"It makes it nearly impossible for a dark horse candidate to break out of the pack and challenge the front-runner(s) and thus isn't healthy for the process," Mr. Weaver wrote in an e-mail message on Sunday.
Stephens had made the same predictions about the Derby, saying he might try to challenge the front-running filly early, but said today he had changed his mind about that on the day of the race.
The Secretary of State for the Environment was also looking forward to a respite from months of escalating pressure to take the most important decision of his political life: whether to challenge the front-runner, Gordon Brown, for the Labour leadership and the keys to 10 Downing Street.
Hurricane Fly made a belated attempt to come out of the chasing pack and challenge the front-runners, but it was Nicholls' charge, impressively led by the wily Fehily, which stayed on best up the hill to secure victory.
Their live show is a strange phenomenon: the singer Adam Weiner whirls across the stage and accosts his piano in direct channeling of Jerry Lee Lewis, endlessly challenging the front row to accept his velocity.
Those three contests pitted a dominant establishment figure against a scrappy insurgent who challenged the front-runner from the left.
He said he believed the state was his best hope for challenging the front-runner, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
He challenged the front-running David and drew clear in the homestretch, winning by one length over Out of Mind, with David third.
