Horse Racing Dichotomy

[ShadowRoll]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

Disagree with this. None of those horses were parked out in post 20. The rest of that crop was not clearly better than this crop. And I probably would have taken Eight Belles in a matchup against Hard Spun in a hypothetical Preakness if she had survived the race yesterday.

Big Brown clearly had the most talent going into the race. He made all the capping contortions we went through looking for value on other horses appear foolish. If he can come back in two weeks and win again, and then survive 1.5 grueling miles at Belmont, he will be a deserving TC winner.

--Dunbar

You're right.

And there's no sense to griping about the "worthiness" or "likability" of the connections.

First of all, all you know about the connections is what the media report, who tend to present incendiary and salacious information rather than a balanced view of people's everyday lives. It's boring to report that Dutrow goes to church every Sunday, is nice to dogs and contributes to charities -- that doesn't sell. You really don't know enough about any of the connections to make such a personal evaluation as whether they're good or bad people (whatever that means).

Secondly, even if they are bad, unworthy people (in your view), that's just the way life is. If I told you that Thomas Edison was a cheat and a philanderer, would you feel bad about using light bulbs?

If Big Brown wins the Preakness, I'll probably be among the 200,000 cheering at Belmont. It'd be nice if there was a "feel good" story about the connections, but even if there isn't, I'll still enjoy the day and the moment in history. In the end, it's all about the horse.