I read where they might gallop him before the crowd but that's pretty much it for his Del Mar appearance.

As Arletta said, CC is not running in the Pacific Classic. He's not even in training right now. They sent him out to the farm for a rest. I believe their plan is to prep in the Goodwood (which is usually around Oct. 1st) and then run him in the BC Classic. CC obviously loved the old Santa Anita track, but there will be a new surface at SA come October. CC seemed to run fine on every track but he was most dominant at Santa Anita. I think he was at least a couple lengths better at Santa Anita than other tracks. He probably won't have that same advantage on the new surface.

Except when he wasn't.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-toward-return

this is where i read they will run once at los al, in a race they're going to write for him, as a prep for the bc.

He also might have been just putting it all together during the Winter/Spring meet.

I doubt if he loses in the Pacific Classic I'll be moaning about him being done.

I would not be surprised at all if he burns at Del Mar. That race is going to be the best spot to play against him, in my estimation.

Coming back out of that race though, provided he runs on dirt, he'd be real real tough.

My expectations for him? I think he's the most talented horse we've seen at least since Barbaro. I also think he's susceptible to all sorts of problems. Therefore, I really don't have any expectations for him other than to win almost any race he goes into, provided he's sound going in.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Your post gives me hope that he'll stay sound and be around a lot longer than I'd thought.

Game on Dude, historically speaking, is a tremendously overrated horse.

He's a one dimensional horse who's had the luxury of coming along at a time when the handicap division has been pretty weak.

Commentator would have crushed this horse.

Aren't they pretty much the same horse running routes? I think if both ran in the same race neither one is close to winning as long as there were other breathing horses running in the same race. Who's overrating Game On Dude? He is what he is. I don't think anyone is calling him an all time great or anything.

Yes, they run the same way. Commentator and GoD are much alike.

However, I'll take the former as a higher quality any day. I wasn't even a big fan of his.

Who's overrating GoD? PG95, that's who.

Yup....the main reason his post was not particularly clever.

I agree with one thing in that post. Commentator is one of the GOAT.

I don't overrate him. He is what he is. You overrated Belief I just pointed out GOD is much more accomplished. I mean hell Eskendereyas 3yr old races would crush Shared Belief.

I agree that CC was getting really good in the winter/spring. But were his races at Churchill and Pimlico as good as his races at Santa Anita? You can look at it a few ways. On the one hand, you could say that his races were just as good if not better in the TC races because he faced much better horses. But did he really? Even if there were some decent horses in the Derby and Preakness, did any of them fire? Commanding Curve and Ride on Curlin were the horses that ran 2nd. CC only won those races by 1 1/2- 2 lengths. I would argue that with identical race dynamics, CC can beat Commanding Curve and Ride on Curlin by bigger margins at Santa Anita.

And if you want to look at speed figures, CC ran faster at SA than he did at CD or Pimlico.

While it's nearly impossible to rank the list of all time greatest idiotic things you've ever said, this would have to be up there.

what sayeth thou to that slander, Rockhead 10 ?

No not really. And hopefully someone else well chime in. But Eskendereya ran a monstrous race in the Wood demolishing a pretty solid Jackson Bend. Duel G1 placed I believe, and I know he won at least 1 G1.

Does Jim Rome know how invaluable a service you are providing him?

So I'm right and you respond like this. Its fine, its expected. I mean you can't argue anything I'm saying anyway. Eskendereya dominated major Derby preps. Shared Belief won an allowance at GG and a race at ultra prestigious Los Amigos.

Fairly recent horses who will NEVER be mentioned among the GREATEST OF ALL TIME who were better than Commentator(everyone else feel free to add to this list as it is off the top of my head):

In no particular order
1. MDO
2. Invasor
3. Pleasantly Perfect
4. Mineshaft
5. Congaree
6. Lava Man(yep, i said it)
7. Perfect Drift
8. St. Liam
9. Candy Ride
10. Curlin
11. Roses in May
12. Game on Dude
13. ETC

I didn't realize there was going to be a race for him at Los Al. That gives them a good option. Off the layoff, they may want to come back in a one mile race, rather than a 1 1/8 mile race. It will probably be a much easier field too.