8/24 ATR: Serling, Baffert, Leslie Young, Billy Koch, Paddy Gallagher

[Kasept]

Monday NYRA Bets ATR = Andy Serling, Bob Baffert, Paddy Gallagher, Leslie Young, Little Red Feather's Billy Koch. Replay: SiriusXM 6-9a Tuesday; Archive: https://stevebyk.com/broadcast/. Stream: https://stevebyk.com/listen-live-siriusxm

[Dahoss]

I caught the end of your opinions on the Pacific Classic on my way into work this morning Steve and I think it’s a very interesting discussion.

On one hand, Maximum Security ran his usual strong race. He’s clearly a very good horse. I don’t put a lot of stock in the “who did he beat” talk because he beat who showed up. The runner up is a good turf horse who has run well on dirt. Higher Power seems sour on racing at this point and who knows what Midcourt is going to show up from race to race. The other two stink, but again, it’s no surprise where he was running so hard to fault him there.

I also don’t put any stock into the inane conspiracy that Espinoza held Midcourt early because Baffert put him on the 2 year old rocket earlier in the card. I heard later that Privman talked about Espinoza having a relationship with the owners of the 2 year old.

I do think Midcourt is a much better horse when he is involved early and he didn’t break as well Saturday as he did last time and the plan didn’t seem to be on the pace this time. I also think he regressed this time, whereas Maximum Security improves in his 2nd start off the bench.

Ultimately, the reason why Maximum Security will always be the kind of horse who is under appreciated is he represents a lot of what people (bettors) despise about the sport. He’s a horse whose trainer didn’t think much of, running for a 16k tag in his debut. His trainer was long suspected of being a move up guy and he went from 16k maiden claimer to Kentucky Derby winner 4 races later.

Then his trainer gets indicted by the feds for the same thing bettors have been saying for years and while there is no proof he was getting the PED’s that the Servis horses were getting, you can kind of guess he was. So they move him from Servis to Baffert. Maybe the greatest dirt trainer of all time, but also a guy with his fair share of medication overages, conspiracies, etc. People (online idiots and non idiots alike) question Baffert performances as well.

Then you add in his owners, who by all means seems like charitable people...but have also behaved like petulant children since the minute the horse was DQ’d from the Derby.

None of this is the horses doing....he just does his job everytime. And he’s a fantastic horse. But his human connections do him no favors and he’ll always be the poster child for what Servis was doing

[Kasept]

Servis didn't want to run him for $16k. That was West and Ben Glass. The mare hadn't thrown anything and was virtually given away and New Year's Day had been exported. West spends 5 million a year on 20 or so Classic prospects and wasn't that concerned with a home bred who had some issues at 2.

My complaint with negative overreaction to any effort by Maximum Security stems from the cherry picking of disdain. Many of those on the attack seem to conveniently bypass any critique of those within their circle, which I fully understand. There's always going to be 'move up' trainers and out-sized percentage types and as players we account for that in approach to our play.

I think the horse is a talent and enjoy his performances. And the hubbub they produce.

[Dahoss]

Whatever the reason for him running for 16k is irrelevant. But Servis knew he was that good and listened to Gary West and Ben Glass anyway? Or did he not know what he had?

I don’t see the cherry picking you speak of. But I agree many people can be one sided in their criticisms.

The move up trainer stuff is an interesting discussion. I’m not sure there always has to be move up trainers, but you’re right, as bettors the best course of action we have is to adapt, or not play at all.

I guess I was trying to give the perspective of someone who also views him as an immense talent, but also giving you the reason why I (and others) will always view him as a Barry Bonds type. Someone with immense talent that had a lot of help to achieve “greatness.”

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Servis didn't want to run him for $16k. That was West and Ben Glass. The mare hadn't thrown anything and was virtually given away and New Year's Day had been exported. West spends 5 million a year on 20 or so Classic prospects and wasn't that concerned with a home bred who had some issues at 2.

My complaint with negative overreaction to any effort by Maximum Security stems from the cherry picking of disdain. Many of those on the attack seem to conveniently bypass any critique of those within their circle, which I fully understand. There's always going to be 'move up' trainers and out-sized percentage types and as players we account for that in approach to our play.

I think the horse is a talent and enjoy his performances. And the hubbub they produce.

This is really unbelievable Steve. You're still going to be Jason Servis's defender? He didn't want to run him for a tag? Did he tell you this before he ever ran...or after...you know, the same time he was whining constantly how people were unfairly accusing him of being a cheater. You really need to get away from this. The guy is accused by the FBI of using performance enhancing drugs on his horses, and while he is innocent until proven guilty, there is a pretty damning case out there. If he's guilty, he has effectively stolen money from probably everyone that has ever bet horse races west of the Mississippi.

Here's the thing Steve, there is literally no trainer in the last decade that people have been more suspicious of than Servis. Spare me the "there's always going to be other move up trainer" BS, as this one was the king of the move ups, and now he's under Federal indictment. Let me know when the others that are supposedly conveniently ignored get locked up. Frankly, I don't hear a lot of horseplayers conveniently ignoring any of these guys. In fact, I hear a lot of reprehensible people accusing people that actually don't do this at all. Horseplayers are sick and tired of losing to horses they suspect were juiced, or missing out on large scores because even though they may have hit a Pick-5, their 15:1 shot that ran second to Servis at 3:5 probably should have won the race. So, like it or not, Maximum Security will always be the poster child for the deserved anger that people who bet their money, the people who support this game, have built up over years of frustration. Yes, it wasn't always in losing to Servis, but let's be honest, he stands for a lot of trainers that have frustrated horseplayers over the years.

It's not as though Maximum Security was the exception. He was discussed on the wire taps when Servis was looking for some way to pass the post race when he was running at Monmouth. Which brings up another issue....what about the horses? What about what happened to X Y Jet? Is this not also part of this sordid tale? How many other were there? There is simply no part of this story that isn't utterly disgusting, and while I firmly believe everyone deserves their day in court, and you are free to take any opinion you want, I am surprised that you still feel a need to defend Servis in any way. Maybe you are a far more magnanimous person than I am, but I have been betting and losing far too frequently to this guy, often for reasons that go way beyond handicapping. I'm fairly certain I am far from alone around here.

Is it fair that Maximum Security bears some of the brunt of this frustration? No, it was not his fault he was possibly given performance enhancing drugs, but it shouldn't be surprising to anyone, especially anyone that bets, that many horseplayers aren't among his biggest fans and defenders. Fortunately, he likely can't read, or isn't on social media, so he's likely blissfully unaware. Sometimes I wish I was too.

[Kasept]

Gosh.. That's a bit of an exaggerated response to my fairly mundane answer to Hossy. My familiarity with Maximum Security running cheaply came from West racing manager Ben Glass & West breeding advisor Sid Fernando.

Not sure how saying people seem to cherry pick their ox-goring is a defense of Servis. I just pointed out that there's a number of people that readily critique certain parties while ignoring the potential transgressions of others that may hit close to home.

I think I probably am more magnanimous than most. (Certainly so when it comes to avoiding judgements in many areas of the industry.. something of a necessity doing what I do). And related to that, I'm not someone who carries a lot of animosities around.