Quote:
Originally Posted by King Glorious
My argument would be that beating Venetian Harbor at 7f is more impressive than beating her at 8.5f since sprinting is what she does best.
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A dubious assertion at this stage. Venetian Harbor is a run-off who has yet to mature into a reasonable running style. She is no more effective sprinting than she is routing. In fact, her sprint record is terrible compared to her two-turn record, which is at least consistent. She was buried in both the Test and the BC FM Sprint and just held sway in the lesser Raven Run. Meanwhile, the only two horses to beat her in a two-turn race are Swiss Skydiver and Speech (both of whom have technically beaten Gamine, by the way).
She hasn't beaten a sprinter of any merit and yet in her routes she's finished in front of the winners of the BC Juvenile Fillies, the Queen Elizabeth, the Demoiselle, the Kentucky Oaks, Fair Grounds Oaks, Remington Park Oaks, and Falls City...all two turn races. When she held on to win the Raven Run, she just edged the come backing Finite, another multiple graded stakes winner around two-turns.
That Swiss Skydiver was able to engage Venetian Harbor early after a blistering 1/2 mile and still go on to win Fantasy speaks to the quality of the former's cruising speed. It was a dozen lengths back to the rest of the field (which also says something about Venetian Harbor's ability to see out a distance).
That certainly trumps Gamine being able to out-foot Venetian Harbor in a pair sprints when the latter was hard held early in both races, effectively blunting the one weapon she's thus far displayed (her front-running speed).
If she learns to settle she'll be able to get a middle distance easily.