Quote:
Originally Posted by RolloTomasi
Now only if archrival Bolshoi Ballet, the only other 100-1 shot in the field, would defect we may get to see McPeek & his trusty top hat (likely purchased from Bob Sacamano in Central Park?) in the winner’s circle rubbing elbows with the Queen Consort.
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Well, the stars have aligned.
Pace rival Bolshoi Ballet has opted to take his chance in a listed stakes tomorrow on opening day at the Royal Ascot meet rather than in the Group 1 a day later. He's rated an 8/1 chance in the listed race.
Of course, this begs the question, why isn't Classic Causeway in that listed race?
Classic Causeway will line up against just 5 other horses in the Prince of Wales'. 3 of those 5 are the ONLY 3 horses to EVER finish in front of the much ballyhooed Baaeed, who at one point was rated as highly as the great Frankel. As it stands, he ended up only being rated between Flightline and Japanese star Equinox at the end of last year.
The other 2 horses are the 6-for-9 Luxembourg who has won Group 1s at age 2, 3, & 4. If you need some strict form to compare to Classic Causeway's 4-for-16 slate, Luxembourg has beaten the bitterly disappointing US import Royal Patronage multiple times by an average 10 lengths or so. Classic Causeway has also beaten Royal Patronage multiple times, by an average of 1 length. That's a difference of just a 'zero' if we are using the McPeek theorem of mathematics...
The final horse is 8-for-14 multiple Group stakes winner Mostahdaf, who has failed in all 3 Group 1 attempts although last time out was his best try, finishing 7 lengths behind runaway winner Equinox and 4 in front of BC Turf winner Rebel's Romance. Classic Causeway skipped last year's BC Turf to run off-the-board in an age-restricted Grade 3 on the BC undercard...
Logic aside, with just 5 other runners in the Prince of Wales', Classic Causeway's connections have a very good chance of being able to say they finished in the top 6 in a race at Royal Ascot when it is all said & done.
And of course, with Classic Causeway presumably going straight to the front, his owners can always simply eschew video recording technology & take some snapshots of him leading all his rivals in the first couple of furlongs of the race. Later back home they can photoshop the finish line in the background & dupe some of their friends that live off the grid...