Originally Posted by King Glorious

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.

Originally Posted by Sightseek

Kind of like how Surf Cat has done in his past two races?

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

wow, the new sightseek!

avatar-less, sarcastic and hard edged!

Originally Posted by Sightseek

Kind of like how Surf Cat has done in his past two races?

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

I think everyone is overrating the lure of the BC Dirt Mile. The top horses there are going to be horses like Wanderin Boy. You aren't going to get the Hard Spuns, Lawyer Rons, and Discreet Cats. It is an ungraded race that isn't even on BC Day and anyone with a chance in the BC Classic is going to take it.

Originally Posted by Sightseek

What can I say, I have a warm and cuddly side.

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

i liked that warm and cuddly side that sumwonluvsyou was taking advantage of in that avatar! seriously, that was a neat avatar!

Originally Posted by Sightseek

LOL, thanks it made me laugh and I actually had it printed up to put on my desk at work.

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Tough crowd.

1st race was a comebacker from a 14-month layoff giving the winner a lot of weight.

2nd race was on the junk track against a grade one race winner who had an affinity for the stuff.

I understand your point though but do u really want to compare First Defence to Surf Cat here?

Originally Posted by Hail2Reason

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

Originally Posted by robfla

I cant disagree more. This horse has shown me nothing but class. He battled it out gamely in all three jewels of the triple crown, running a monster race in the Ky Derby.

Great race by gamely holding of Curlin in the Haskell

Lets see who his graded race losses have come at the hands of:

Street Sense
Curlin
Rags to Riches
Any Given Saturday

He has run in 8 races in 2007 ( an 8 month period ). No small feat in today's racing world.

He has won races at distances of 5.5f, 6f, 7f, 1m, 9f He has won on dirt and polytrack.

Yesterday he attended scorching fractions, was faced with a horse passing him for a stride and looked that horse in the eye and proceeded to draw away from said horse. Not only has his races on track been more than admirable in EVERY race he has run, but he has also had to deal with having an owner that has tried so hard to mismanage him.

As far as "should have been battling it out with street sense the whole time"
the connections made a GREAT decision to run in the Kings Bishop. He gets a GR1 win against what I feel was a very competitive, and large field. IMO he accomplished YESTERDAY more than SS who beat six other horses with a combined 1 stakes win.

Originally Posted by kgar311

After reading most of the posts on this and many other threads it had occured to me that alot of people making the comments were not at Saratoga. I watched the race live from the rail and it was so damn hot and humid that it was hard to breath just standing there. So for people to make comments about slow final 1/8s and 1/4s without standing there and being engulfed in a complete sweat have no merit. It is amazing that these hoses didnt die of heat stroke after the races. Street Sense and Hard Spun in my book are true Champs after fighting hard that day and winning their respective races. Just take a look at all the other horses dragging their hoofs at the end of each race. I just hope that these races didnt take too much out of them.

Originally Posted by King Glorious

That doesn't change the fact that both of these "true Champs" as u call them, were all out to beat horses that were both taking huge steps up in class. While it's possible that both Grasshopper and First Defence are just late bloomers and could prove to be among the best in their generation, as of now, the book is still out on them. And they ran under the same conditions as the two winners. So while what the two winners did was maybe worthy of some extra credit because of the conditions, the same goes for the two runners-up. I don't think it's a stretch for anyone to believe that had that been Curlin or Any Given Saturday chasing Street Sense home in the Travers, the result might have been different. Not saying that Street Sense wouldn't have still won because nobody knows that. But I believe that the extra credit that u are giving them was equalized by the quality of the field.

Originally Posted by slotdirt

I don't think it's that hard to believe that not all animals react in the same fashion to extreme heat. Who's to say Grasshopper doesn't have a great affinity for hot weather? I know that once the temperature gets above 75, I cease to run as well as I would if it were 55 degrees outside.