Originally Posted by Indian Charlie
I'm not really sure what makes people think he's a sprinter, other than pretty circumstantial PPs.
Of those six starts going 7 or less, three were as a two year old, after he sold for 2+ million at a 2yo in training sale. None of those three starts were particularly great, though indeed one or two of those were pretty nice. Notice the company he kept in that third start? VH, Cribnote and Munnings? Those are all three quality sprinters, and DP wanted NOTHING to do with that field. Yeah, he did have some trouble, but he was pretty close early and got outrun pretty badly late.
Next up, he makes an early 3yo debut in the desert and wins going 7f, by 1/2 a length over Regal Ransom.
Three weeks later, he makes his next start going 1m, in what is very obviously his best performance. Again facing their apparent star router from the group, Regal Ransom, DP wins by nearly five.
Six weeks later, in what is clearly his second best performance, he goes 9 in their big 3yo race, and loses by about half a length to Regal Ransom. 15 lengths back to third.
Up to this point, it could not be any clearer that this is not a 6f horse.
The wheels fall off in the Derby, but if I recall correctly, he did suffer an injury and was not seen again until this year. He won some crappy 6f race where he overmatched his field, then ran up the track going a mile. He trailed, or close to it, throughout the entire race, which signifies to me that the distance had nothing to do with it. He just didn't run that day, or had something go amiss (besides having bad connections).
The Philly race? Who cares. That field was ugly.
Next you have his breeding. Sired by a World Cup winner that also sired the greatest staying mare in history, I see little indication in his sires side that would make me think he's a sprinter.
His damsire won the Preakness and the Belmont. Granted, the females in his family were awful, but that would indicate more of a soundness difficulty than a distance problem.
It seems pretty obvious to me, also, when you watch him run, that he's not a sprinter.
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