Look out for Gronk

I just texted someone with the same bet.

Thank you both for this one

Thanks Eddie Olczyk! Hit the $4 trifecta!

I'll be looking out for him going backward and getting in someone's way.

:lol:

When did Eddie O have Gronk in his tri? I didn’t see it.

I wound up being up for the day thanks to the R9 pick. So I’m happy.

Wagering Strategy ($100):

$52 Exacta: JUSTIFY over HOFBURG ($52)
$4 Trifecta Part-Wheel JUSTIFY over HOFBURG over ALL ($32)
$2 Trifecta Part-Wheel JUSTIFY over ALL over HOFBURG ($16)

Eddie’s Picks

1 JUSTIFY
2 HOFBURG

Here

https://www.xpressbet.com/component/con ... y-give-you

Did Justify Have Another Horse Blocking For Him In His Belmont Stakes Win?

On Saturday, Justify became the 13th horse in history to win the Triple Crown (and the second in the last four years, which explains the general lack of excitement—these Belmont Stakes drew the lowest ratings for a Triple Crown bid since NBC began broadcasting the race in 2001). Justify is obviously a great horse—but he might’ve had some help.

Justify is accused of getting assistance from his stablemate Restoring Hope, also trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by jockey Florent Geroux. Geroux unexpectedly brought his horse up early and took the first turn notably wide, before coming back inside to the rail on the back stretch, and in doing so blocked a couple of fast-starting contenders from getting anywhere near Justify.

Mike Repole, co-owner of Vino Rosso and Noble Indy, laid the charges against Geroux and Restoring Hope in an interview with the Post.

“It definitely seemed to me he was more of an offensive lineman than a racehorse trying to win the Belmont,” said Repole of 37-1 Restoring Hope, “and Justify was a running back trying to run for a touchdown.”

Here’s the race. The horses to keep your eye on are Justify, starting from the rail, and Restoring Hope, in Gate 5. Geroux is in hot pink silks, so he’s easy to spot.

Restoring Hope finished eighth, well off the lead, fading sharply soon after making sure Justify had no challengers heading into the far turn. It was certainly an odd race for a jockey trying to win—Restoring Hope started badly and spent everything he had to catch up to Justify in the clubhouse turn, and had nothing left very quickly.

John Velazquez, the rider of Vino Rosso, said he felt Geroux rode Restoring Hope in a manner to protect Justify.

“Why would you send a horse that breaks bad and take everybody out, then come back in?” Velazquez, a Hall of Fame rider, said. “That’s his job, to protect the other horse and it worked for them. You have to give it to them.”

“We watched him rush up like he was a Quarter Horse, make a quick right-hand turn, then turn left, pinned [Bravazo] on the rail,” an angry Repole told the Daily Racing Form. “He looked like a bodyguard making sure nobody got close to Justify.”

There are a few things to keep in mind here. First, Repole isn’t exactly an unbiased observer; Vino Rosso finished fourth and Noble Indy last. Noble Indy, a speed horse, needed to be near the front early to have any shot, and couldn’t get past Restoring Hope. Second, it’s impossible to know what was in the minds of Baffert or Geroux. Geroux on Sunday said Restoring Hope was getting aggressive with him, and he pulled the horse out wide in the turn to make sure he wasn’t penned in. It’s a plausible-enough explanation.

Gary West, owner of Restoring Hope, was furious with the way his horse was run, but admitted he can never know Geroux’s intent.

“I have no earthly idea what Florent was thinking or what his race strategy was,” he said in an email response to a request for an interview. “Had I known better, the first eighth of a mile I would have thought it was a quarter-horse race, not the mile-and-a-half Belmont. Maybe the horse was completely out of control and Florent had no choice. I will never know.”

The third and ultimately most important factor here is that it’s not necessarily even against the rules to block for another horse. On a replay of the race, NBC Sports analyst Randy Moss observed that Restoring Hope “is sort of running interference a little bit to keep Noble Indy from getting up there with Justify. But that’s fine, it’s perfectly legal.”

Steve Lewandowski, the New York Gaming Commission steward, said there are no plans to talk to Geroux or investigate further. So this one’s in the books, and it’s history. Those on the wrong side of it aren’t about to forget it, however.

“Justify’s a freak, super horse, undefeated, amazing what he’s done,” Repole said. “Who knows if he would have won the race anyway? We’ll never know.”

Geroux definitely ran interference for Justify. But guys like Baffert and Peter Miller have their riders do shit like that all the time. It's not exactly illegal, but it certainly falls into a gray area, particularly with an uncoupled entry. They can do all the talking they want, but Restoring Hope was not ridden in an attempt to win that race.

