What the Truck?!

By the time the field of sophomores entered the gate yesterday in the Hutcheson (GII), I had already mentally ripped up my tickets.

I posted early afternoon that two of our speed entries had scratched out, weakening my position on Big Truck.

Watching him in the post parade weakened it completely. Shortly after the horses moved on to the main track, Javier Castellano sent the Truck on a sharp gallop. That meant one of two things - either the Big'un was full of run on the sealed track and he was trying to settle him down (highly unlikely), or he was unresponsive and he was trying to get his attention (much more likely). I held out hope it was the former, at least until they came to the gate.

In a 7 furlong dash with plenty of speed up front, the last thing you want to see from your top choice is a flat-footed walk to the gate. Big Truck was flat-footed, head slightly down, as he walked to the gate. There was NOTHING about his body language that said he was ready to run, and body language doesn't lie. He wasn't ready, and he didn't run.

Conversely, Smooth Air (#5) was on his toes and clearly sitting on a big effort. I'll take solace in a last minute saver play on him, but that doesn't do anything for my running tally, which has been gradually eroding for several weeks now.

We'll go back to the charts and turn this thing around next week. For now, this is where we stand:

Invested $132.80
Returned $330.40
ROI 2.5:1