which is the exact thinking bobby frankel had with empire makers' foot and the kentucky derby.

Your chances of outright winning our bet just increased by leaps and bounds.

LOL should be for your ridiculous belief that they won't retire him. This is IEAH. The value of the horse can only go down by racing. He can win every race the rest of the year and his value won't increase. He has soundness issues and keeping him around for the fall isn't going to make any breeder forget that.

As for Casino Drive, you really should start referring to him as the Belmont winner Casino Drive. You are going to see a romp in the Belmont, just not from Big Brown.

sure he could.

It would be a bad time to take the Blood Pressure of any NYRA executive.

You would think this would decrease his
value. It should decrease his value with
all the measures they have taken to keep
him sound.

Totally messed up. This illustrates perfectly
how screwed up the thoroughbred market
is. Totally short term thinking.

Pile o crud thinking.

like what kind of injury??

Yeah. We see horses come over from Japan and win grade 2's at Belmont in their second start all the time. Especially off just 1 workout. Why not factor in the horse's mother has produced the winner of the last 2 belmonts and his father was the HOY that destroyed everything he faced at Belmont.

You want to mention how Casino Drive also threw up a faster beyer in the race than Big Brown threw up in the Preakness.

Big Brown might win, but if he isn't 100% he has absolutely no chance of beating a horse like Casino Drive.

Besides the subject horse, what other horses in his close genetic background show a disposition to quarter cracks? Also, has it been proven that a tendency to quarter cracks can be passed along? I know that his line is filled with unsound horses, but I'm not convinced that quarter cracks can be passed along. If anything, Big Brown will have problems passing on any genes at all ... his sire had been documented as having fertility problems and Danzig didn't have the easiest of times either.

altho i wouldn't be surprised if they retired him, they already have a deal with three chimneys, which allows ieah to run him thru years' end.

as for casino drive, i don't know why you have such a hard on for a two time starter, but i'd say your hype of a relative unknown is far more ridiculous than anyone else's doubts about his ability.

The odds of Better Than Honour throwing 3 Belmont winners in a row are very slim.

I doubt it will decrease his value. If he were to take a few months off and then come back and lose then his value would plummet. They will retire him and he will get his $100K from all the people that don't care about soundness but are interested in trying to get the next big brown.

The odds of producing 2 were very slim. Right now, if BB isn't 100%, there is no other horse that can beat Casino Drive. Casino Drive might not even be as good as Big Brown, but he is going to be the beneficiary of weak competition, just like Big Brown was.

Anyone that doesn't believe that people who have entered into a $50 million contract to stand a horse next year have no say in what the current owners do with the horse this year are either naive or stupid. Or both.

Glad I got to see his last race

not only could he cause further injury to the hoof, i bet we all have seen horses who are sore in one leg run differently, trying to 'save' the injured limb. they don't run the same, aren't balanced and aren't running evenly-which can cause problems with the three legs that are doing the holding up.
i wouldn't want to be riding on a horse running full tilt on three good feet.

Casino Drive has already been the beneficiary of weak competition. ;)

The grind of the Derby & Preakness w/ a horse that has sore feet = quarter crack.....this SHOULDN'T surprise anyone. That's why he didn't race from Sept. to Mar. This is a very, very good horse with foot issues...but not "top shelf" yet. He may make the Belmont, but now there is an excuse if he preforms badly.

I am much more convinced quarter cracks
can be passed on than speed and endurance.

If one were to ask any sane person who knows
anything about genetics to weigh the two against
each other (speed/endurance v. quarter cracks)
it would clearly be an anatomical developmental
flaw which a quarter crack is.

And I am not convinced a quarter crack must
be genetic either. But is more likely to be than
speed and endurance. Thats for sure.

robert clay said that ieah has full say, that they will begin managing the horse after he retires-but we all know that he won't run at four.
no doubt they are in contact, and will make suggestions, but according to current and future owners, ieah is in control for now.
i'd imagine they have a deal somewhat like lawyer ron had regarding if he lost two in a row-no doubt three chimneys has something in there to protect themselves and their investment as best they can.