Amazing.

I just think there is a basic misunderstanding by Sniper and King Glorious about Commentator. You both seem completely oblivious to his physical issues. This is a 7YO that just made his 16th career start. Think about that for a while....a long while. You both seem to be mapping out a season for a horse that is lucky to be able to make four starts a year. Sniper thinks he should be shipping down to New Orleans to run in the Minshaft in a few weeks as a prep for, maybe, the NO Handicap. I'm not exactly, to say the least, Mr. Backstretch, but I know enough to understand how ridiculous it would be to ship him and run him that ambitiously. It's very early in the year. There are plenty of races and if handled carefully perhaps, just perhaps, he will be able to take a shot in some of the more fitting spots. I am sure Zito would love to try him going longer again, but in order for that to happen I imagine he has to be handled very carefully. I hate the expression " they're not machines " but I do think it is very fitting in this particular case.

Miraja is right. Commentator is a horse that at times has run awe inspiring fast races. We don't see this very often anymore. He's a 7YO with a lifetime of issues. It's a miracle he's still running even occasionally well. It seems more fitting to be appreciating whatever we get out of him instead of arguing about where he's best spotted. Just hope he makes another start....and another.....

From her PQ page:

Owner: Airdrie Stud
Breeder: Pollock Farms
State Bred: KY

Born extremely crooked, so was never trained or raced. Was bred at the age of 2 to produce G1 winner Commentator, becoming one of the youngest mares to produce a G1 winner.

As I said, if the horse has shipping issues then don't ship him. If he doesn't have a problem with shipping and is ready then the Mineshaft is a great spot as a good performance would make the New Orleans Cap an intriguing option and if not would leave the Richter Scale as a nice cutback. If he has shipping issues or isn't ready to bounce back that quick then I guess there is no option but to keep him home and wait for the Richter Scale. Obviously he has issues but as we've seen with plenty of horses they can take months off and comeback and suffer an injury (or worse), so to a degree you have to strike while the iron is hot and your horse is healthy. Planning a BC campaign around a horse with 16 starts as a 7yo who just ran huge in January is probably not going to work. I pray it does cause I like the horse a lot but the reality is the odds are severely against him.

The first four dams of commentator have a combined total of one start.

Commentator got a 119 Beyer fig for yesterday's race.

thats fn unreal......wow..if sound this one could do some damage..too bad all the phys problems have made him so fragile..

Again, anybody care to dispute my opinion that he's the most talented NYB of all time?

Why would someone argue with the truth?

Chowder's First would surely argue with that assertion.

If by "talented" you are including mental toughness, then he is not the most talented. Not many horses as physically gifted as Commentator wilt so fast when faced with pressure.

I don't think it's a misunderstanding on my part. I understand that there are likely to only be a few opportunities to run him each year because of his physical issues. For that reason, I completely agree with you that it wouldn't make much sense to ship to New Orleans. They would be lucky to make even one of the two races and chances are very slim that they'd make both. I have not at all mapped out a campaign for what they should be trying to make with him. I only said that in the few times a year that he will be able to run, I'd like to see him placed in spots that would better allow him to show his best abilities. I think Commentator is an extremely talented horse, arguably one of the 10 best of the past decade. But I don't think they are doing him any favors by placing him in sprints. He's run some very fast sprints but he's done it under optimal circumstances for him. He's not once shown the ability to contend with true top level sprinters on the front end and still have the ability to finish. I don't see how anyone can't look at his record and see that. Last year for example, if they wanted to bring him back off of the layoff to run in the BC, the Dirt Mile, IMO, would have been a better fit than the Sprint. So I don't think there is a misunderstanding about him at all. I understand that he's a very talented and very fragile horse.

Whoa now. Easy there tiger.

It's hard to say because I don't think he's been given the chance over the last couple of years to show his best stuff. I think had they focused on 8-9f races for him, we'd have seem some special stuff.

He would have finished 3rd at best in the BC Dirt Mile this year if he ran.

How many horses this decade have three Beyers of 119+? Not many others besides Ghostzapper and Commentator.

Haven't we been here before? What exactly did Commentator do yesterday that he hasn't already done? He got away with a soft quarter and aired in very fast time in a race essentially written for him. That hasn't happened before. The horse is seven years old and still has never dueled through fast splits with a top-flight horse and come out on top. He remains a very talented quitter to me until he proves otherwise.

Are you suggesting that Commentator could beat Ghostzapper or come close to beating him in a race since they both have beyers of 119+? We all know that beyers are purely subjective.

Yes, but he made me a lot more money at the windows.

Oh yeah I'll dispute it. Clearly Friends Lake was the best NY bred of all-time.
As proof, here he is a video that I believe is an isolated replay of his effort in the 2004 Kentucky Derby:
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/sta...e&name=Friends Lake&stallion_no=6161521&end

Um, why not? He throws in the towel every time he doesn't get things his way. That's a quitter, I don't care what his record is.

In the Whitney he was certainly loose on the lead down the backstretch, but Saint Liam did push him a bit early and Commentator ran the opening half in :46 2/5. That doesn't strike me as ideal for a 9f race.
He certainly had a good trip that day, but so did the the HOY that couldn't get by him in the stretch.

Two of Commentators three big figures came with ridiculiously easy trips - and his third big figure, was one that many felt was a questionable number on the high side.

I believe Left Bank ran four of 118 or greater. though two of the four were 118's.

Congaree had a pair of 120's and a 118

Swept Overboard had a pair of 122's.

Kona Gold had a 123, 119, 118, 117

A lot of close but not quite's.

Yep.
But at 7 damn good.

From my earlier post:

Same old same old
with this horse.
Give em an easy run
in the first part of a race,
uncontested early, he looks
like a monster.

He can win sprints.
If they go 22.5, 46 and he
leads these fractions.
Good luck with that.

Look at the Woodward.
Tried to rate em,
St. Liam passed him
without asking. Other horses
ahead early and he is toast.



He is a very good
1-dimensional horse.

When you quote his nonsense it completely defeats the purpose of my having him on ignore.

Which is why I wouldn't personally put him in my top ten for the decade but I don't think anyone should have a major problem with someone putting the horse in their top ten for the decade. Especially considering that only he and Ghostzapper have gone 119+ three times no matter the circumstances.

When you quote his nonsense it completely defeats the purpose of my having him on ignore.

Me too.

LOL

HOunding. Are you kidding. That was the worst job of hounding I have ever seen.
One rabbit was totally useless. The lesson learned was you cant even get close
to rating the horse. Stevens had hm will in hand and...Horse could not take it.
Damn fast 1-dimensional horse.
The horse is damn good at what he does.

Speaking of Ghostzapper, somehow he had no information on pedigreequery.com?? Pretty odd for the best horse of the last 25 years. [I updated it.]

From the Miami herald:

"'Only in America can you do things like this: Take a 7-year-old and have him come back running like a 2-year-old,'' Zito said. ``If we can keep him like this, he can beat any horse in the world.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/624/story/384267.html

Nick Zito is > than Don King