9/30: JCGC; Vos; Beldame; JHTC

[brianwspencer]

He's just not what he used to be.

And what he used to be was good enough to score wins against competition that was more often than not less than stellar for the class level.

He's a fine racehorse and has certainly given good accounts of himself for most of his career, but I'm hard pressed off the top of my head to think of a time when he ran into a top-level racehorse without wilting.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

I think English Channel's last race will look much better on sheet-figures than it will look any other way.

He gave the winner six pounds at 12 furlongs - which I believe is like 2.9 lengths in weight on the sheets. And the winner, got a great ground saving ride from Calvin Borel, while EC was a little bit wide as I recall.

I'm positive EC came away with the better figure - even though he was beaten by 3 lengths...which is a large margin of victory in a turf race.

I don't think EC is as good as he once was either - but he was beat by a dream-trip winner as I remember, and weight shifts like that can mean a little something in turf marathons. Look at how 3yo's tend to dominate olders in the Arc.

Even if you excuse the loss in the Sword Dancer - his win in the UN came with a dream trip, and his Manhatten effort was blah.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

I think English Channel's last race will look much better on sheet-figures than it will look any other way.

He gave the winner six pounds at 12 furlongs - which I believe is like 2.9 lengths in weight on the sheets. And the winner, got a great ground saving ride from Calvin Borel, while EC was a little bit wide as I recall.

I'm positive EC came away with the better figure - even though he was beaten by 3 lengths...which is a large margin of victory in a turf race.

I don't think EC is as good as he once was either - but he was beat by a dream-trip winner as I remember, and weight shifts like that can mean a little something in turf marathons. Look at how 3yo's tend to dominate olders in the Arc.

Even if you excuse the loss in the Sword Dancer - his win in the UN came with a dream trip, and his Manhatten effort was blah.

but do you really think he could lose here? I mean, this is the worst field i have ever seen for this for race.