That's been the story with the Derby over the years...Pace pressers tend to win most often...front runners win once in a while, closers win some.
I still don't think that anything that happened before the storm is pertinent to the Derby...the track was totally different. You cannot say that the track for the Derby was speed favoring based on the previous races that day. I don't feel that Smarty Jones won because of any track bias...he was simply much the best horse that day.
I wasn't yet comparing Smarty Jones to Seattle Slew...that will need to wait 3 1/2 weeks. There are some parallels, however. Both undefeated, with relatively unknown trainers and jockeys.
At least one of Smarty Jones' wins came at a premier track against top-notch company
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