Early HOY predictions

[Gander]

I agree Mike. Until November this is all pretty much moot, if Flower Alley wins and Lava Man wins (their respected races). Both trainers have excellent paths plotted to get them to November facing very little in the way of true grade 1 horses.

Lets just hope we get them both to the BC healthy. Being a fan of Lava Man, I wouldnt even care if Flower Alley spanked him. Just to see that the matchup came to fruition would be great.

Did I read through all these posts and not see Brass Hat mentioned?
Is he done for the year or what? One bad race and thats it...?

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by pgardn

Did I read through all these posts and not see Brass Hat mentioned?
Is he done for the year or what? One bad race and thats it...?

Because he runs in the Midwest and doesn't have first class competition. <tongue in cheek> . Personally, I love Brass Hat, he is a genuine stayer; I wish he were a colt, so that he could help the breed regain its original reason for being.

My personal peeve with the Whitney is its distance - 9f. That is a prep for a race at the classic distance of 10f. Originally, the Whitney WAS a 10f race (1928-1955, including many of those wins by legends of the breed.) but it had a smaller purse and less status than the Saratoga H (10f) and far less history than the 14f Saratoga Cup (first run 1865), both of which were won by many of those same legendary horses. When Secretariat ran in the Whitney it was still only a G2 and he was using it as a prep for the Travers. Somewhere along the line, the G2 Donn H at 9f, a prep race for the G1 Gulfstream Park H at 10f started to get more emphasis and purse money from the management and became more prominent. Thank goodness the So Cal tracks didn't follow suit.

Races at 9f should not have the same status or weight in championship decisions as 10f races. But good milers can stretch to 9f a lot more easily than they can 10f and so many expensive horses these days are milers....,