Jay Hovdey rains on the Rapid Redux win parade

[DaTruth]

How nice of Jay to come along and put a win streak in perspective.

http://www.drf.com/news/hovdey-there...re-are-records

[Calzone Lord]

His typical worthless column when he's not doing a human interest story.

Hovdey is very good at writing. He should stick to his human interest stories and fluff garbage.

Any other writer at DRF would have done a much better job at knocking the win streak.

* This gem from his last column:

For the most part, every round of barrel racing is a variation on a very narrow theme – just as six-furlong races at Charles Town in November can start to look a lot alike – but the sport is intimate, and there’s always a chance one of the horses will go to buck-jumping or sunfishing, then tear off for the barn while shedding his rider against the railing of a pipe-pen chute.

How do six-furlong races at Charles Town "look a lot alike" when they don't even run 6f races at CT? The one-turn races are 4.5 furlongs and the two-turn races are 6.5f and 7f.

* This from his current column:

His justifiably proud trainer, David Wells, did not help matters much when he said, in the wake of RR’s 20th straight last Monday at Charles Town, “We’re still eyeing Citation’s record.”

Mountaineer, not Charles Town. At least you got the state correct anyway.

[cmorioles]

What an embarrassment. Did this guy bother to check anything before he turned that in to his equally clueless editor?

[trackrat59]

Mishugina Award for 2011

[Peter Berry]

Hovdey is a brilliant writer. Have you considered he may have deliberately misidentified the track in order to make a broader point?

[trackrat59]

Originally Posted by Peter Berry

Hovdey is a brilliant writer. Have you considered he may have deliberately misidentified the track in order to make a broader point?

WTF?

[Linny]

What broader point could be made my saying CT instead of Mountaineer?

Hovdey is a good writer, his prose is enjoyable to read but he is prone to factual errors and to making points that need not be bothered with. In this case, I don't see anyone standing up and comparing RR to Zenyatta or Citation or any of the greats of the game that never put together a notable "streak." Pretty much any informed racing fan understands that yes, RR is a horse taking advantange of a condition and that he's not the second coming of Dr. Fager. Anyone who doesn't know that isn't reading the DRF anyhow.

[Peter Berry]

Originally Posted by Linny

What broader point could be made by saying CT instead of Mountaineer?

That most people east of Pittsburgh and west of Akron wouldn't know the difference between Mountaineer and Charles Town?

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by Peter Berry

Hovdey is a brilliant writer. Have you considered he may have deliberately misidentified the track in order to make a broader point?

He isn't that clever.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Peter Berry

Hovdey is a brilliant writer. Have you considered he may have deliberately misidentified the track in order to make a broader point?

You're a good guy if you honestly believe this and give him the benefit of the doubt.

I don't think I've ever agreed with cmorioles about anything but he's right... this is an embarrassment.

I don't believe for a second this was intentional...

[OldDog]

"...the sound of fans and media bending over backwards in an attempt to place the 20-race win streak of Rapid Redux into sensible context."

Really? I have no trouble putting it into context, sensible, reasonable or otherwise. But, I'm not "media."

[blackthroatedwind]

You do realize he's just afraid somehow this cheapens Zenyatta?

As if she doesn't have the edge over any horse in history at choosing the path of least resistance.

[Peter Berry]

Well, he surely deserves a passing grade for having the right state.

[Left Bank]

On the contrary,a better article by Richard Eng:
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/record-se...134483698.html

[Danzig]

it would have been a better effort on his part had he written something along these lines to put zenyatta's win streak in perspective. she no more belongs in the rarified air that contains citation than rapid redux.
but i'm glad he said that breeding isn't everything. i'd have never figured that out on my own.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by Danzig

it would have been a better effort on his part had he written something along these lines to put zenyatta's win streak in perspective. she no more belongs in the rarified air that contains citation than rapid redux.
but i'm glad he said that breeding isn't everything. i'd have never figured that out on my own.

The whole breeding paragraph is one of the most inane things I've read in a while.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by Left Bank

On the contrary,a better article by Richard Eng:
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/record-se...134483698.html

Nice to see that he also thinks Citation has the record. Does anyone do any homework before writing these days?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Nice to see that he also thinks Citation has the record. Does anyone do any homework before writing these days?

i think they all call it a 'modern day' record.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i think they all call it a 'modern day' record.

OK, but when does "modern day" start?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

OK, but when does "modern day" start?

now, that's a good question! maybe 1900?