Calvin Borel gave Mine That Bird a terrible ride in the Belmont.. Do you agree?

gynecologist · Jun 7, 2009

It was his first belmont and only his fifth lifetime mount at Belmont, and boy did it show..

He moved the horse waaaay too soon, at least and I mean at the very least he should have waited a 3/16th longer to make a move maybe even 2 furlongs.. Horse made his move with with 5 furlongs left to go?????

Unbelievable..

Bruins4Life · Jun 7, 2009

Horrible ride. Agree 100%.

gynecologist · Jun 7, 2009

Horse was in front of 5 horses with almost 6 furlongs left in the race.. WOW that is simply bad race riding.

koidog · Jun 7, 2009

Agree, I just posted that in the other thread before I read this. Really all the evidence you need are Borel's own words after the race. He said a few times how they "crawled" up front. He totally miscaculated.

gynecologist · Jun 7, 2009

Good point. He should of gotten a better feel for track.

pumpuup · Jun 7, 2009

After the race one of the commentators asked Borel what happened. As he explained and it made total since that the horse was pulling at him so he started his run. Sure Borel could have held back much longer but the horse has had two monster performances so why not unleash him a little earlier then planned so he makes sure that he gets up in time. Hindsight is 20/20.

Ask yourself this question, if he started his run too late and lost by a nose, would he still be criticized? The answer is yes. The jockeys get paid the big bucks so you better be on your A game and unfortunately Borel wasn't. I'm sure the trainer wasn't happy with him after the race.

cocktailsnlongshots+ · Jun 7, 2009

cocky rider who never rode the track all week...shades of stew elliot and smarty jones

gynecologist · Jun 7, 2009

pumpuup said:
After the race one of the commentators asked Borel what happened. As he explained and it made total since that the horse was pulling at him so he started his run. Sure Borel could have held back much longer but the horse has had two monster performances so why not unleash him a little earlier then planned so he makes sure that he gets up in time. Hindsight is 20/20.

Ask yourself this question, if he started his run too late and lost by a nose, would he still be criticized? The answer is yes. The jockeys get paid the big bucks so you better be on your A game and unfortunately Borel wasn't. I'm sure the trainer wasn't happy with him after the race.

I understand hindsight is 20/20, but still Borel's ride wasn't just bad, it was terrible.. He moved the horse 2 furlongs too soon. Someone mentioned he went a 22 and 3 qtr between the mile and mile and a quarter..

Right there tells ya a lot.