Still, the bigger problem is this goof coming up with a new "Horse of the Century" every other year. It would be an embarrassment to the sport if anyone actually acknowledged how ridiculous that was. The general public only pays attention a couple times a year and doesn't know enough to understand that Baffert isn't some great guy. And racing insiders and the turf press have to pretend it's normal and that Ol' Bob just developed another great champion because the sport is on life support to begin with. It's just like baseball or bicycle racing. Everybody is doing something. This guy is just on another level, like Armstrong or Bonds.

There may be some going on hay, oats, and water but you aren't seeing them in the winner's circle, certainly not at this level.

It's gotten to the point where guys I consider real horsemen like Shug McGaughey and Frankie Brothers have difficulty competing. And I'm not saying those guys aren't using some kind of what we call a "pre-race", I'm just sure it isn't the same kind of thing guys like Navarro and Baffert use.

Technically, you're not supposed to give anything but state-regulated medication on race day, e.g. lasix, bute. But guys have got how long medications take to clear the system down to a science and they give it right on the edge. That's why sometimes they get caught. It's a fine line and each state has different rules.

These guys I consider serious juicers are doing horrible stuff like giving rat poison to pump up the red blood count or using some kind of "blood builder" like EPO. That's why you sometimes see a horse inexplicably stop and get pulled up. The answer is usually that he "a-fibbed" or had an atrial fibrillation. Actually the blood is so thick the heart can't pump it. Dirty business.

My guess would be that Baffert is using some real designer stuff that is beyond what anyone else has.

So are these horses being pumped full of stuff during training, on race day, or both?

When would you say that high level racing started with the synthetic helpers to the horses? I mean was Seattle Slew roided up out there or was it later than that.

Well, for the big stables that can afford it the horses are on a program like Marion Jones or Bonds or Armstrong. Getting the red blood count up to carry oxygen is a process. That's something that's trickier to catch. With therapeutic medications, these are things that can be used, but no so close to race time as to blow up the box. That's where the line comes in. Guys are always trying to time it.

Steroids were never illegal in racing. That became a big story with Big Brown. Steroids were pretty de rigueur. I think they have been outlawed in certain jurisdictions since. That's why top race mares often have trouble getting in foal immediately after coming off the racetrack. Some of them look so masculine you'd think there was a cock and balls between their legs.

I think as long as people have been betting, people have been cheating. I wouldn't say horses like Seattle Slew or Secretariat were juiced up. Certainly not like today's horses.

The first big thing in my racing lifetime was the "milkshake". It's a concoction made of baking soda and brown sugar that got popular in the 80s. There's nothing illegal about feeding a horse baking soda. The problem is the methods that were used- pouring it into the stomach through a worming tube. The top juicers have moved way beyond that.

JORR,

So take a horse like Justify. Let’s assume he was on nothing, just horse food or whatever. Also assume all the other horses would be on their regular drugs. Where would Justify finish in the triple crown races?

That's what's fucked up about it. You just don't know. He had such a pace advantage in the Belmont there may have been nothing they could have done to beat him. Add in his wooby making a right turn after the break to make sure no other horse could possibly pressure him and the race was over before it began. Coming off the last corner Smith was standing straight up in the irons. The horse hadn't even raced.

I question the Kentucky Derby the most. He went a punishing first half and nobody could really make up any ground on him in the last eighth other than Audible. When I see a horse do something that out of the ordinary, it makes me scratch my head. Sure, the track was speed favoring, but the front still should have fallen apart off those early fractions. Bolt D'Oro is a premium animal. He raced like a normal horse.

Arrogate is really the worst to me. The race in Dubai is absurd. It's the racing equivalent of Bonds putting up 1.4 OPS. He missed the break and Gunner Runner- an absolutely elite horse trained by a guy who is undoubtedly lighting them up himself- is right where he wants to be with Arrogate dead last. What happened defied belief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi-LRY7efVA

When you look at these horses in the Triple Crown series over the past several years, I have to say Orb and California Chrome are the best. Those horses raced as close to "cold" as you're likely to see in this era. And I'm guessing Orb turns out to be a far superior sire to any of these Baffert "super horses".

So these horses that run “cold”, are they on no drugs, or just regular stuff that is legal or whatever.

Who makes the calls on drugging a horse, I assume the trainer, but does the owner have any input?

JORR,

You ever read Laughing in the Hills?

It’s the only real exposure to horse racing that I have explored (Seabiscuit, but yeah). Like lots of great sports books though, so little of it is about sports.