You Leave Kenny Alone...he's gotta have that Royal Ascot Chicken!

RolloTomasi · #1 06-19-2023, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Now only if archrival Bolshoi Ballet, the only other 100-1 shot in the field, would defect we may get to see McPeek & his trusty top hat (likely purchased from Bob Sacamano in Central Park?) in the winner’s circle rubbing elbows with the Queen Consort.

Well, the stars have aligned.

Pace rival Bolshoi Ballet has opted to take his chance in a listed stakes tomorrow on opening day at the Royal Ascot meet rather than in the Group 1 a day later. He's rated an 8/1 chance in the listed race.

Of course, this begs the question, why isn't Classic Causeway in that listed race?

Classic Causeway will line up against just 5 other horses in the Prince of Wales'. 3 of those 5 are the ONLY 3 horses to EVER finish in front of the much ballyhooed Baaeed, who at one point was rated as highly as the great Frankel. As it stands, he ended up only being rated between Flightline and Japanese star Equinox at the end of last year.

The other 2 horses are the 6-for-9 Luxembourg who has won Group 1s at age 2, 3, & 4. If you need some strict form to compare to Classic Causeway's 4-for-16 slate, Luxembourg has beaten the bitterly disappointing US import Royal Patronage multiple times by an average 10 lengths or so. Classic Causeway has also beaten Royal Patronage multiple times, by an average of 1 length. That's a difference of just a 'zero' if we are using the McPeek theorem of mathematics...

The final horse is 8-for-14 multiple Group stakes winner Mostahdaf, who has failed in all 3 Group 1 attempts although last time out was his best try, finishing 7 lengths behind runaway winner Equinox and 4 in front of BC Turf winner Rebel's Romance. Classic Causeway skipped last year's BC Turf to run off-the-board in an age-restricted Grade 3 on the BC undercard...

Logic aside, with just 5 other runners in the Prince of Wales', Classic Causeway's connections have a very good chance of being able to say they finished in the top 6 in a race at Royal Ascot when it is all said & done.

And of course, with Classic Causeway presumably going straight to the front, his owners can always simply eschew video recording technology & take some snapshots of him leading all his rivals in the first couple of furlongs of the race. Later back home they can photoshop the finish line in the background & dupe some of their friends that live off the grid...

blackthroatedwind · #2 06-19-2023, 07:45 PM

He has gone out of his way to find the worst spots for this horse, on both surfaces. At this point, I expect to see him in the AP Smithwick early in the Saratoga meet.

freddymo · #3 06-21-2023, 10:32 AM

Solid 7f effort, but hey, the tea and crumpets were great.

On to the Sword Dancer, nothing like Saratoga in August

RolloTomasi · #4 06-21-2023, 02:16 PM

The best part was the pre-race interview asking why McPeek was in the UK.

"We wanted to get some more Grade 1-type with him..."

Unfortunately, the interviewer failed on her follow-up, the obvious 1-2 punch which should have been:

1) Is that because you couldn't get any Grade 3-type with him in the past 6 months?

2) So you thought running in what could conceivably be the most competitive middle distance race of the season for older horses in the WORLD would be a good spot?

Sad thing is he may have impacted the race, as Ryan Moore for some reason opted to out-foot Classic Causeway early on race favorite Luxembourg & perhaps utlimately going faster than he needed to & setting it up for the Gosden horse from the back (the only non-Group 1 winner in the field)