[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Seeking out what's in the best interests of the horse, which may or may not be shipping back and forth across the country, also comes into play. However, I would bet my last dollar that the owner of NoBiz couldn't possibly care less about winning a " big " race in California.

Trainers don't usually like to switch back and forth between surfaces, and when it is someone like Shug saying this, and not lessers, I tend to take it at face value. Barcley Tagg runs his horses, and wants to win, and I think in this case it's pretty fair to trust his judgement. I'm reasonably sure he hasn't ruled out running NoBiz on the dirt again. He's no fool.....he knows who's out there.

I know Farish is the same way. They could run the Goodwood for $10 million and the JCGC for $10 and he'd rather win in NY. They could run a grade one for free at Saratoga and the Phipps would rather win that then the Delaware Hcp. With Nobiz, I at least like the fact that they will ship, as evidenced by him coming out for the Hollywood Derby but I would agree with you that if it came down to chosing between a big one in Cali and a smaller one in NY, they will be in NY.

I agree with you that shipping back and forth across the country is probably not a good thing and for most horses, switching back and forth between surfaces probably isn't going to work either. Lava Man was one that it worked for. I believe that there are surely some others that could do it if given the opportunity. Barbaro is another recent example. I think that most trainers just tend to play it safe and stick with what's proven to work and there's nothing wrong with that.

Getting back to Nobiz, I am reminded that I read that when he was running on dirt, he did run down pretty bad. If that's still an issue, then I could see shelving any plans to return to the dirt. But if it's at all possible, then I agree that Tagg almost HAS to consider it based on what's out there.