Well Dutrows use of the rabbit
accomplished the goal of getting
Sir Shaq to place.

One rabbit was non functional
St. Liam was at a walk behind them, how far off from the
Commentator? Relay race with one horse never getting the baton.
The goal the Rabbit accomplished was trying to get
Stevens to rate the horse.

Look the result is the same.
He has to tear off and get a lead
or he is beaten. This is exactly
the same for the past 3 years at least.
What problem do youhave with this?

But he is a very good one turn 8f 7 year old.

Yes there were 2 but one was so bad
he did what?

No I did not watch the race.
I can just see it in my head.
yes I watched the race

The Rabbit that was functional got Sir Shackelton
2nd. (unintended obviously but that is what Dutrows well worn
stunt accomplsished) Have you
watched the replay? Did you see which horse came in 2nd?
St. Liam was walking behind a hard held Commentator and
then when Commentator busted loose from Stevens, St. Liam just
sauntered on up. St. Liam did not even need one functional
rabbit.

The rabbit got Stevens to try to rate the horse.
Did you watch the race?

Posting
like
this
doesn't
make
your
argument
any
more
believable.

The outside horse did next to nothing.

So Commentator is a very fast 1 turn 8f horse
who must have the lead or he folds.
What do we disagree about?

Thanks
.........for
.............your
...................advice.
..................I
..............will
..........try
.........to
.......do
better.

I think that is a big improvement.
Much more artistic.

Couple of comments from Zito after the race the I am not sure how to take them:

"God Bless America," Zito enthused. "Only in America can you do things like this: Take a seven-year-old and have him come back running like a two-year-old. I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and I said he was going to break the track record. I looked at what they had in the program and I knew that was out of here. He did it and the track (today) wasn't exceptionally fast either."

Ok so he knew he had the horse so good at this point that he was ready to set a track record but he didn't want to enter him in the Hal's Hope because of the competition? That seems like a waste of a good effort to me. We know that this is a very fragile horse. It would seem to me that if I'm only going to get a limited number of opportunities with him, and I've got him ready to really roll right now, why not take on a bigger race than what he just ran in?

Zito is looking forward to what lies ahead for Commentator.

"It would be wonderful to have some fun with him this year," the Hall of Famer said. "If we can keep him like this, he can beat any horse in the world. He beat horses like Saint Liam. When he's like this, he can run with anybody."

It seems that Zito believes he can beat any horse in the world.....except for Chatain. This is the part of the game that I hate. Trainers scratching from races because they are afraid of the competition. I liked it when trainers would worry about their own horses. They would get them fit and ready to run the race they wanted them to run and not worry about what someone else was doing. If your belief is that you've got your horse cranked up 100% and that he's ready to set a track record and you believe that when he's like this, he can beat any horse in the world, why scratch out of a race because of Chatain and go in a cheap optional claimer with a horse that you know is fragile and you are likely to have limited starts with?

To continue along this same line, here was a comment from Chatain's trainer, Angel Penna, Jr. from before the Hal's Hope:

"He's just accident-prone," said Penna. "If he has any one real weakness it's his feet. He's got thin walls and shallow soles, but he's got glue-on shoes now and at the moment he's doing well."

Chatain, who finished a troubled fourth behind reigning Horse of the Year Invasor last winter in the Gradeo1 Donn, has won his last two starts. Both were at six furlongs and include a head victory in an overnight stakes at the Meadowlands in his finale as a 4-year-old on Nov. 3.

"I'd like to have had another work into him, but at this point, with all we've gone through with him the past two years, when he's ready to run and there's a race for him you've got to run," Penna said.

The thing that he said which didn't make any sense to me was the "only in America" nonsense. I am pretty sure that all of the other nations in the world don't have restrictions on running fast 7yos.

as for running in the hals hope instead, maybe commentator needed the extra two weeks..

Zito is gold.

Sometimes I feel like this whole board would be a lot more entertaining if I blocked everyone but me.

They did it without her.

Has there been a more overrated horse this decade than Commentator? When was the last time he beat a good field?

Yes, there have been countless horses move overrated than him this decade.

I'll give you one; Dollar Bill. Other than him, I can't think of any. Yeah Commentator will run his 110 Beyer against 4 horse fields of nobodies but put him against a good field and he will get destroyed. To answer my earlier question, when did he last beat a good field?

He beat Saint Liam in The Whitney. Other than that, he's done next to nothing relevant in his career besides post a bunch of big speed figures under perfect circumstances.

While you're entitled to your opinion, my guess is you haven't looked at his career pps in quite some time, and are acting as though these performances mean absolutely nothing. These " big speed figures under perfect circumstances " aren't completely random and are much higher than many horses routinely being lauded as signs of greatness in many lesser recent horses.

