This is how you can ruin a good horse

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Scav

So your idea is better, which is go to a 9f Grade 1 on a track he has never won over, instead of maybe running in a Grade 3 on the lawn at a mile, or maybe running in an allowance race on the synethic to just check and see if he would take to the rubber?

It's not my idea, it's the trainer's, who assumingly watches the colt train every day over the very surface the Santa Anita Derby is run on.

Nonetheless, I think the idea of running in the Santa Anita Derby is a better idea than running in a Grade 3 on the grass...cuz the latter doesn't exist.

The allowance is shaky, too, as a 2nd condition is unlikely to fill this time of year. But let's say it does, and further still, let's say he crushes in it like Big Brown did at GP. Guess what? No graded earnings for the Derby!

The owners would be so pissed they might let Drillbit take over the training.