7/10 (HOL): Hollywood Gold Cup & Triple Bend H. (G1's)
 

6th (3:35) Triple Bend H. (G1)

7 Furlongs (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $250,000

1 E Z's Gentleman Pedroza M A 116 L
2 Fantasy Free Berrio O A 114 L
3 M One Rifle Smith M E 117 L
4 Gayego Bejarano R 122
5 Bestdressed Espinoza V 114 L
6 Sangaree Garcia M 116 L
7 My Summer Slew Quinonez A 114 L
8 New Bay Baze T C 114 L



8th (4:35) Hollywood Gold Cup H. (G1)

1 1/4 Miles (All Weather Track) | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $500,000

1 Cigar Man Talamo J 113 L
2 Compari Smith M E 117 L
3 Awesome Gem Flores D R 116 L
4 Richard's Kid Garcia M 121
5 Tres Borrachos Espinoza V 113 L
6 Rail Trip Bejarano R 123 L
7 Tap It Light Baze T C 114 L

Would love to have seen the, POTENTIAL, Horse of the Year, Quality Road, entered in this race. Shouldn't the, presently, BEST DIRT HORSE in training be able to handle a bunch of turfers and POLY lovers? Why are they forcing the poor horse to run exclusively on dirt? Ship him across the country. Put him on another surface so we can see how a superior horse runs.:rolleyes:

Yeah, that makes sense, ship a superior dirt horse across the country to run against poly and turf lovers on polyturf. Great plan. As an aside, I don't think Rail Trip is winning that race.

Wouldn't it have been easier for the greatest synthetic horse of all time to just pop out of her stall and beat these horses? It's not like it would have been much of a ship.

NT

Now, NTamm, is the preeminent back handed Z supporter online presently. He never misses a chance to bring Z into just about ANY argument, negatively, while insisting that he appreciates her ability.

Way to go, Nick.

Appreciating her ability and thinking her connections are putting her through a worthless campaign are not mutually exclusive.

You don't have a sound reason for her not running here though, right?

NT

In other words, he falls flat on his face on a non speed favoring surface.

I do. They gain NOTHING by running her in that spot, assuming they're objective for coming back was Horse of the Year. They started the year with a two pronged path:

1) Beat the reigning Horse of the Year in OP
and/or
2 Win the Classic again

Since 1 fell through, circumstances beyond their control, they're left with 2.
Explain to me how beating Rail Trip or Richard's Kid helps her?

If she doesn't win the classic, she's not HOTY. If she doesn't do the Classic and wins the GC, she's not HOTY. See a pattern?

So you've bought into the whole "Classic or die" mantra that the Moss/Shirreffs/Zenyatta gang has propagated now. I would have thought that someone with the appreciation of racing you have would recognize that a campaign pointed towards one race doesn't necessarily have to include the easiest stops along the way. When dealing with a seemingly great horse, why take the easy road with 6-7 week (or more) breaks? I blame Pletcher as much as anyone for doing it too.

I can tell you this much, if she was running in races like the GC and Pacific Classic and winning them, a 2nd place finish in the BCC with an upset from a new shooter would still equal a HOTY. You still have to try to build a resume to some extent. One that goes a bit beyond the Vanity and Hirsch IMO.

NT

What's your reasoning behind this?

I don't think it has anything to do with speed favoring. It is a distinctly DIFFERENT surface. I wouldn't expect him to win if she shipped to Europe to run in a G1 turf race either.

I haven't been that blown away by his races this year, and I don't think 10f is his best distance either. The track is not playing to his style like it was last year also, in my opinion.

So, your argument, now, is that a 6 year old mare needs to put in her most ambitious year of racing to date, then, turn in a good showing in the GC, to get HOTY. If she were my horse and I had your option on #2 above, I'd go with #2 every time. I'm pretty sure, under those circumstances, you'd go for #2 as well. This horse has done enough, IMO. Keep her fit and try dirt at CD.

I think it has EVERYTHING to do with speed favoring when it comes to him. That's my point.

So because they've put her through similarly weak and unimaginative campaigns pre-BC in the last two years it's OK for them to do it again?

