Dude, look at the fields the past couple years. This one blows them away.

At least they didn't run into Careless Jewel on short rest.

Why, cause then no one would have noticed how far back it was from Careless Jewel to third place?

I liked racing better when owners owned, trainers trained and horses ran. There wasnt talk of legacy or sportingness, just racing. When a guy would say here is where we are going to run, I dare you to beat me. Instead every little thing is micromanaged and we are supposed to bow down when a billionaire runs a horse he paid 8 million dollars for in a race where she will be a big favorite. As the Haskell was, this race makes sense for the filly based upon the schedule. And extra week after a huge run, a distance he knows she can handle and a weak field. What exactly is the stretch here?

Agree

They have similar styles and she would not have won that race without a fight.

You look far better beating up on older males than winning a stretch battle with a 3yo filly who doesn't bring in a fancy resume.

Head to head isnt that big of a deal if he is beating "older" horses in a grade 1, especially if they lose the Travers to RA. Quality Road has virtually no chance of winning 3 yo of the year without winning the Travers and possibly the BC or at least the Gold cup or something like that. It is ridiclous that we are even talking about three year old of the year and poutting QR and Kensai in the conversation with the sparse resumes they have at this point.

You cant seriously say that the Travers with RA in it wouldnt be a much better race. That point cant be disputed. While you say that the race is still a good one which I agree you cant help think that there will be something missing regardless of what happens.

We had a Travers two years ago that didn't include Curlin, Hard Spun, and Any Given Saturday... all Haskel horses like RA

Yes, and it was awful.

i agree, thats why i said she took the easier route. c'mon, if she went the travers it would of been BIGGER than the derby. it would of been the biggest travers since affirmed and alydar. which is when i got into horse racing. its been many years. jackson usually does not "duck" the competition. i feel he did this time.

And...

Oh, I agree that the Travers would have been much bigger with her in it. Personally I prefer both the Travers and Woodward being interesting instead of just the Travers especially since I am looking for excuses to skip the Travers.

:tro:
At least you are honest!

I understand your reasoning also.. for me, she's been there done that.. I'd love to see her beat older horses in September of her 3yo year.

Looks like they are still on the fence with MTB for the Travers and the Goodwood could be his next start instead:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/106660.html

Jones went to Turfway next for the fake dirt, Pletcher took on Tasteyville next, and your boy Jess Jackson took his horse and ran him against the red hot Lawyer Ron.

They are ducking Warrior's Reward.

I laughed

Great call dude, and it's not even been another two full hours!

I dont think Bullsbay, Cool Coal Man, Macho Again, Asiatic Boy, Quality Road, Mine That Bird, Summer Bird, Warriors whatever, kensai, etc. scare Assman and jackson at all.

The Woodward is a joke w/out Rachel. But honestly would you really want to throw down big money on all the 3yo's listed, besides Quality Road maybe, beating the older horses listed?

I'm waiting to see how many more times the Preakness will be brought up as an indication that RA is distance challenged.:rolleyes:

Yeah man! This is a very rich thread!

lol.. exactly

While I think 1 1/8th is a perfect distance for Rachel... I dont think she'd have any problems with 1 1/4th in the Travers.

If the Haskell was 1 1/4th instead of 1 1/8th she would have won by 12 instead of 6..

I thought she'd win by 5 in the Preakness, I thought she'd win by 5 in the Haskell. I'd have the exact same opinion if she was running in the Travers.

and...

Sure. Bullsbay, Cool Coal man, Macho Again and Asiatic boy have all been beaten with regularity their whole careers by mediocres. While running in the Woodward is a nice achievement it isnt exactly Holy Bull, Cigar and Skip Away lining up against her.

However some of like to actually see the horse do it before giving them credit for it. She may or may not be at a disadvantage at 1 1/4 but i suppose we will never know.

I guess it's similar to Personal Ensign beating males in the Whitney.

Gulch and Kings Swan

Gulch and Kings Sawn would drown those mutts.

like jackson said, rachel can't win 3 yo colt-and that competition is wide open. kensei has a shot at it..hell, it's probably why pletcher is risking bringing quality road back off one sprint effort.

also, the woodward has never been won by a female...

This may be so. But this is distinct from misinterpreting her OBVIOUS trip in the Preakness and then concluding that she's distance challenged. The former allows some room for speculation; the latter is just an embarrassingly poor opinion and a waste of time (no matter how often it's advanced).

What was wrong with last years Travers? That was one of the best betting races I have been a part of last year, that Travers Day card was probably the single most memorable card of the year with the exception of BC day 2.

Normally I would agree with you, however we haven't had anything in the older horse category to be excited about this year and probably last year with the exception of a couple of races from Curlin.

It was a good betting race but the quality wasn't all that great....

How about none of the top three from the Derby showed up which also included the Preakness winner who was the only remotely talented horse from his crop? If you are talking from a betting standpoint that is different but I don't see how Rachel going in the Travers made it a better betting race.

Last years Travers was a great betting race but the Col John of 2008 would be 40-1 in this field. Hell, if they could smuggle him into the race right now, he'd be 50-1, as a 4yo. The 3yo crop of 2008 never failed to disappoint me.

This is a great lineup, even without RA. MTB won the Derby and was 2nd then 3rd in the rest of the TC. Summer Bird won the Belmont off a decent Derby. QR wond the Florida Derby, Kensei won the Jim Dandy and is a horse for the course. Warrior's Reward appears to be about as good as Kensei. It's a very good lineup of proven stakes quality 3yo's. I do with that a Cal based runner was shipping in though.

Look at who we have in late Aug and imagine what the bunch might look like had we not lost IWR, The Pamplemousse and Fresian Fire. This is a very nice bunch of horses.

I think this is a debatable point, Harlem Rocker, Pyro and Colonial John all have been or were sidelined with injuries, despite this Harlem Rocker did win abeit Dq'd the Cigar Mile beating Bribon among others...That race went to Travers entrant Tale of Ekati...Macho Again won the Foster and Cool Coal Man is stating to have the looks of a promising horse. Give it more time and we may see the quality of last year's Travers even more so.

Edit-Court Vision also won the Hollywood Derby last year.

I'm really talking about both points, I don't understand how you can say Rachel in the Travers is not more interesting or a better race. Okay we will have to agree to disagree.

Someone has to win those races.

I would agree strongly. This race doesnt need Rachel. Its probably the best Travers both from a quality standpoint to a betting standpoint in over 10 years. I love it.