2 year old campaign poll!!!!

[Danzig]

no way of knowing what barbaro and smarty would have done had they not run at 9 f, since they did. i wouldn't go out on a limb and say they'd have done the same with a different prep schedule. they did what they did the way they did it.

thing is, you have to tailor the schedule to the horse. a lot of horses tried to get into the derby with a light schedule, and no starts five weeks out, and it didn't work for them. just because it worked for barbaro doesn't mean it would work for others. it did go a long way in revealing just how good barbaro was. he did something many others tried and failed to do, and in convincing fashion.

i like the oaklawn schedule, the spacing, the distances. i think it would fit a lot of horses, unlike some of the preps in florida these days. also would rather go to the ark derby than the bluegrass or the florida derbies. also, no need to ship to find a better distance, and it's closer to churchill.