If she were my horse we would have logged so many frequent flier miles I'd practically own Tex Sutton. Clearly, I wouldn't have been afraid to lose.

NT

Wasn't that long ago, really, when the Z connections were almost certain they weren't running in the Classic last year. Now? Now it's the end all.

lol
she's 6, not 16. 17 whole races under her belt...yeah, she's used up. :rolleyes: when is she going to get started on her most ambitious year? there's no reason she can't take on males in a race other than the classic...surely you don't subscribe to the 'mares shouldn't take on males' theory? you don't think she'd run harder because it's out of her usual sex? she sure didn't look done in after the classic. besides, the classic alone didn't get her HOY last year, i doubt it alone gets her that this year either.

Zenyatta's not in either of these races. Why make every f'kn thread about Zenyatta or Rachel? Same people over and over.

Isn't that the main complaint?

She barely squeaks out a win in the Vanity against a horse who was trounced by males in her previous start and she is supposed to run in the Gold Cup against the best male in California. Makes sense.

The Fat Man is just issuing a double bind here while trying to play both sides of the fence at the same time.

Zenyatta shouldn't run against Rail Trip because he's not important and beating him does nothing for her in regards to Horse Of The Year. At the same time, she shouldn't run against Rail Trip because he makes the Hollywood Gold Cup too ambitious a spot for her on the road (Easy Street?) towards HOY.

Maybe we should call him "The Fat Man With No Name" with all the spaghetti western posturing he does around here.

Better get a few coffins ready...

So you're saying she is clearly not the best horse in training?

I'm saying that.

I'm not alone evidently.

Fair enough. Even if it's a step down from what most people envisioned for her 2010 campaign, there has to be some interest in seeing Zenyatta take on St. Trinians a second time in the Clement Hirsch.

It's just disappointing that it will "waste" another start in familiar territory.

This is complete crap. Quality Road is light years ahead of Zenyatta at this point, and that gap only gets bigger and bigger after he wins the Whitney and Woodward. If she were the favorite for HOY at this point, your argument would make some sense, but she's not. She already has significant ground to make up, and we're only halfway through the year. Unless QR slips up considerably, a Classic win alone won't cut it.

i agree, quality road is the top of the heap....

and this ought to fan some flames:

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse...21/worldclass/


charts for top horses at the bottom of the page.

Racing Post ratings are so funny.

How did St. Trinians not make that list?

Seriously. This confirms the list is bogus.

I expected 20 pages in this thread from the Zenyatta haters/fans but complaints about Quality Road? Really? It's a good idea to ship QR all the way to California to run 10F on synthetic but it's too ambitious to ask the big mare to walk 100 feet down the shed row to run her best surface and distance?? :zz:

Sheriffs ran Life Is Sweet in this spot last year but apparently challenging his best mare more than once a year is too much. The lack of good horses in this country has really created some chicken **** owners who do whatever they can to avoid losing and then act like they are doing fans a favor.

Richard's Kid should be enough to put down the ridiculous hype that is Rail Trip.

Maybe at Del Mar where the surface is a complete joke.

It doesn't help, however you have to think he will be a fair price given the layoff. This is one you have to have faith in the trainer that the horse will fire, I really like Baffert these days, he has figured out how to train for synth.

It's been a while but Baffert lost with both Captain Steve and Silver Charm coming back from Dubai. Both lost at very short prices in their returns.

NT

Obviously, it isn't ideal having a horse making their return in a grade 1 off of a 3+ month layoff, I'm not really a believer in the Dubai curse thing anyway, this will be a good test for Rail Trip carrying 123.

I've never been one to think Richard's Kid coming into any race off any sort of layoff is an ideal situation.

The layoff is secondary to his ability.

They talk about a fast pace, dont see it, Compari will go out fairly moderate and Tres Berrachos will stalk and try to get first run in front of rail trip. I bet rail trip opens up 5 into the stretch before Richards Kid starts passing the tiring horses.

Baffert Interview
 

No way, a trainer entering a horse in a GI race is confident about their chances.

That was enlightening.

NT