Rachel to Monmouth on July 24...

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

West's points are not exactly valid. First of all if someone would tell me why the added money is a big deal I could stomach it a little better. Just taken at face value considering the horse and owner it looks a little greedy. I am not against anyone making money and can't knock a track for adding money from its own pocket to entice a big draw but as Freddy would say, 90k is a drop in the bucket for Jackson. Come out and say you want to try to break the record for earnings for a filly if that is the goal. Of course he may not want to say that in case Zenyatta winds up with that title. Acting as though Monmouth didnt pander by not only raising the purse but date of the race and distance is well typical from this writer concerning anything Asmussen related.

The comparison to Kelso was incredibly stupid. Top horses of that era often tuned up in non stakes races between starts, you know sometimes like 5 or 6 days, not weeks, before the next race? The fact is that not only was there no grading system then, there were also a whole lot fewer stakes and transportation was a lot more complicated than it is now. For horses of that era, 17 starts was a season, not a career.

The other cases are laughable. How many horses did Damascus duck? Why wouldnt Holy Bull start his campaign in a sprint stake? That was how it was done then. Favorite Trick? As a 3 year old? LOL. He was a punching bag by that point. The irony in bringing up FT is she is certainly challenging his 3 year old campaign as the weakest by a returning horse of the year.

all good points. i don't think the money matters to jackson-except insofar as adding to rachels overall money won. his bottom line is healthy whether she runs for 200k or 500k, or more.

i'm just trying to find a good reason for them starting her here. i haven't figured out the logic behind it yet, and thought west presented some valid points. it is true tho that horses of the past didn't start only in graded races, but as you say, there weren't a lot of them, and travel wasn't as easy then. horses didn't have works between races, they raced to stay fit.
so, why is jackson going here? why is he so chicken with her this year, after going so far with her last year? it seems a lukewarm effort, and one that makes no sense. he at least tried other things with curlin-he isn't trying anything new with rachel. seems a waste of her talents. her legacy would have been better had they just retired her last year.