What he needed, and a bunch to spare! He left them standing in the final stretch. They were all in, and he was just getting ready to show what he could really do. It reminded me of the Dread Pirate Roberts saying, "I'm not left-handed." (Or was it, "I'm not left-handed, either"?)
It looked to me more psychological than anything. The second group of two-three horses easily stayed with AP all the way to the stretch, not only because AP was running a relaxed pace (two and a half seconds off the record pace), and then one took a run at him, gaining a bit, as they came out of the stretch turn. AP didn't so much kick at that point as he just pushed the pace a skosh--no risk of dying later in the stretch from that.
It looked to me like the ease with which AP added that step to his pace caused the other horse to fold mentally, and that one just gave up. I'm not convinced he didn't have the legs, anymore. To paraphrase Boris Becker, the stretch has nothing to do with racing.
OK, I admit it, I was tearing up a little as AP stretched his lead at the end. And yeah, I noticed one horse folding just after the first turn, and wondered who would be next.
An excellently done tactical race all around. American Pharoah just had the pacing in the stretch that he needed.
ReplyDeleteApparently, too, the horse's owner tried to auction him off a couple of years ago for $1M, but pulled him back when the bidding stalled at $300k.
Eric Hines
What he needed, and a bunch to spare! He left them standing in the final stretch. They were all in, and he was just getting ready to show what he could really do. It reminded me of the Dread Pirate Roberts saying, "I'm not left-handed." (Or was it, "I'm not left-handed, either"?)
ReplyDeleteIt looked to me more psychological than anything. The second group of two-three horses easily stayed with AP all the way to the stretch, not only because AP was running a relaxed pace (two and a half seconds off the record pace), and then one took a run at him, gaining a bit, as they came out of the stretch turn. AP didn't so much kick at that point as he just pushed the pace a skosh--no risk of dying later in the stretch from that.
ReplyDeleteIt looked to me like the ease with which AP added that step to his pace caused the other horse to fold mentally, and that one just gave up. I'm not convinced he didn't have the legs, anymore. To paraphrase Boris Becker, the stretch has nothing to do with racing.
Eric Hines
Love a good horse race, although what I love horses for most is riding in the hills.
ReplyDeleteOK, I admit it, I was tearing up a little as AP stretched his lead at the end. And yeah, I noticed one horse folding just after the first turn, and wondered who would be next.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1