Quote:
Originally Posted by King Glorious
I can understand being a "glass if half full" kind of guy but at some point, you have to also realize that it's still half empty. Saying this is the best of what we've got left is not the same as saying it's good. If you put 11 $40k claimers in the field, you'd still have 11 3yos in a grade one race. A competitive race, a good betting race, doesn't make it a good race. If you turn on the men's 100m final at the Olympics and Bolt, Blake, Gatlin, Powell, and Gay are all missing, it's not even worth watching. Sure, the remaining runners could end up in an eight-way dead-heat and it would make for an exciting finish....but the reason we watch sports at the highest level is to see the highest quality. Through no fault of it's own, this race completely lacks it.
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Jennie Rees from the Louisville Courier-Journal has this posted on her blog. "My mantra: There's never a bad Derby, some are just better than others."
Agreed entirely that the race does not have the highest quality. A glance at the PPs makes this indisputable.
The very fact, however, that people bemoan the race because its quality, top to bottom, is lacking, is a function of people looking for something to criticize. I don't think we have any future superstars (edit - in this race), and we certainly have no current stars...
They can't criticize the card, the lack of claiming races, the full fields, and the other good stakes races...leaving this to be the lone critical element...I guess that's why we have message boards. It's tiring and predictable.