the dirt. Also, it doesn’t have to be turf to dirt, or dirt to Polytrack. Some horses prefer one dirt surface to another.
That takes us to Tomcito. There’s still people who think that this horse could win a Graded Stake race in the United States!
FALSE! Listen, his form looks impressive with those 4 multiple length winning stakes efforts, but those came in Peru.
Since arriving in America, this colt has shown nothing, losing by 12-lengths in the Florida Derby (Grade 1) to Big Brown, but more importantly, by 7-lengths to the very average Smooth Air. Then returned as the Favorite in the Lexinton (Grade 2) only to never fire while splitting the field- beating 5 foes and losing to the other 5 in the 11 horse field. His best Beyer is a 92, which qualifies you to win a 2x allowance race at a major track. Jump off the band wagon already, his trainer is 0-for-16 this year and the horse is an allowance-type at best. Maybe he can talk with former Derby foreign-import Mr. Frisky after the race about how much better the racing is in the U.S. the in third world countries.
