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Originally Posted by freddymo
I always thought a horse that overcomes setup in a sprint in a race that doesnt fit his style suggests quality.
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That's why one might say that Smiling Tiger is very good, but not Twirling Candy. The race is 7f and usually gets a full field with several confirmed sprinters, inherently favoring horses coming out of route races such as Twirling Candy. Smiling Tiger, who had a full campaign and was just coming back off the BC Sprint, had a decent horse lapped on to him throughout and he was still strong to the wire.
However, apparently it took a lot out of him, or the race wasn't very good, as he was brow-beaten by the comebacking old-timer Euroears a few weeks later in the 6f Palos Verdes. To be fair, he never challenged for the lead and seemed somewhat trapped sitting in 3rd early.
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Smiling Tiger is a better sprinter then Twirling Candy and therefore Twirling Candy was at a disadvantage plus Twirling candy connection could not have been targeting the Malibu for Twirling Candys supereme effort.
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Again it was 7f. It favored Twirling Candy immensely. Didn't Smiling Tiger, coming off 4 straight Grade 1s against older horses (2 wins) including a placing in the BC Sprint, go off at 6-1 odds?
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I think you wil agree that the Malibu wasnt the connections ultimate goal even if you think they are foolishly persuing routing. As for not wanting extra distance, I would suggest the longer they go the better Twirling Candy will be as he continues to develop. the colt has a long stride and didnt look exhausted in the Strub now if that was a result of a very slow early pace that he seemed to somehow agree to rate on we will see as I am sure connections will look to the Big Cap and other routes for his immediate future
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I don't think its silly they pursue the Big Cap, etc. I just think he'll get exposed at a route if he every runs against formidable company.
I hope there's a big upset in the Big Cap (fingers crossed, Spurrier) so that we can see Twirling Candy in his more appropriate milieu, eg the Carter and the Met Mile.