That was a pretty darned impressive performance yesterday! I understand that he set a new track record and earned a 119 Beyer in the process!

Well bet as second choice, Custom For Carlos looked ever so briefly at the 3/16th or the 1/8th like he could get the best of Big Drama, but as soon as he got up where he could look the soon-to-be-crowned Champ in the eye, it was like he said, "Ooops, sorry. I didn't realize who you are! My Bad!" LOL! Big Drama just drew off from there to a 4-length win......it was 13 lengths back to the thoroughly-crushed Our Edge in third.

There was a lot of grumbling around me that Custom For Carlos hung like a wet suit. Well, I disagree. He just got close enough to realize that he was in over his head. For me, there's a difference between hanging just because you don't want to pass other horses and being smart enough to know you can't win no matter how good you are or how hard you try. Custom For Carlos ran a winning race. There's no reason for him to hang his head in finishing second to a performance like that! (Sorry for the mini-rant....those folks denigrating Custom For Carlos's effort really annoyed me!)

I've been a huge fan of Big Drama ever since his Delta Jackpot win as a 2yo. This is actually the second track record he has set at Gulfstream......the other one is the Swale two years ago when he was DQ'd out of the win. It should be remembered also that Big Drama was the colt that dueled with Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness before fading late (only back to 5th). It was he who was at least partly responsible for making her victory there so impressive. After Fawkes and company finally decided to let him be what he is, a stone-cold sprinter, I believe he's been just one race short of perfect, and no horse on the planet was going to beat Majesticperfection in THAT one!

I DO hope that Big Drama's name is called on Monday night. Majesticperfection is the only one that could possibly deny him......and HE's a son of Harlan's Holiday so most of you know how difficult it is for me to root against HIM!

Big Drama deserves it. This performance yesterday would only validate that!

Pas- I have a slightly different take on Custom for Carlos. My disclaimer is that I am a fan. CFC has not run since April. His first race back after an injury and long layoff was against arguably the best sprinter in the world racing at his peak. Not only that, Big Drama swung CFC extremely wide on the turn and CFC was a short horse. Both horses ran a great race. Don't be surprised CFC beats him sometime later this year.

Jason, to be honest, I didn't really "handicap" the race. Custom For Carlos was a very well-bet 2nd choice at 2/1, and taking that against a horse like Big Drama isn't very inspiring, to say the least, so I wasn't interested in betting on either one of them. I took a few bucks (and I mean VERY few) on a long shot trying to beat them both just for the heck of it, and I think Taqarub only beat one horse, and that was barely! LOL!

The point is that I didn't even realize that Custom For Carlos had been off that long. That makes his effort in there even more impressive. I also did notice when Big Drama drifted him out on the turn for home. That tells me that Eibar thought he was a legitimate threat at that point, and decided that a little race-riding was in order.

I was just saying that I thought Custom For Carlos gave a terrific effort in there, especially now being aware of the layoff, and I just got really peeved at all the "experts" whining about how he hung. Maybe Big Drama's class wasn't as big a factor as I initially thought, and maybe he just plain old got tired, which he had a right to do. Big Drama spurting away in deep stretch actually supports that idea. Horses that hang usually stay in the hunt but just don't want to pass....that wasn't the case there.

Thanks Jason, for giving me something to think about. Very good post!

And one thing I know is that Custom For Carlos didn't HANG!