Jackson Bend

[Calzone Lord]

Nick Zito on Jackson Bend's performance: “He’s great this morning, but he was mad yesterday,” Zito said of Jackson Bend, favored yesterday at 4-5. “He just doesn’t want to run outside. He loves to run on the fence, he loves to split horses, but that’s the way it went. We’ll try to regroup and hopefully come back in the Forego.”

I can't believe Zito overlooked that the track was "cuppy" yesterday.

The slow early pace and the tactics of Dominguez on Crossbow are obviously the main reason he didn't perform up to his par yesterday.

One thing people often forget about Jackson Bend was that he was a tremendous 2-year-old.

He won the Frank Gomez over D'Funnybone (who came to NY and won the Saratoga Special by 10+ lengths and the Futurity by 4+ lengths over clear 2nd place finisher Discreetly Mine for Dutrow Jr. in his next two starts)

After that, Jackson Bend went on to sweep the entire Florida Stallion Series at Calder. He completed the sweet in the $400,000 In Reality Stakes, where he overcame a bad stumbling start, and a dreaded clear wide trip to win with a 100 Beyer in victory. A big figure for a 2yo router.

Here is the video of that neat performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTBBu4OAVTU

He's a pretty nice horse. Very good 2-year-old. Beaten less than a length by Lookin At Lucky in the Preakness at age 3. Grade 1 winner at 7 furlongs at both age 4 and age 5.

The last time he raced beyond 8.5 furlongs on the dirt -- he finished 2nd in the 9.5 furlong Skip Away Stakes at Gulfstream despite breaking from tough post 11 and having a wide trip throughout and against a slow pace. Future Breeders Cup Classic winner Drosselmeyer and future Big Cap and Foster winner Ron The Greek finished 4th and 5th in that race.

He's what passes for a durable and versatile top class horse today. Give him a fast and contested pace going 7fs and I think he will be fine if he has to sweep outside of horses.

[Bigsmc]

How good (or lucky) has Jacks or Better been with their modest breeding program to come up with the likes of Midas Eyes, Jackson Bend and Awesome Feather?

[outofthebox]

He is an iron horse..No breeding, small...But he has a big heart and loves to compete. Obviously the connections over thought the race instead of just playing the break. Like you i'm sure he will fire when he gets a race shape that favors his running style, whether it being inside, between or a wide sweeping move...

[pucknut]

Zito's trips to the winners circle have been as rare as a guilty man in prison
Everyone knew pacific oceans tactics at 7 furlongs bend should have been able to sit closer to the pace and have something left before the wire great tactics by Rosario and perfectly executed that second quarter was masterful and there the race was won
Zito I am afraid has his best days behind him

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by pucknut

Zito's trips to the winners circle have been as rare as a guilty man in prison
Everyone knew pacific oceans tactics at 7 furlongs bend should have been able to sit closer to the pace and have something left before the wire great tactics by Rosario and perfectly executed that second quarter was masterful and there the race was won Zito I am afraid has his best days behind him

Let me see if I have this right... You're praising Rosario for his ingenious ride while ignoring Dutrow's preparation of Pacific Ocean and ignoring Napravnik's ineptitude on Jackson Bend to blame Zito?

[Calzone Lord]

I don't get the credit Rosario has been given in that race or the fault Rosie was getting.

Dominguez was the one who decided to strangle Crossbow from the outset -- it was like a replay of his tactics on Get Stormy in Little Mike's big win on Derby day.

A monkey could have ridden the winner. He was given a clear lead and the only reason his horse relaxed so well was because he had no competition around him to look him in the eye and make him competitive.

As for Jackson Bend... it was a prep rare for the Forego and he doesn't perform as well when used early sprinting. Rushing up ahead of Crossbow to try and contest the pace would only have forced Dominguez to release his strangle hold on Crossbow and made things a lot worse for JB.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

I don't get the credit Rosario has been given in that race or the fault Rosie was getting.

That baffles me as well. What was he going to do, pull back and wait for Crossbow to duel with him? The break was phenomenal. I guess that is mostly the horse, but he should get some credit for that. From there, just don't fall off.

[pucknut]

I guess I am seeing mirages given the talent in this race I thought what Rosario did that second quarter was pro riding
As for Zito once one of the best he has been lackluster for years

Originally Posted by outofthebox

He is an iron horse..No breeding, small...But he has a big heart and loves to compete. Obviously the connections over thought the race instead of just playing the break. Like you i'm sure he will fire when he gets a race shape that favors his running style, whether it being inside, between or a wide sweeping move...

Agree completely with this post. Also, wouldn't write Zito off just yet. Still like him with 2nd-time starters (waiting for HOT WEST to come back).

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

That baffles me as well. What was he going to do, pull back and wait for Crossbow to duel with him? The break was phenomenal. I guess that is mostly the horse, but he should get some credit for that. From there, just don't fall off.

Yep.

I can't find fault with anyone's ride in that race. But Dominguez's tactics on Crossbow majorly set the tone for everyone else... and because of it, as usual, the winning rider got too much credit and in this case the losing riders certainly too much blame.

In Dominguez' defense, by doing what he did, he was able to defeat both Jackson Bend and Caixa Electronica with the inferior Crossbow.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Yep.

I can't find fault with anyone's ride in that race. But Dominguez's tactics on Crossbow majorly set the tone for everyone else... and because of it, as usual, the winning rider got too much credit and in this case the losing riders certainly too much blame.

In Dominguez' defense, by doing what he did, he was able to defeat both Jackson Bend and Caixa Electronica with the inferior Crossbow.

it seems to me every jock did what he could with what was handed him. with that break, pacific ocean had it made. had others sent, they'd have done no better. instead, they'd have most likely ended up worse.