The degeneration of the sport over the last 15 years
 

Look at RA's 4-year-old season ... Look at Zenyatta's entire career save one home court test against Gio Ponti and company.

Look at what happens when you have a tough, sound, elite horse and you're not deathly affraid of losing ...




That's 38 starts in 29 months at 11 different tracks - the last 35 starts in Graded Stakes company. Took on top males repeatedly... back when top males didn't suck horribly.

Agree with you 100%, but it's just too bad Lukas doesn't have something top notch or we might see it again. Not a filly or mare of course, but maybe he can crank up Mine That Bird.

Could you imagine Zenyatta starting the year off winning the Santa Monica and the Santa Maria, then skipping the Santa Margarita to run in the Big Cap instead?

It's also funny to note that in Serena's Song's 4yo year up to August, she basically ran in all the same races that both Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra have run in so far this year combined.

This is why I begged for you to come back... This is perfect!
:tro::tro::tro:

this was my point last week, the racing population at the higher end is just not thinner to less owners, its been cut in half or so by the stupid friggen sheets bull shi and probably the amount of time it takes to recover from the drugs that they take.

Where exactly is the proof of this? It's the goddamn owners who are so deathly afraid of losing. Real fans don't care if a horse loses a few races as long as they're taking on top competition.

Good one drugs.

I said real fans. Not internet lunatics who have giant axes to grind against either Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta.

Rachel's campaign last year was extraordinary. Zenyatta's was lame except for one race in her backyard. Both campaigns this year have been lame. So one exciting season out of four, and now Moss and Jackson are suddenly Butch Cassidy and John effing Wayne? Dearth of quality horses? THERE'S A QUALITY HORSE DOWN THE SHEDROW FROM ZENYATTA THAT THEY WON'T GO AFTER. Face Rail Trip. Face Quality Road. Face each other. Do something, but don't run in cupcake ungraded fabricated stakes or stakes you've won three years in a goddamn row.

This is pure conjecture. PETA members might say this, DT members are smarter than that and you know it.

:tro::tro:

I understand your overall point, but with regards to Smarty, I think most of the "nonsense" was written before the Belmont....by his fans.

One of the (many) things that stands out after looking at Serena's Song's PPs is that at age 2 and 4 she actually ran in races after the Breeder's Cup. The connections treated the BC as I think it should be treated. The BC is a big set of races that a good horse's connections should make an effort to attend if practical, but it should NOT be treated as horse racing's equivalent of the World Series where the completion of the event means the sport goes away for the next 4 or 5 months.

I sure wish more horses of her caliber were running in graded stakes races in November and December (and January & February for that matter) these days.

I get it. The trainer everyone was crucifying in the 90's for running his horses into the ground is now the example to emulate.

Hmmmm.

:zz:

thats only after people declare you the second coming of ruffian......and the connections don't help either. theres so much purse money and more tracks than good horses. plus, the breed has DEFINETELY weakened. the distances, the frequency of racing time and the length of career have all gone downhill. its hard to argue that if changes are not made things will continue to lag

The thing is, though, and I know you're aware of it, is that DrugS could have just as easily posted the PPs of Cigar, Skip Away, or a slew of others and had the same effect. DWL may be a bit more "controversial" trainer to include but the point is the same, the horsemen nowadays are not the same.

NT

Absolutely.

That's a fair point. 38 starts in 29 months is a bit extreme, and Lukas is not exactly the ideal trainer in my book.

However, I thinking looking at Serena's Song's performances demonstrate that at least some G1-caliber horses can handle an aggressive campaign, and perhaps not every quality runner needs to run less than 5-8 times a year.

Serena's Song raced a lot, shipped a lot, tried a lot and won a lot. If only a few more horsemen were willing to do the things Lukas did.

This is the leader in the clubhouse for "Thread of the Year". A lot of great points being made all over. :tro::tro::tro::tro:

I believe the drugs, the thoro-patterns, and the egotistical owners all have a prominent part in turning a racing season into a carefully orchestrated attempt at picking soft spots for what should be the best horses in training. This isn't the 40's we're comparing here, we are talking about 15 years ago.

It was a lot of fun when he had a great horse who could stand up to his training.

I thought it was because you're trying to bang him.

Ouch!

Poor RHT.

What he doesn't know about DrugS is that he once told me he isn't attracted to other Italians (by other I mean Italians other than himself).

I don't think PG has found the Mine That Bird thread yet....

Not that I'm saying Lukas was the greatest trainer ever, but exactly how many horses did he break down? How many did he "break down" on a national stage, in the spotlight? Is it more than say, other big name trainers in the game today?

When I was a kid, I remember being a huge fan of the Lukas trained Criminal Type. I wish he wouldn't have gotten injured in the middle of the year. Heck if SS, Easy Goer, and Criminal Type never got injured, it would have been a great BC Classic.

The 90's weren't that long ago Nick and many of those players are still in the game. In my opinion, it has more to do with economics than anything else.

I think it's more of an epidemic propagated by the 21st Century "super trainers" specifically guys like Todd Pletcher, whose "optimum days between start" index is somewhere between 60 and 3000.

NT

Lukas did not Tabasco Cat into the ground.

You're hopeless.

Tabasco Cat is the one of the great examples of Lukas running one into the ground? Tears, Jerry, tears.



Before sending Tabasco Cat off to stud .. he ran a dirt horse once on the turf because it was a weak Grade 1 turf field. Who cares? That's what dirt horses are supposed to do when they try turf for the first time.

If Tabasco Cat is the best you can do ... give up and ask others to take up your noble cause.

To be fair, Tabasco Cat was in training beyond the Hollywood Derby all the way through June of 1995. He was pointed for the Strub, Big Cap, and Met Mile all through the press.

Obviously, he made none of those races, eventually suffering a bowed tendon breezing at Churchill.

he breezed him into the ground?

Well, I think there was probably more to the story than just the tidbits we were fed by the racing press.

The Hollywood Derby halfway across the country, 15 days after the big BC effort is surely a curious spot if you plan on running the colt the following year. Whether he was injured in that race is unknown as far as we're concerned.

Also, a lot of it depends on your definition of "being run into the ground". Do you need a couple of horrific efforts (eg Munnings) to prove the point, or do you just need to run in every available spot and come out of the last one injured?

Would you say Thunder Gulch was run into the ground? You could argue that the Kentucky Cup race following the Travers was a bit extraneous and the colt came out of the Jockey Club Gold Cup with a fractured leg.

Yes It's True might fit that bill.. he finished last in his final four races before they finally retired him..

Editor's Note was pretty awful when he came back in 1997, but they kept on running him.. his final race he was beaten almost 60 lths..