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Old 09-03-2009, 04:28 PM
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Pedigree Ann Pedigree Ann is offline
Churchill Downs
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Lexington, KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hockey2315
What?
I think I was quite clear. As a handicapper, you must have noticed that most Euro horses don't break as quickly and rarely gun for the lead like we can see US ones do, especially in races longer than 5 or 6f. Even when there is a pacemaker in the race, it is frequently only a couple of lengths in front of the next horse, and the rest are running so that there is little daylight between the various horses, ignoring the tailed off horses who can't keep up and will have no part in the finish.

Jealous Again beat the field in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot by not running to the script: she broke like a shot and ran out on a big lead, and the Euro-trained fillies couldn't make up ground. Aegean, another of W. Ward's starters at the meet, failed because she didn't or couldn't put ground between herself and the rest of the field and they outsprinted her in the last two furlongs.

Oh, and German races are often run in soft or heavy turf, so the best horses, the ones who get to go to stud, have to be able to handle it well, and they frequently pass this ability on to their offspring.
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