2015 Eclipse Awards

[Man o Taz]

Thanks for the insights regarding the So Cal colony. I miss Rafael Bejarano a lot, but do not blame him one bit.

And you are absolutely right. Garcia deserves a lot more credit. I thought Victor Espinoza rode AP in some of his works, but I was never able to find any confirmation of that. Martin did them all. Espinoza got lucky in being able to take over the mount. And I wonder if Espinoza is also to blame somewhat for AP's loss in the Travers. Espinoza said post-race he could tell in the post-parade he was not 100%. That may be why he did not press him to go faster earlier which I would agree with. But if you knew he was not 100%, why after a half mile would you engaged Frosted? Why not just let him go by? When asked what he would do differently, Espinoza said he would have went faster earlier? I was confused by that because AP had rated fine in Arkansas, Kentucky and New Jersey, so why would you use a horse not 100% earlier when you did not have to and could just let the other horse go by, save your horse for one run, and then catch him in the stretch? Who knows.

[curtis]

Thanks for the insights regarding the So Cal colony. I miss Rafael Bejarano a lot, but do not blame him one bit.

And you are absolutely right. Garcia deserves a lot more credit. I thought Victor Espinoza rode AP in some of his works, but I was never able to find any confirmation of that. Martin did them all. Espinoza got lucky in being able to take over the mount. And I wonder if Espinoza is also to blame somewhat for AP's loss in the Travers. Espinoza said post-race he could tell in the post-parade he was not 100%. That may be why he did not press him to go faster earlier which I would agree with. But if you knew he was not 100%, why after a half mile would you engaged Frosted? Why not just let him go by? When asked what he would do differently, Espinoza said he would have went faster earlier? I was confused by that because AP had rated fine in Arkansas, Kentucky and New Jersey, so why would you use a horse not 100% earlier when you did not have to and could just let the other horse go by, save your horse for one run, and then catch him in the stretch? Who knows.

I don't want to speak for Victor but what I think he meant was he should have sent Pharoah harder from the gate and established a more commanding advantage. Being so tractable, Pharoah then could have been reeled in a bit. Instead, he was put in a position where Frosted made him quite uncomfortable. I've only ridden TB's at a canter--well, on purpose😏--and they're very competitive. It would be hard after they established the lead to acquiesce and give it up expecting to come back later. Besides, I don't think Lezcano wanted the lead as much as he wanted to bully Pharoah. I think Espinoza did fine, it's just that he was put into a tough spot, ultimately too tough a spot. There's an old saying that it doesn't matter if the melon hits the rock or the rock hits the melon, it's never good for the melon. On Travers day, Victor and American Pharoah were the melon.

[Man o Taz]

I've only ridden a racehorse wise a retired standardbred and as much as they have a nicer demeanor, they are still competitive and want to get into a gallop so I cannot even imagine what its like to ride a thoroughbred so I get your meaning. I think Victor eased up on him because he was not 100% and I get your point that once Lezcano bugged him it was too late.