[ELA]

I might consider AGS somewhat enigmatic for me. Not specifically yesterday. On one hand, I never, ever put him in the same class as Street Sense, Hard Spun or Curlin. On the other hand his Haskell had to make you either take notice or think twice (maybe three or more times). On what would perhaps be a third hand -- even after the Haskell, I never for a split second considered him a better horse than the big three so to speak. Even with that start over the track -- rain or not, I never once considered him my "I'm betting this horse in the BC Classic"

AGS just never looked like he was definitively getting better, moving forward, progressing. Sure, he was better (maybe much better) after the Derby than before, but, he was supposed to be. His Dwyer was a good performance, but he wasn't racing against the cream of the crop 3yo's (like this crop or not, he wasn't racing against the best in the crop). His Haskell was crucial -- that was his day to get a G1 and put that notch on his resume. That's your stallion statement. The Brooklyn was a race against sub-par older horses (don't get me wrong, I'd love to own a few of them).

I just didn't think there was that much more in the tank. He often looked like he was all out. That's often visual in nature and you really need to know what you are looking at in order to decipher what's going on. You need to what kind of horse he is, etc., and I spoke with Johnny V. about the horse and understand the kind of horse he is. I just didn't think he was in the first tier.

Anyway, great race and a great BC.

Eric