The track was fair for Dunkirk all the way to the top of the stretch and then it became unfair. Right. If it had been a lesser horse than Quality Road up there, Dunkirk would have gone on by and Pletcher would have had nothing to say. Because it was a good horse that didn't stop running and outran him down the lane, something that could have possibly happened no matter what they were running on, it suddenly is to be blamed on the track.
Why didn't he just scratch then? He had seen all the races that day leading up to the Florida Derby. If he thought it was unfair, he should have scratched and then run in the Wood. I guarantee that Aqueduct would not have souped up their track for Wood day. They NEVER do that. Horses naturally run 7f in 1:20 and change on that track all the time so just because we saw the Carter go in 1:20.22 and the Bay Shore go in 1:20.67 in 2004, just because we saw the Carter in 1:20.46 and the Wood in 1:47.16 in 2005....we can't assume that they soup up on Wood day.
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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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