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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
He was 2nd in the Kentucky Derby, which is ten furlongs, and would not have lossed if Street Sense hadn't been allowed to pass 17 horses up the rail without getting stopped.
By the way, even after a stumble, Hard Spun was gaining on Street Sense in the last 100 yards of the Derby.
He's only less effective going a Classic distance when he's NOT ALLOWED to lead due to incompetent rating tactics by his rider -- or horses like Flying First Class and XChanger setting an insane pace.
In the King's Bishop, over a Saratoga track that was not that fast (Street Sense got a 109 Beyer for running a moderate 2:02.70) -- Hard Spun was pressing the pace setter through fractions of 21 and change and 44 1/5ths, while pulling against his rider....
If he can't fully relax when denied the lead, while up on a very hot pace, in a Grade 1 sprint race -- how is he supposed to see out a classic distance when denied the lead and pulling -- at distances much longer?
Do people even realize that through a series of unlikely circumstances this horse WASN'T on the early in the Preakness, WASN'T on the early lead in the Belmont, and WASN'T on the early lead in the Haskell.
Does anyone think a similar styled horse like Commentator was capable of doing anything at a route distance while denied the lead? When allowed to run off on a loose lead in the Whitney, Commentator defeated Horse of the Year Saint Liam in very fast time.
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what was the unlikely circumstance in the Haskell? Hard Spun ran the race his own way in hand, took the lead heading for home and was inhaled by Any Given Saturday.
These circumstances that cause him to be denied every time are called racing. If its happens every time he routes can you really attribute it to special circumstances, or is it more likely that it will be hard for Hard Spun to find a GR1 route race wherein he is handed an uncontested lead in moderate fractions. To me that is the more unlikely circumstance.