Thread: Smarty Jones in Great HD!

He could win a bundle, great pic on Voom!

So tough to win that third leg, with the longer race. Good race though.

I knew when his jockey let him lead so early, that he would lose. Did the jock forget it was a mile and a half?

I was sad to see Smarty Jones lose, buy my picture stunk! NBC must have used 1 HD camera for the entire operation and even the HD picture left a lot to be desired. Sorry to pop your bubble, but this was an awful presentation for HD, maybe Seattle had a better feed than Portland, I don't know.

I thought NBCs HD PQ was really bad. It looked like they were filming in 480p and then my local did a bad upconvert.

As far as the race went, the jockey totally screwed up. He was holding Smarty back the whole time, and then let him loose WAY to early. Whipping him down the stretch was a nice touch too. He was out of gas, and the jockey beat the hell out of him trying to make him go fast again. If I owned Smarty I'd fire his jockey as soon as he dismounted. That horse was a triple crown winner for sure.

At least Smarty gets to stud for the rest of his days. Makes me wish I was a horse.

Originally Posted by astrossuperfan

I thought NBCs HD PQ was really bad. It looked like they were filming in 480p and then my local did a bad upconvert.

As far as the race went, the jockey totally screwed up. He was holding Smarty back the whole time, and then let him loose WAY to early. Whipping him down the stretch was a nice touch too. He was out of gas, and the jockey beat the hell out of him trying to make him go fast again. If I owned Smarty I'd fire his jockey as soon as he dismounted. That horse was a triple crown winner for sure.

At least Smarty gets to stud for the rest of his days. Makes me wish I was a horse.

Huh? If you follow the trainer's quotes, he was concerned on the backside because Smarty wasn't settling (relaxing) the way he should. He pulled the jock to the front rather than continuing to rate just off the pace the way he did in the Preakness. That is a sign the horse is too rank and expending unnecessary energy. The jock has an option - either a loose restraint and let him go a little, or strangle him which (in most horses) snuffs out their enthusiasm (I don't mean literally strangle him - just too tight on the reins to hold them back). I also don't think he let him go too soon. If you note at the quarter pole, he's not urging him at all - just the same hold on the reins - not even pumping his neck at all. When the jock asked him to run at the top of the stretch, he shifted only one gear and then flattened out. As opposed to the Preakness where he shifted several gears and left the field as if they were tied to the quarter pole. You can always try to criticize the jock if you get beat by a length when you've got a decent lead in the stretch. But, I think it was far more that the horse was a little rank and had some trouble getting the mile and a half - a distance he will likely never run again.

And, if he's gonna enjoy his stud career, he's gonna have to wait awhile. Barring injury, he'll run the rest of the year.

I got it on comcast hd (Ocean Co . NJ ) and the PQ was really bad also.