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Originally Posted by RolloTomasi
I'm impressed with the severity of Derby fever that the Team Valor-Motion juggernaut has developed. They have 3 or 4 prospects that are predictably targeting polytrack and turf races as a way into the Kentucky Derby. Yeah, they really discovered the proper winning formula last year with that ridiculous route. Just insert Euro-raced or -bred horse and press "go".
If anything, Animal Kingdom won the Derby in spite of their clueless handling. Who knows how much more accomplished he would have been had he campaigned in a more traditional manner. Probably would have actually deserved the Eclipse award at the very least.
The worst symptom, as you suggest, is their continued insistence that State Of Play is a viable contender. I like the excuse for the Sam F. Davis: "He fizzled on dirt at Tampa, but that is an unusual surface and he warrants at least some breezes over a conventional dirt track." Sure he does, Barry, but not until he makes enough Derby cash to secure a spot in the starting gate, right?
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I was going to post something similar to this. Simply because they were successful in putting a square peg into a round hole once, they're going to keep trying.
State of Play showed all the signs of developing into a nice turf horse by the end of the Saratoga meet, but he was then put in the BC Juvenile Turf after missing training because of an illness. His 2012 comeback was on dirt (?) and now he's taking the synthetic route to a potential Derby start. Let's hope they get him back to turf as soon as possible.