Grasshopper ? ? ?

[dalakhani]

[quote=miraja2]Again, I think you might be overestimating exactly how much control a trainer has over when he or she can magically call on a horse's peak performance, but for the sake of argument, let's assume for the moment that you are right and they really can do that. Are you really telling me that you think Nafzer wanted Street Sense to be less than his best in the Travers? No way.

And if by some miracle you actually are right about that, I guess the Breeders' Cup is killing the sport more than even Breeders' Cup haters like me thought it was.[/QUOTE]

It is killing the sport, no doubt about it and I share in your hate of it.


Nafzger is a master horseman and having a horse peak at just the right time is what he is payed to do. And he has proven time and again that that is the way he handles his horses. Is it full proof? No, of course not. But if you dont think the type of regiment the trainer employs will have an effect on the type of performance he wants out of the horse, well, we will just have to disagree.

As for the Travers thing, again, horse racing has changed dramatically even in the last couple of years. These arent deep fields and the horses only have so many races that they can run. You dont prepare for the "travers" like you do for the "derby" or the "bcc". The travers last year was no better than a grade 3 in traditional fields and Nafzger knew it long before the race. Again, why would he crank him up for mediocre competition regardless of the name of the race????????????????