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Originally Posted by King Glorious
Boy am I glad that Jackson and Asmussen didn't wake up and see the rain and the track and scratch without seeing how the track would be come race time.
I have a hard time understanding how some of you pretty knowledgeable folks are so misguided. As someone else mentioned, Rachel is nowhere near as popular as Smarty Jones and Barbaro were and those two horses didn't bring them in in droves. What in the world makes people think Rachel would? For one, even if she were to run in the BC, 95% of the people that will be watching the races are already racing fans and were going to watch anyway. Just two years ago, Rags to Riches beat the Preakness winner in the Belmont. That was an historical achievement. How many came out to see her next race?
In a few more years, we'll have more horses that are bred with the purpose of being able to be good on synthetics and dirt. Right now, we don't have them. When Rachel and Zenyatta were bred, dirt was still king. They are dirt horses that are just so good that they can run well on synthetics but they are dirt horses. Anyone that uses Rachel's win in a nw2l allowance and says that proves she can handle synthetics is really reaching. Class won out that day. Nicanor won his first two on grass but does that mean he's up to beating Sea the Stars on it? Zenyatta and Rachel are both proven at the top level on one surface, dirt. That's where they should meet if they ever do. Of course, there's every chance that Rachel could flourish on synthetic and be just as good as she is on the dirt. But as much chance as there is, there's as much chance that she won't be. If they are to meet, it has to be in a race where neither has the surface question mark.
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The Barbaro comparison is not fair, unfortunately his popularity soared when he got injured. The whole country was pulling for him. As far as Smarty goes, I want to believe that she is as popular if not more than he was. She hasn't had the cover of SI (yet), but then again she wasn't trying to win the TC. Unfortunately for the sport there are so many different avenues/sites where you could just watch the horse/race at a later date which makes it possible for you not to have to go to the track to watch him or her. But I want to believe that she is one of the handful of horses that people will go out of there way to see live at the track. This was my first Haskell and she was the main reason I attended.