In his third career start he ran a 106 Beyer. In just his fourth career start he won the Perryville at Keeneland, earning a 107 Beyer fig, by seven lengths over Eurosilver and Wegalia. In his fifth career start he won by eight lengths at Churchill and earned a 112 Beyer Fig. Before winning the Whitney ( the only thing apparently, that kept him from being a total slug ) he earned a 121 Beyer fig at Belmont off almost a six month layoff. Despite a career filled with injuries and layoffs he has compiled a record of ten wins in sixteen starts.

Suggesting he has done " next to nothing " aside from the Whitney is to ignore the awesome talent that he has displayed on more than one or two occasions. I understand, and don't totally disagree, that he has shown a relative inability to overcome even the slightest adversity. I am not defending him against these charges. But to turn that into a flipside of " next to nothing " is to either ignore his complete record, or worse, to talk without even fully knowing it.

You might want to stick to posting about Football.

Lets put Commentator in perspective. When was his last win over anybody? August 2005? What was happening back then?

1. The Chicago White Sox hadn't won a World Series in over 90 years.
2. The hit show "The Office" hadn't even hit the air yet.
3. Greg Oden was approaching his senior year.....of high school.
4. My daughter, who is getting ready to take the ACT, hadn't even entered high school when Commentator beat Saint Liam.

How many other horses who've done nothing in 2 1/2 years get their own thread unless they died?

but commentator did beat saint liam, has won or placed in some nice races, just set a record, and altho he isn't known for running in a lot of races, is still laying it down at age seven.
maybe it's the way he came back the other day, after not showing much in 2 1/2 years.

i'd say there are plenty of horses who are more overrated than commentator. at least he's paying his bills, unlike some supposed derby horses who don't do much in may, take time off, finally come back, get a thread about them and their 'comeback', and finish up the track.

Well said. I'm not overly impressed by giant figures against small fields of (other than St Liam one time) questionable opposition.

[quote=JJP]Lets put Commentator in perspective. When was his last win over anybody? August 2005? What was happening back then?

1. The Chicago White Sox hadn't won a World Series in over 90 years.
2. The hit show "The Office" hadn't even hit the air yet.
3. Greg Oden was approaching his senior year.....of high school.
4. My daughter, who is getting ready to take the ACT, hadn't even entered high school when Commentator beat Saint Liam.

How many other horses who've done nothing in 2 1/2 years get their own thread unless they died?[/QUOTE]

Your comments are, in perspective, well, ridiculous.

There was no thread about him for those 2.5 years, was there? Horse comes off a layoff, has problems and runs a big race, setting a track record at a distance where Gulfsttream runs a graded stakes every year.

Your reference points are just as ridiculous, with, perhaps, the possible exception of the one about your daughter, pending your posting of some half-naked pictures of her.

[quote=SentToStud]Go ahead and bet him with both hands. I remember him recently being scratched out of a stake. probably the Clark. He was going to be a great bet against since he wouldn't be lone speed. I was pissed when he scratched. The reference points are not ridiculous because they are all true. But if you want to chase this horse in stakes company, go ahead. I'll be betting against you.

You seem a bit confused.
Is anyone talking about betting him in his next race? I don't think so. Depending on which race he enters next, what the field looks like in terms of likely pace scenario and quality, he might very well be a good "bet against" horse. You seem to be saying in your earlier post that this fact makes it stupid for him to have his own thread. I couldn't disagree more.
The horse just ran a very fast race (119 BSF). How often do horses run those kinds of races? Are there so many other interesting things to talk about in this sport in the middle of January that we shouldn't waste our time talking about it? That seems pretty stupid to me.
Also, the fact that his last really big win came two and half years ago (which, for some reason, you decided to illustrate in that rather lengthy manner) only makes it more obvious that this horse accomplished something impressive. How many horses can ever run a race like that at any point in their careers? The fact that he did it at age 7 despite his history of problems makes it even more impressive.
You rightly point out that this doesn't ensure that he will win next time out, but so what?

he is a lot of horse with a lot of problems

Let's see, I can name at least two off the top of my head, turf maiden claimer Truth or Dare and the mighty Artie Hot. Both horses got their own threads....started by you.

Bored again?

You remembered that off the top of your head?

It's not easy being me.

How would you know?

Much ado about nothing.

Thank God for that.

The 119 Beyer against questionable opposition pretty much guarantees he'll be overbet.

What he did the other day is what he does. Put him against a classified allowance field where he's bet down to microscopic odds, he clears and he wins huge. He's a classic bully. Put him in against horses who are as talented and they'll break him.