Quote:
Originally Posted by Kasept
I'm bewildered as to Giant Oak suffering by general comparison in the analysis going on here. I'm going to assume that is a function of our complete unfamiliarity with horses staying around until they fully mature these days. There was a time when a horse that reached his peak at 5 or 6 was appreciated simply as a late developer and gleefully welcomed to the handicap ranks.
For those who have never seen one race much past their sophomore year, a horse doesn't reach physical maturity until age 4. It's odd that a horse would run a career best figure in his first start at age 5, (105 Beyer in Giant Oak's case), and be dismissed as fodder in a discussion trying to underwhelm Morning Line's foes.
I don't get it. Everyone bemoans horses taken to the shed too quickly, and yet when one stays around, Beyering 100+ in his last three races run between 9f-10f in traditionally serious Handicap Division races, he's scoffed at as an example of how bad the elder males are currently.
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He might be getting good now, maybe he will be really good. Up to Saturday what had he done to make him any type of a player in this division? At the begining of last year he was just bad. He started the year running 3rd,5th,3rd,6th,4th and 5th in his first 6 races. Then maybe he got a little better, but he hangs badly twice, both times under 2-1 in the betting. Im not sure what about this horse made him any good coming into Saturday. Maybe now we can say he is OK because he won the Donn.
Not to mention his last win was about 2 years ago on grass.