Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Quiet Chris
This is nonsense. SJ would have problems getting 12f no matter what. He simply was not a 12f horse. He had too many problems settling whenever he ran.
Throw in Prado riding Birdstone and you had the recipe for an upset. Just like when Prado beat War Emblem with Sarava. I am beginning to see a pattern here. We will see if Spark Candle can rattle Kent. Wouldn't be the first time. What will that make 3x Prado took down a potential triple crown. No coincidence there.
|
I agree that 12f was not Smarty's ideal distance. That would make it even more imperative for him to come into the race 100% to have his best shot. He didn't come into the race 100% after knocking himself out in the Preakness when he really didn't need to.
Here is a message I sent to Dunbar before the Preakness. I sent this to him the morning of the Preakness regarding Big Brown:
"Unless Big Brown regresses tremendously, he should win today. But I think the most important thing to watch for today is whether the horse is asked or not. Smarty Jones won the Preakness by about 10 lengths, but he was being asked and he was all out. It was a huge mistake on the part of Stuart Elliot. If Elliot would have taken a nice hold of the horse and cruised home by 4 lengths in hand, he would have probably won the Belmont. These horses are not machines. You don't want to squeeze the lemon dry. Desormeaux needs to leave something in the tank for the Belmont. Dutrow is pretty sharp. I think he is aware of this and will probably tell Kent to try to save something. If he is whipping and driving today, I will not like his chances in the Belmont."