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Originally Posted by miraja2
Jim, My question for you now is, did Street Sense answer your questions about him yesterday? And I don't mean that in a smart-ass way, I am actually curious. On the one hand:
1) He had no pace to run at considering Grasshopper got clear and got the half in :48.12.
2) He didn't get his preferred rail trip at all, and was pretty wide around the first turn.
3) He was certainly out of his element being that close to the pace with so few horses in front of him.
In spite of these problems he still prevailed over what seems like a pretty good horse in Grasshopper, and beat his two Jim Dandy rivals by over 16 lengths this time.
But on the other hand, your pre-race point that he lacked the same explosion under these conditions seems to be somewhat validated by the relatively slow time for the final quarter and the fact that he didn't blow by Grasshopper.
Just curious as to how your (or anyone's) take on the horse has changed after this race...if at all.
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Well he showed me something different, as that race did not fit the model that I had been talking about. I really think the race gives us an accurate untainted view of what Street Sense can do.
What surprised me? That Borel kept him in the clear in the two path, that he didn't try any rail hugging shenanigans, that he ran a more or less balanced race in terms of how his speed was rationed out. That he didn't try any big run, he just rode him confidently in the manner that I would have expected for a 2/5 favorite. It was a better race than his Jim Dandy.
I have read where some are talking the effort down a bit because all he beat was a lightly raced allowance horse. yeah right! That allowance horse is something special having never carried that weight or went that distance or competed against the best, but here he is battling to the wire with the division leader while others that were supposed to give Street Sense a tussle were out of the picture. I don't know what Grasshoppers future plans are, he has come so far so fast this year, would they consider the classic? Most people would off of a race like that but my god that is a lot to ask.
Street Sense is solid in every way, a little quirky in the stretch almost everytime, I didn't envy Albarado being in between Street Sense and the rail.
You know that is going to get real tight.
Looking ahead to the Classic, I still would rate Lawyer Ron and Any Given Saturday ahead of Street Sense at this point, with Street Sense not that far back.