Bob and John wins Lone Star Park Handicap

[hockey2315]

Originally Posted by horseofcourse

I guess my point is are these horses really overrated?? They both won some nice Derby preps last year and ran in two classic races. SNS perhaps was overrated going into the Derby as the favorite, but he wasn't a disaster running 7th with a rough trip and then 2nd in the Preakness. Bob and John did not run well in either the Derby or Belmont. They both belonged in those races however. Both took extended breaks after the classics. SNS came back and ran an allowance at Laurel and a minor stake at Delaware Park and this year has run in 3 grade 3s, a local stakes at Laurel and the Sunshine Millions Classic which it would be stupid not to run him in being a million dollar race and all. His trainer certainly isn't overrating him with those placements. Bob and John came back to nothing races in Cal last year and now 2 stakes at Lone Star. His trainer doesn't appear to be overrating him.

I haven't seen a whole lot of chatter on these boards this year proclaming the greatness of these two horses. But again, you're talking about one horse 4 thousand dollars from a million (Bob and John) and another 40 thousand dollars away from 900 thousand (Sweetnorthernsaint). They're very talented horses who other than perhaps being a bit over valued heading into the triple crown races last year, I'm not seeing where they are still "overrated".

Both are being placed realistically in spots where they should have a chance to win...I don't see where "overrated" applies to these animals anymore.

I may be exaggerating slightly, but not much. . .

SNS beat nobody in the Illinois Derby, did nothing in the KY derby and then ran second in the preakness when it fell apart. . . He still gets pounded down to odds on in races where he has no chance to win- he wasn't winning the races at GP and there was NO way he was beating Master Command (who may have been favored over him in the race @ HAW). . . People still think highly of him because of all the buzz he got before the derby, and in my opinion, the hype is completely unwarranted. . . He's probably a G3 caliber horse, but come on- the race today wasn't a G3 caliber race. . . The checks SNS' connections have cashed have been in joke races like this- so your earnings argument has a flaw. . .

I won't get too in-depth about Bob and John. . . He beat terribly weak fields out west and got very luck that the Wood came up sloppy because he actually shows some semblance of talent in the slop. . . Since then he's been cashing checks in little, weak fields that don't deserve the purses or grades that they've gotten. . .

Maybe I'm being too hard on these horses. . . Part of my problem is that there are actually races out there like this one that carry graded status and big purses. . . Bob and John doesn't deserve a G3 win and his share of 388k for beating 3 other horses on a sloppy track today. . .