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Originally Posted by King Glorious
I don't think u will ever find a single post on any forum where I have said anything good about what Lava Man has been facing. I think they are equally pathetic. In fact, I was most upset that they didn't send Lava Man to the Arlington Million instead of the Pacific Classic because I am tired of seeing him beat up on the same bums over and over again. Where is the fun in watching that?
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Then why continue to make the same " who have they beaten " posts? We're not idiots here, well most of us aren't, we understand the overall level of competition isn't what it was in 1957, or 1967, or any number of past years, but that doesn't make it impossible to judge a horse's " true " ability.
Invasor is a good horse, a very good horse, and the nature of his wins proves that ( the same could easily be said about Lava Man ). Each has overcome some adversity....Invasor was forced to run as his own rabbit in the Pimlico Special and was still able to rerally to run down the loose speed. He made what could easily be called a premature move into a strong pace in the Whitney and was still able to hold off Sun King who enjoyed a much sweeter trip. No, Sun King is not the be all and end all, but he is no slouch either as evidenced by his narrow defeat in the Met Mile and previous resume of at least solid races. And, if you look at speed figures, he has run at least acceptably " fast " in these races.
I can't break down Lava Man's races as well simply because I don't follow California racing, but his win in the SA Handicap seemed very legitimate to me. He was right on the heels of a contentious pace, one that buried favored High Limit, and still held off perfect trip Magnum ( who was coming off a very solid effort...though obviously he's tailed off ). He encountered severe early trouble in his return this summer and still managed to gut out a victory and while the P Classic was obviously a less than stellar field he won like a dominent horse is supposed to win.
You say he should have run in the Arlington Million instead of beating up " the same bums over and over again ". You have to be kidding me. He should have run in a race he was extremely unlikely to win for the same purse he was odds on to win? His connections have run in all the big races for going on two years but he should have chosen more difficult spots because.......you weren't getting any pleasure out of his campaign? The simple fact is had his connections run him in the Million they, in all likelihood, would have been ridiculed for passing the easy money in the P Classic in the hopes of winning a race they were, at best, 25% as likely to win.