Jose Santos retired today

[largo1]

Okay, here's the question....

Can someone explain to me how working a horse fast before a big race would make him rank? I understand that it should "sharpen" him up a bit, but does *one* super fast work make a horse rank? I am familiar with an expression about 'leaving his best work on the training track" (thats not the expression exactly maybe, but something to that effect). Now, to me, the problem with Tagg working Funny Cide so fast before the Belmont wasn't that it made him rank, but that a workout that fast so close to the big race didn't leave enough recovery time. I know that muscles are torn down with anaerboic work(like a fast work versus a long, slow gallop which is aerobic) and need time to recover and repair, which is what builds them up. And lactic acid builds up and makes the muscles sore, yadda, yadda, yadda.(okay, I don't exactly remember the whole scenario, but I get the gist)(and is "yadda" spelled with one or two d's, can't remember that either) So do you guys think the fast work so close to the Belmont made him rank, or do you think it was just too much too close to the big race?

Suzanne