There were just three horses in race 3 and four in race 4 on a fast track. One and two scratches in the races respectively, although all scratches were by way of the vet. It will be interesting to see if vet scratches increase in light of the New York Times scrutiny.
62-1 winner Percussion stands out because that was just in a seven-horse field with nothing else on the board higher than 12-1. The race was a nw1x/25k optional. You would think he would have to have looked awful, to be that big of a price in a short field. Oddly, he'd won a maiden special weight at Aqueduct in his last start, which hardly would seem to make him unqualified for the event. That was his 10th start, so he'd been far from an exciting horse, but all of the races came in maiden special weights at good tracks, and he'd hit the board four times outside of the win.
Where he really stood out negatively was in his Beyers, which were clearly the worst in the race. His career-best Beyer was just 76, compared to career bests of 92, 90, 87, 107, 94, and 87 for the other entrants. I remember Beyer used to talk about a clear-top horse, and Percussion was sort of that in reverse.
He did appear a clear overlay against the morning line, where he was just 15-1, with an oddsmaker who is unusually unconcerned about hurting people's feeling. The oddsmaker had Vee's Accolade at 10-1 (went off 12-1), and Mandated Bliss 12-1 (went off 4-1).
Mandated Bliss ran last, but that was just a bad line on him. It didn't really fit his form, taking it at face value, and how could you rate a first-time Bruce Levine horse that way? Didn't the guy remember the good performance of Levine's California purchases in the past?
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