Holy cow..."I admit, it was their fault!"

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...hrome-to-ascot

the pearl clutching being exhibited about this decision is ridiculous.
how many of the people up in arms over CC going to england were critics of zenyatta not shipping?
how many saying he shouldn't run on turf were the same people saying wise dan needs to run on dirt?
how often do people complain that the best duck the best? now we have a horse about to potentially square off against some of the best turfers in the world-and that's wrong?
please, people, be consistent. make up your minds.

He sure seems to know a lot about the stallion business for someone who's only owned this one first horse.

That speech was written for him.

All I can say is "WOW" over that last paragraph.

















THUD! :zz:

I guess I missed the clamoring for more US dirt horses to go to Europe and take on the best in the world at their peaks on their best surface.

We're not talking apples to apples here. If John Sheriiffs would have taken THE GREAT Zenyatta overseas to tun on turf in her 4-year old season, he would have been called out too, and rightfully so.

now, that's hyperbole. zen would never have shipped that far.

and we clamor for brits to come here for the bc....i just wish people would be consistent. but that's probably asking way too much.

it beats winging it. that hasn't gone well for that team.

"WOW" is right! :eek:

Let me prefix this post with the following: The horse will not be successful on turf in Europe unless he is trained by someone who completely rebuilds him and finds ability he has not displayed previously.

I actually get Martin's points and agree with most of it. What is the risk? Is he not always going to be at least the stallion prospect he is today? The colt has won 6 million to date the biggest paydays are behind him save the Breeder's Cup Classic and what a myriad of 500k G1's. The horse doesn't figure to be the favorite in Classic and has proven to be an honest VERY GOOD horse on dirt, hardily a superstar. I don't think he is better then SB I don't think he is much better then several 4 years olds that have yet to flourish namely a Tonalist Honor Code etc.

Taking a shot and giving the horse a superior turf trainer in Europe isn't the dumbest risk. I look it at it as a VERY big long shot for him to become a world class turf horse but why not try and why not with people who are specialists at this in their backyard? And you know what this horses stallion future could be in Japan or Australia. Although Sid Fernando told me there was significant interest in him from KY breeders I am just not convinced they could be as interested as Foreign buyers especially if he proves us all wrong and is effective in Group 1 races. Didn't Verrazano do kind of the same thing last year?

agreed. doing this kind of stuff has a lot less risk long term than travelling stateside and losing.

This is a bit different than crossing the rockies for a grade 1 on dirt.

At the very least they should consider saving ground this time so they don't lose by 20+ lengths.

Hardly. I don't think he'd have been "called out" at all and no "rightfully so" about it. At age 4, if he'd taken her abroad to train for Royal Ascot and she'd left now, she'd have been a G2 winner and nothing else. Even if she were the newly annointed Apple Blossom winner (it's nearly the anniversary of that), I doubt anybody would've been horrified as if she were already the Zenyatta we all saw her become. I think you mean age 5 since we'd have had her 2008 season to have witnessed and it might've made her 2009 BCC triumph more difficult. Given her breeding, success on synthetic, and running style I bet she'd have crushed it. It's obviously not entirely certain, but she seemed to be able to run on anything.

I'm reserving judgment on Chrome's Ascot chances. It'd be great it he ran well. Nobody wants to see a nice horse whiff one. I will however maintain the owners get on my nerves.

William Buick gets the mount, nasal strips a no go and then there's this kinda interesting read about the continued lack of... well let's just say certain parties continue not being all too happy.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...rankie-dettori

Sounds like someone needs a manpon. Oh, boo hoo, I'm in England with a horse residing in horse heaven. Good lord

To me Chrome's training in England and running in the Prince Wales at Ascot as a prep for the Arlington Million is like moving to Boston to train and run in the Boston Marathon as a prep for the Arlington Heights 10K. Neither makes much sense, in fact both scenarios are crazy.