Getting 10 furlongs...

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, and Funny Cide all seemed much less likely to prefer a route VS a sprint ... but they had the seasoning and foundation and all that

The worst handling was that of Funny Cide. He was awesome sprinting. I loved when he made his 4yo debut at 7f and romped at GP. Thought it was a sign of things to come. Nope. Then when it was evident he wasn't a force in two turn races anymore and pressure was put on him to cut him back, Tagg tossed him in the Met Mile, perhaps the toughest race for any horse to win be it sprinter or router. When he ran an even 5th, Tagg held up the performance and said, "See, he's not a sprinter".

I guess he was vindicated when later that year, the horse traded decisions with the great Newfoundland at 10f. Tagg went so far as to take the horse to Canada and Finger Lakes to get him victories rather than just shorten him up.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

The worst handling was that of Funny Cide. He was awesome sprinting. I loved when he made his 4yo debut at 7f and romped at GP. Thought it was a sign of things to come. Nope. Then when it was evident he wasn't a force in two turn races anymore and pressure was put on him to cut him back, Tagg tossed him in the Met Mile, perhaps the toughest race for any horse to win be it sprinter or router. When he ran an even 5th, Tagg held up the performance and said, "See, he's not a sprinter".

I guess he was vindicated when later that year, the horse traded decisions with the great Newfoundland at 10f. Tagg went so far as to take the horse to Canada and Finger Lakes to get him victories rather than just shorten him up.

Yep.

After Smarty Jones Southwest -- I was pretty sure 7 furlongs was him limit. A son of speed sprinter Elusive Quality who almost gets swallowed up late by the Smoke Glacken offspring Two Down Automatic. Smarty had that insane win going 7fs as a 2nd timer and his first two route performaces were very mediocre races.