Gio Ponti: Back in '11, targets DWC..
 

Will race again in 2011 as a 6yr old, and will target The Dubai World Cup, kudos to all involved in keeping a tue Champion around for another year.

True champion??

:tro:

At least we know the Exacta for next years BC Mile

That's good and surprising news.

I'm not sure it's that surprising - he RNA'd for a modest sum at a 2yo in training sale .. I'm not so sure he isn't worth more on the track padding those earnings and accomplishments than in the breeding shed.

I doubt he will be an attractive stallion prospect.

His owner basically said as much in the release. It's also obvious.

I don't like him as a stallion prospect either - there was a really funny article before the BC where they interviewed two "experts" - one actually said, no lie, that he could probably stand for $75K.

It's surprising to me because there was so much talk of where to run him in the BC to increase his value from the connections. I guess the fact that they ran him in the mile should've been a sign that they had abandoned their optimism.

A champion of what exactly? The fastest of the slowest turf divisions we have EVER HAD?

Good post.

I always thought he was kinda good by default.

That's about it.

He's no Interpatation, but I'm glad he's coming back next year. We need all of the good horses we can get...especially in the turf division.

You could say this about many of the turf champions in this country. Gio Ponti ran some nice races in 2009. This year he was less good in what was even a weak year by our standards.

Regardless, as others have said, it's nice that he's coming back.

Hell, I'm just hoping they bring Uncle Mo back next year.

Interpatation defines racing. :D

No, really!

You never know what to expect.

He disappoints and is so damned frustrating and then suddenly, out of nowhere, you see that fight in him.

You see this heart, this refusal to quit, this heart-stopping, breathtaking run and then

... and then...

... back to gut-wrenching disappointment but so what.

After a while, so what cause with him you know exactly what to expect.

The unexpected!

He'd better get HOY in 2011 for all he's done for racing.

I'm happy he's back, but a run at Dubai has knocked out better and younger horses than he. I'm skeptical of him making much of an impact on American Turf after returning from the desert.

Yeah!!

Has a six year old even run second in the BC Turf Mile before? It's probably unheard of!

I have been a Gio Ponti fan since he was 2. Is he a historically great American turf horse? No, but he runs his race every time he goes to the post and has collected wins in basically all of the big American non-BC turf races (save the Joe Hirsch).

I'm glad he's coming back.

Gio Pionti = Ginger Punch... maybe
I guess he is really a miler that has been able to beat bad 10f horses most of the time. You want him vs. Kittens Joy Artie Schiller or even English Channel.. I guess its ok that he is coming back. In reality his record is more an indictment on US based turf racing then his overall quality..

I went out of my way to say he's not a historically good American turf horse and then you post this? He'd have no shot against Kitten's Joy or Artie when they were at their best. Unfortunately, Kitten's Joy really only had one big season, of course, it was a terrific season.

I don't think Gio Ponti would match up all that poorly with English Channel. In fact, I think they are somewhat similar save that BC Turf win from EC that was just a very strange race.