It really doesn't matter. They'll say what they are going to say -- truth, lies, whatever, and your intelligence may or may not be insulted. That's part of this game. The connections of horses will never manage their horses based upon, up to, etc., other people's expectations, desires, wants, or whatever you want to call. Maybe it's no different than criticizing Steinbrenner for making an owner's move, or Torre for making a manager's move.

Be that as it may -- it doesn't matter because it had nothing to do with the horse and his performance. Why Hard Spun sucks -- what kind of thread it that. Anyone who looks to criticize this horse off that performance is just grasping at straws. He could have done this, or he could have went there, or whatever. All that talk could make winners out of all the losers at the track. Could have, should have, would have.

Eric

I hear you, and I agree. It is a shame that one aspect of the business drives the entire sport and that in a case like this, yes, this happens. I am also a realist and after being in the horse business for my entire adult, I also realize the harsh realities about what drives the business and how that impacts the sport. People will very often have, somewhat, ulterior motives. It could be as simple as "wanting to race at the Spa" or wanting to race on a particular day.

The plain old honesty, out there, up front, completely out in the open -- I guess that will happen at Fantasy Land Downs, LOL.

Eric

How much more could you ask from the Hard Spun people? They kept this horse on the track all spring and summer and came back yesterday in a Grade 1 on three weeks. They really have nothing to explain. If Porter made more money off his win yesterday, good for him. It's not as if they give Grade 1's away. Since when does a trainer or owner owe anyone an explanation for winning a Grade 1?

They made an intelligent and profitable financial decision, they made a sound management decision for the horse based upon his abilities, and the trainer prepared the horse so that he blew his competition out of the water in a great race.

What jerks! :D

Seems maybe the horse and the connections are treated as one.
I think the animal should be treated as the athlete and when an outstanding performance is exhibited its good for racing.

Its hard to hate the horse for me, but easy to dislike owners, or trainers of some. Heck I loved Congaree but Baffert was/is not my favorite for whatever reason.

Horses never suck, only some people:p

so true. some people make it extremely difficult to root for their horses. i never appreciated the bid much when he was racing, as i thought bud delp...well, you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead so i'll leave it at that.

i'd like curlin a lot more if he was with someone else. well, at least i wouldn't mind when he won so much!

His buddy that caught his hat should have made the play of the day on ESPN.

thats a fair point, I do see his speed as a bigger assest as the pretenders fall by the wayside. He could have easily dominated the pace of the Travers.
I not sure he would have won it, but it would have really changed the complexion.

Well, the owner is a car salesman so their reputation for lack of candor was maintained. Not to mention his outfit.

So your over/under on his BCC would be an extremely indifferent 6th?

I'll bet you on that for whatever you want, and take the "6th or better".

Bang.
If Jones read this it would have to hurt.

The new BC mile race plays right into Hard Spun's wheel house.

Is it graded and how much is the purse?

$1 million each

UNgraded for now

He got his G1, that is what he wanted

Dead game
 

In all the triple crown races, or the Haskell, I did not lay one dollar on Hard Spun, as I liked others such as Street Sense, or Any Given Saturday. But...the Kings Bishop, this hard tryer had me out of my seat rooting for him coming down the lane. Especially after being headed and fighting so gamely....

Hard Spun ran a courageous race. I imagine as many heartbreaks he has had in the last couple races, having prior being passed late, it would of been easy to throw in the towel in this race. But he was dead game, after he was headed in the stretch. More than any other race, this race showed his true class. Absolute true class.

A better race than the Travers. This horse never gave up.

Don't count him out in the classic.

The one thing I think Hard Spun has shown in virtually every start of his is guts. He's definitely a game animal.

garbage ;)
 

on racing record - You have to judge Curlin to get a standard for where Hard Spun belongs. If you consider Curlin the 1st or 2nd best racing 3yo, that bodes well for Hard Spun to be closely ranked. Both times Hard Spun didn't have a garbage ride he beat Curlin. To be fair, you have to consider Curlin's garbage ride in the Derby where Albarado asked nothing out of the gate, and was left with a lot of work, when he could have loomed in the pocket that Sedgefield enjoyed. You also have to be realistic that even a decent ride for Hard Spun in the Preakness would have likely left him short of the top two that day.
Do you rank the Pletcher move-up AGS 3rd best or HS? Up to you. Maybe it comes down to specific distances with these two. Saturday is clearly more explosive in the last two races and possibly better than 3rd best for pure racing ability right now. We wait to see if AGS will revert back to his natural ability under a stressful 10 panels in the BC Classic.

on physicallity - Hard Spun is the best 3yo dirt animal. He made Curlin look like a donkey head-to-head in the Haskell paddock, and Curlin is a big boy himself! HS is a superior animal. This is no runt. Street Sense and Curlin are beautiful horses, but Hard Spun is a cut above.

on pedigree - His pedigree is pretty good. A little hard to compare pedigrees, but I don't know that I would rank Hard Spun necessarily top-5 of the 3yos. He could easily turn out to be. Will be interesting to see if they breed him with any classy turf producers as well.

