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Originally Posted by Merlinsky
Sure let's just ignore the self esteem and psychological well being of this horse I guess. Putting a horse in over it's head can potentially ruin the horse. In the face of it, some horses never put in a try ever again. As for the other horses, say he does cook Hard Spun in a duel (not that I buy into the idea that HS would engage) at the end you'll have to wobbly horses flying backward into the face of advancing traffic which isn't going to be huge (it's not as if it's a 20 horse Derby field) but still anybody in the first couple paths has to deal with going around them. What could it do to the other horses? A variety of things. This one may be extreme but excessively tired horses have flat out fallen down. They've also caused another animal to clip heels or any other number of racing accidents. I personally prefer my races without the equine edition of Frogger. I guess if Digger ends up vanned from the track after being eased, no harm no foul right? I mean who else did he hurt? (He could of course come out of it just fine and even do well but the odds are seriously against him, that's the point. If he wants a G1 race better suited to the horse, there are others he could take a stab at. It's not sporting to take an animal over his head just to do it. You need to at least think there's a chance which they don't appear to.)
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Maybe he becomes a tougher and braver horse by racing against tougher horses? Can you say he wont for sure? How many times have we as humans seen our kids or even ourselves step "up" to the competition level of more experienced people at sports we play. I play alot of racquetball. When I play against the guys that are much better than me my game picks up. Can you say that Digger wont show up when the time comes?
As for your analogy of a weary leg animal causing confusion a potential problems, I dont buy it. Every day we see horses backing through 12 horse sprint races after 2F. This is the same danger that I assume you mean that Digger might cause. Why has there been no arguments over this danger. I cant think of a more dangerous race in the USA than the Derby. A 20 horse cavalry charge to the first turn and then 1/2 the field is going backwards into the second turn.
What Larry Roman has said as an owner is one thing, but he doesnt ride the race and the jock will. The horse is eligible to race in the Belmont and deserves a chance.