Spectacular Bid VS Seattle Slew

[Betsy]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

You do realize that Dr. Patches was a VERY talented horse? He had previously won an allowance at Saratoga ( as did Slew ) that got a very similar, if not better, fig. Plus. Patches had something Slew was about to get, Angel Cordero.

Seattle Slew, until the Marlboro Cup, was ridden by Jean Cruget. Now, Ron Franklin did Bid no favors, but Cruget was one of the worst ever. Winning the TC, much less nine or ten straight races, with Cruget is akin to walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope with PG1985 on your shoulders.

By the way, using the Swaps as any kind of example of Slew's talents ( and you're right, he was relatively " slow " as a 3YO ) is wildly unfair....and you know that. At least base your argument on relevent races.

I thought so too; 3 weeks after the TC and the horse was rightly exhausted. Nice move there by the Taylors.

As to the Indy/Slew ?, Slew would have eaten AP Indy for lunch at any time.

Why is it bad for a front-runner to be one-dimensional (esp. when his one dimension was spectacular) and a closer not to be? I watch his Derby on replay and it's still incredibly impressive - and his GC was a real display of courage.