I don't like to get into the debates, however, in this case I'll throw my hat in the ring. First, and don't attack me for saying this, however, I was never -- never -- a fan of Hard Spun . . . not until Saturday. For whatever, reason, I just wasn't a fan. I didn't think he'd be there in the Derby, but could be in the Preakness. Regardless, I think unlike many others, I can bifurcate "betting" from who I like, am rooting for, etc. Regardless as well, I had the exacta both ways.

After the trip he got, and doing what he did -- at a certain point, coming down the stretch on Saturday, I was rooting for this horse. Prior to this race, like I said, I was never a fan. One thing I did think was that he was the "toughest" of the 3yo's. How can you not appreciate showing up to every dance, time and time again, doing the dirty work for the most part, and accomplishing what this colt has accomplished. Are there things people can knock him on? Sure, it's always easy to be a critic (thanks to Rick Pitino for the line). I am sure some will say he should have gotten third in the Belmont. Whatever, doesn't matter. Saturday should have turned critics into fans.

Curlin -- I think Curlin had an incredible amount of talent and potential. I thought, he had the most "natural" or "raw" talent. Doing what he did -- in his third, fourth, fifth, and sixth lifetime stars? He was hanging and banging with the best colts going -- like them or not -- as an unseasoned, inexperienced colt. I just thought this horse was getting better, learning, moving forward, and getting tougher. I thought that if he kept going, we could see one hell of a horse come summer -- if and only if he didn't fall victim to "too much too soon" and I am not sure if that was/is the case. This horse had incredible talent. He was asked for a great deal, very early on. His Monmouth race was enigmatic to some extent. Sure, I would have liked to see a more "even" track and would have liked to see him "run" and put in more of a "run", but it is what it is.

Street Sense -- what do you have to say about this horse. Are some going to fault him for not winning the Preakness? I am sure they are. Will some/many fault him for not showing up to the Belmont? I think so, and personally I think that's ludicrous. Will they question the Travers? I guess so as well.

Any Given Saturday -- I liked him in the Monmouth race. I thought he could beat Curlin only because of the track, the way it plays, etc. I thought Curlin, if he (and the talent/ability) showed up could overcome it. I did not think AGS was THAT kind of horse. I think in that race, he overachieved and outran what I thought he could do all things considered. I know a lot of people, people's who have opinion I respect, horsemen, trainers, jockeys, handicappers, who share the same opinion. That performance was a bit of a surprise. Maybe he turned the corner and stepped up. I guess we will soon see.

Anway, I hope all of them come back sound, fit, healthy and we can see them all at their best.

Eric

Bifurcate.... don't see that one used much these days.

Segment?

OK, seperate (I don't have spell-checker and actually wasn't sure about the spelling, LOL).

Eric

You used it right (I think). I'm keeping it handy for use at the right time....

The mile / dirt has a purse of 1 million dollars and is actually run at 1 mile and 70 yard this year because of the track configuration. ( I guess) Dont know if it is graded. He fits the mile much better than the Classic.

It's not graded, as far as I know.

Lava Man and Discreet Cat are going in that race. Highly unlikely they will ever allowHard Spun to race against Discreet Cat.

C.) None of the above.

Discreet Cat will get there and will probably do something similar to Ghostzapper's Met Mile and wow everyone, then they will retire him.

Here's the difference... Ghostzapper had nothing to prove to breeders at that point in his career. He was already the best horse in the world by 4-5 lengths at any distance, and unfortunately a fracture would have kept him out of training for too long as a 5yo. Discreet Cat has shown flashes of brilliance but hasn't sustained anything to justify a sky high stud fee.

lets see, who's more likely to race.

a filly who is already in race shape and is worth maybe 5 mil?

or a fragile colt that just had his first workout a mere 2 months before the bc, and is worth maybe 50 mil?

hmm.

DC is a nice 7f horse

OOOOOOOOOO

Hard Spun showed a lot of courage the other day. He's earned my respect as a horse that u have to consider at any distance under 12f. But as much courage as he showed the other day, it didn't inspire me to believe that he'd be able to hold off better horses than First Defence next time. A horse like Surf Cat or Greg's Gold would have likely run right on by while First Defence didn't. Even at 6f. Stretching him out to a mile against top classes horses wouldn't seem to be the move either because the race is an elongated sprint and would set up the same way. The Classic seems like it's the best option for him because he's more than likely to be able to control the pace and slow them down like he did in the Derby. But then I don't think he's going to beat the best 3yo's or Lawyer Ron at 10f. I see him as a horse without a race. I think he's probably best at 9f and I expect to see him dominate the KY Cup Classic, assuming Street Sense is not there. Then on to the Classic.

you should be receiving some pea garden flyers later this week.