[quote=SniperSB23] The horses suck out there right now besides Lava Man who really isn't that great either compared to California horses just three years ago. QUOTE]

Cannon Shell says the "quality of horses" is down in NY. Now Cali racing sucks according to this poster. I question what the real agenda is behind these comments. Or if there is not an agenda, is it just cool to criticize ? To downgrade racing is a way to impress people that you have a superior racing knowledge ?

I just can't go with this. It should be the performance that's judged, not what place he finishes. If he finishes second to Lava Man, but is beaten 5-6 lengths and never is a threat, that's not a good performance. That he finishes second would be more of an indictment of how bad the rest of the field is than an indication of how solid performs. I have a feeling that if someone would have entered against Spectacular Bid in that 1980 Woodward, where he won in a walkover, someone would have been on a message board saying he ran a nice second. U yourself acknowledge that there is nothing out here besides Lava Man. So how does beating nothing, or as u put it, horses that suck, make for a solid performance? Shouldn't a "classic" winner be able to beat horses that suck?