Only because they were bright enough to pass it and it worked out ok. Had Medag or Congaree won that day instead of dueling each other, they woulda beat him.
Thats a great example of why the voting is screwed up. Farish/Howard had two choices, and neither was attractive. They could go there and hope to be one of the incredibly few dirt horses to ship in there and run well, or they could pass and hope that a horse won the classic who couldnt unseat him.
Fact is he shoulda been champ regardless of how he did that day. As a result, he didnt run and fans were denied from seeing him again.
Same sort of think happened with Azeri in 2004 and that one should really burn fan's butts. Azeri and Sightseek were locked in a tight duel for the eclipse. Sight was retired before the cup. Now Azeri's people had a problem, if she ran in the distaff and lost, she could lose the vote. If she didn't run at all, she had to sweat out a close vote. So they chose plan c, run her in the classic where she had no chance!!! That way they could claim after the race that they had taken a hard shot and should not be penalized, but couldnt be accused of skipping BC day and being afraid to compete.
Sad part is that their strategy worked.