So who Wins the 3 HOY now?
 

Man it really depends what SS and Curlin do from here on out I think. They are both 1-1 on racing one another. I wonder if that played into the owners eyes for not running SS in the Belmont, to avoid Curlin at all cost while he has the upper hand?

only half way home...right now, I say Curlin......but still a long way to go....

I think Street Sense is still the best of the bunch.....He should come back strong this summer. I can't wait for the Saratoga meet. This should be an excellent Travers this year.

I think Rags is the obvious choice right now.

everyone ought to know that right now street sense is ahead, by virtue of his kentucky derby win.

to many races left and it looks like a long HOT summer.
how about SS and Curlin in the Travers and leave the Haskill and Alabama to RTR.

right now i'd give the edge to Curlin. he did run in all 3 legs of the tc which is hard to do.

Is it just me, or is it June 10th?

Rags To Riches will be aimed towards all of the big races after her performance yesterday. You will see her in the Travers. I don't even think they will bother racing her against other fillies for a while.

Street Sense has to be in the lead. Curlin could have taken the lead with a win but he didn't get it. Since they are 1-1, the Derby trumps the Preakness. What's more interesting to me is how this affects the HOY race. At this point, I'm going to say that Rags to Riches is in the lead. But she's going to have to do more to be HOY. The only way she holds it is if Street Sense, Curlin and Invasor all falter. If she doesn't face males anymore and one of those three wins the Classic, she can forget it.

You are all very wrong. The 3 HOY is going to Digger. Mark my words.

Yeah...HOY is still controlled by Invasor, by a large margain! 3yo cats are divided of course and Rags has pretty much already won 3yo filly Eclipse, Street Sense leads in the colt division but Curlin can take the lead with a big win down the road. It seems apparent that the BCC winner will be HOY unless some reformed claimer from Penn National pulls the upset of a lifetime.

It would be great to see him at Saratoga. My senses tell me we may not see him at all.

No way at this point. Its still way early. And NOt with a bizzare race like that. That was a turf race. I hope Pletcher keeps her against the boys. I would have to give it to Curlin if voted right now. Ran in all three TC races.
Super tough horse. I love the guts.

Well Rags won two classics if you consider the oaks- obviously it's not as big of a deal as the triple crown races, but the score is something like 1.5-1-1 in favor of her if you just consider the last few months or so and give each race equal weight. . . Curlin did more than Street Sense in the preps, in my opinion, so he gets the edge there. It's way too early to tell now, though. The Haskell, Travers, and maybe later races against older horses will determine who wins because right now it's way too close to call. . . If I HAD to guess I'd say Curlin will get it- SS may never race again and Rags may not be as effective at shorter distances. . .

I agree totally. Curlin is rapidly becoming one of my favorite horses of all-time. Hopefully he's around for a long time.

i think curlin will be at three chimneys at the end of the year.

Perhaps, but I didn't think he'd be in the Belmont. Or the Preakness for that matter.

he's good, no doubt. his third in the derby surprised me. i was hoping he would do well, as i said before, to help out the ark derby....but i didn't expect it. then his preakness, it was phenomenal. his performance yesterday was the icing on his cake. he's something else...hopefully he'll meet street sense in the travers, after a much-deserved break. my only beef with the horse has been his trainer, but i'm not going to hold that against curlin, or deny him the credit that is due him, just because of who conditions him.

cosign.

i say circular quay wins the travers

Hey no doudt about it's early but I was just guessing maybe SS avoided Curlin and Rags because he wasn't at the top of his game. Not because he couldn't put in the best effort but because the connections were scared of losing another race to him/her right now. With Darley at the helm as the breeders did they have a say in it? Who knows just asking the question?

Agreed, I can't get into the horse because of him... which is a shame.

I do not think that they were scared about losing another race. Don't forget he will always have the Derby under his belt no matter what he does for now on(Remember Giacomo?). They know that they have a very special horse there and they just did not want to run their third race in a five week span. There are alot of big races this summer that I hope they are pointing to. But I do not believe they avoided Belmont because they were afraid of Curlin (who he should have put away in the Preakness) and Rags.

i think nafzger, being a top horseman, knew that his horse was not doing as well, and that curlin was still just fine. street sense lost weight after the preakness, which he hadn't done after the derby. if he thought that Sense was regressing, why would he try to tackle a horse that just beat him, that wasn't regressing?

initially i was very disappointed that sense wasn't running--but after hearing a couple days ago about his weight loss, i can certainly see why. it's why i generally don't try to speak when angry, so i posted some bs posts about sense that i shouldn't have...rather than waiting for cooler head to prevail...

I'm still a big Curlin fan after the Belmont. Hope we see him through the BC this year at least. HOY and 3YO will be interesting this year, that's for sure. Let's hope it's decided by seeing them run, not by inferences if SS and RTR never run (at all and against the boys) again.

i respect curlin & like him enough, or well - i don't dislike him. i just can't really support him because of..

[a] his trainer
[b] 5 career races at 3? no thanks. give me teuflesberg any day [17 career races]

not that many of the othr top horses are much better, but still.. this year, the classic winning contingent doesn't do much for me... i would say street sense would be my favorite of the group. can't really fall for rags - octave is my girl!

HOTY? invasor.

travers winner? i'll wait & see who actually makes it... :p

based upon this year up until this point i think curlin is the obvious choice

tiz wonderful

3 of the 5 races were TC races. That is very impressive.
Trainer does make it hard though.
But the horse is so gutsy I cant help myself. Curlin has me right now. I have become a fan. A doubter until the Derby run.

very very true.

prior to derby, people were giving him alot of credit - thinking he was going to win. well, i doubted that & actually made a bet that if curlin won, i would try sushi [i'm a seafood hater]. after the derby, people weren't giving him credit - you would hear the announcers saying stuff like "UNTIL curlin's derby.." "he was well respected UNTIL his derby 3rd place finish" - well that really pissed me off, because in my eyes that horse became twice the horse he was before the race. for him to go into the derby like that & come out with a very very game 3rd place finish? yeah he was a threat in the preakness, if he didn't bounce. he didn't, & he hasn't yet - but honestly i think it's a matter of time before he does.

besides, i'm a teuflesberg fan - i'm crossing my fingers for the whole champ sprinter, 3y/o male, horse of the year, & hell why not turf horse???

:p kidding. but yes, i think curlin is a very very very nice horse but i'm not willing to concede "great" or "freak" yet - not after 5 races, no thanks. i'm still waiting for him to regress - it's gotta happen sometime.. right??

wait until The Green Monkey makes his debut....then we'll be talking about an incredible BC Classic field!

He is tough is what he is. He is dead game and tough. I cant ask for much more.

forget 2004... that'll be the best field we will ever see! :D

and sound! and for a 3y/o he's raced 17 times.. LOVE!!!!!!!!!!

his recent work was incredibly slow. . . i hope he comes back soon and 100% because he could be an absolute monster. . .

Curlin, so far.

He danced in all three TC races, got an awful ride in the Derby and only lost by a head to RTR.

I give him extra points for coming back in the Preakness after being headed and for fighting to get by R2R when she edged ahead.

He certainly has the heart of a champ.