6/7 (BEL): 140th Belmont Stakes

[philcski]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

One more question and I think it's fair. Do you even like horse racing? For more than 2 weeks now, almost every single post you have made has been a shot against the sport. You've sat in your glass house and thrown stone after stone.

You've ignored the questions about what you have personally done. Smart move, because it's obvious you do nothing. So, other than the ejaculating stallions, what do you like about the sport? I don't expect an answer, you're a coward, that much is clear. But, it's a fair question, because someone not familiar with your crap might wonder if you enjoy anything about this sport other than the occasional bukake shot Golden missile gives you.

Infinite OOOOOOOOOO...

one of the best posts ever.

[Bobby Fischer]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

Anak Nakal is a marathoner?

He has the breeding for it.

His talent level is lacking(assuming he has been perfectly healthy as a 3yo), but it wouldn't be a bad division for him if he ever gets his act together.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by pmayjr

What about Monba? He couldn't do any worse than he did in the Derby... or could he... eep!?

No one thought he could do any worse than he did in the Fountain of Youth. Then came the Derby.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

No Macho Again, Icabad Crane, Behindatthebar, or Ready's Echo?

My guess is that we won't be seeing Behindatthebar in a race anytime soon, if ever again. Even if he was capable of starting, would they really try a 12f race when the colt has never been beyond 8.5f?

Dermot Weld and Aidan O'Brien ought to scour their barns for something to try. I see that Achilll Island has been stinking it up on the 2nd tier circuit in Europe, might as well try and give the now-pensioned Sadler's Wells that elusive Grade 1 winner on dirt. Not sure if the Weld horse from the BC Juvenile Turf has shown back up this year.

[tiznowthegreat]

Icabad Crane is supposedly going.

Behindatthebar, Ready's Echo, Spark Candle are all possible per DRF.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

I'd like to see him try polo.

[Charismatic1]

Originally Posted by zippyneedsawin

I was hoping to see Pyro and/or Col. John take another shot... maybe their connections will reconsider over the next 3 weeks.

Asmussen is the only one who might reconsider. I think they should go, but then again, I'm a sporting type of guy.

As SlotDirt stated, Colonel John's connections are meekly pointing toward the Swaps. Harty can't exactly reconsider because I'm not even sure he has the horse back yet. A friend of mine said he read that they were turning CoJo out at WinStar for approximately two weeks.

We need more trainers like Allen Jerkens who had the guts and some confidence to run Onion and Prove Out against Secretariat. Colonel John made a strong move in the Derby before Nakatani apparently lost control of him and blew the turn at the top of the lane. I think it is well within reason to think he could have gotten up for a nice second had he not lost all momentum, which we know is his kiss of death. I would have come out of the Derby and said, "let's try and get him in the Belmont, which should play to our advantage in terms of distance, schedule, and preparation." Perhaps Big Brown would still drub him, but oh well. TC comes around once. Like Jerkens or Zito with Birdstone or McPeek with Sarava, take a shot. Is potentially missing the Swaps that big a loss? I don't think so.

I know all of this is pretty much preaching to the choir, but I just get agitated at this weak mentality and unwillingness to compete. It's one thing to run horses less often, but to run and hide with those few starts is unacceptable in my eyes.

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

Or polo. Either way, just not the Belmont.

I actually think it DOES make sense for them to run him in the Belmont. He ran a respectable enough race in the Kentucky Derby and while he was absolutely awful early in the year he has been....well.....slightly less awful recently.
He reminds me a lot of other Zito horses like Andromeda's Hero and Royal Assault who both combined outstanding distance pedigrees with a one-speed plodding style to hit the board in this race in recent years. I don't think a similar result for Anak Nakal would be completely out of the question.

The interesting thing to me about the field is that if all of the projected horses end up actually running in the race, this field (despite the overall weakness of the crop) strikes me as actually being better than the awful 2005 or 2006 versions of this race.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

Yeah, I agree with pretty much everything you said. If the goal is to hit the board in the Belmont, they have a shot. I just think he needs some class relief, which this year is sort of funny. And I'm serious about turf. He has some interesting turf runners in his female side.

That is too often the attitude these days and is why we wind up with 4 or 5 horse fields in whatever races a big horse shows up at and then full fields in the big races they skip. And the horses that wind up 6th in the full field probably could have cashed a 2nd or 3rd place check in the race where they may have had little to no shot of actually winning. Zito is the only one that takes advantage of this. Getting Andromeda's Hero close to $1 million on his career was nothing short of a miracle.

[Bobby Fischer]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

And I'm serious about turf. He has some interesting turf runners in his female side.

agreed

[cakes44]

Zito basically refuses to run his horses on turf though.

[Danzig]

so, am i crazy for thinking that tale of ekati could play the spoiler in a couple weeks?

[hockey2315]

Yup

[Danzig]

oh well, i'm still thinking it. someone has to, may as well be him.

but then, i was also told malibu moonshine had no shot a few weeks back. i think he paid close to $40.

[hockey2315]

Originally Posted by Danzig

oh well, i'm still thinking it. someone has to, may as well be him.

but then, i was also told malibu moonshine had no shot a few weeks back. i think he paid close to $40.

Reminds me of when you compared Giacomo to Big Brown. . .

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Danzig

so, am i crazy for thinking that tale of ekati could play the spoiler in a couple weeks?

To quote a previous post about Indian Blessing, Tale of Ekati would need a bus ticket to get 12 furlongs.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by hockey2315

Reminds me of when you compared Giacomo to Big Brown. . .

i think you're oversimplifying what i was saying.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

To quote a previous post about Indian Blessing, Tale of Ekati would need a bus ticket to get 12 furlongs.

I don't know why he doesn't run him in the Woody Stephens.

He could win the Belmont if they ran it in two 6F heats.....and Big Brown scratched.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I don't know why he doesn't run him in the Woody Stephens.

He could win the Belmont if they ran it in two 6F heats.....and Big Brown scratched.

Pretty much. How the connections watched this horse finish in the Wood and in the Derby and thought "more distance", I don't quite understand.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Pretty much. How the connections watched this horse finish in the Wood and in the Derby and thought "more distance", I don't quite understand.

I think Tagg is a great trainer....but doesn't it always seem like he thinks his horses want to go a distance of ground?