AQU

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Yup.

He ran 9th in the Holy Bull. He had zero excuse. Horses in front of him drew away from him. And horses who were laying behind him blew right by him. His trip was no excuse.

It would be one thing if he closed some ground but just couldn't close enough because of a speed bias. That didn't happen. As I said before, he lost ground to the speed horses and the come-from-behinders blew right by him. He didn't like the track. In the allowance race at Gulfstream right before the Wood, he ran a little better. He ran 4th. But even in that race he couldn't catch the speed horses and one of the come-from-behinders (Mexikoma) blew right by him.

Jerkens himself said the horse didn't like Gulfstream. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. I agree with you guys that Wicked Strong was going against a bias at Gulfstream. That was one of the reasons he didn't like the track. It was hard to close ground on. But it was more than just the speed bias. Otherwise you wouldn't have seen horses who were even further back than him blowing by him.