Quote:
Originally Posted by Dunbar
Running Bellamy Road in last year's Travers may get the award as the stupidest things anyone has ever done with a good horse. Although I realize there is a lot of competition for that award.
--Dunbar
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I disagree. The horse was ready to run and he proved it by running a very strong race. He didn't win it not because of any physical problems but because he just ran into a better horse. But he proved he was ready to run. A worse decision would have been to run in the King's Bishop where he would have been required to go all out for 7f, a much tougher task than a 10f race where u aren't all out but for a few furlongs.
The fact is that this horse battled problems from the start. There were reasons why he got such a long break after his 2yo season and didn't start his 3yo season until late.
The lack of competition in those two spring races made Bellamy Road look like a world beater and while he was a talented horse, he was nowhere near that good. None of his speed figures, save for the Wood, were anything close to suggesting a superstar. Hell, they didn't even suggest a star. That race was a fluke performance for him, much like the one for Midway Road at Keeneland when he got that 120+ number. Just some days, it all comes together.......the track, the conditions, the competition, and Beyer's frame of mind in deciding what he wants to give a race.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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