Steve Haskin's latest: 'Leave Crown Alone'

[Danzig]

i guess staggering is in the eye of the beholder. smarty ran well that day and would most likely have won had some of the other jocks not ridden their own horses into the ground trying to keep him from winning. did birdstone 'stagger home'? no. neither did rags to riches when she went head to head with curlin. i don't think MDO staggered home when he narrowly lost to sarava. victory gallop ran a hell of a race to nip real quiet at the wire.

smarty wasn't quite good enough to win all three races. so, change the races? i don't think so.

it's funny tho-everyone is focused on the belmont part of the equation-but lukas saying the ky derby should be shortened to 9f hasn't got any mention. i think his idea to change that is even crazier than changing the belmont.


btw, i think true champs have won the belmont. the horses should be tested-the test shouldn't be lessened to produce more 'champions*'.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i guess staggering is in the eye of the beholder. smarty ran well that day and would most likely have won had some of the other jocks not ridden their own horses into the ground trying to keep him from winning. did birdstone 'stagger home'? no. neither did rags to riches when she went head to head with curlin. i don't think MDO staggered home when he narrowly lost to sarava. victory gallop ran a hell of a race to nip real quiet at the wire.

smarty wasn't quite good enough to win all three races. so, change the races? i don't think so.

it's funny tho-everyone is focused on the belmont part of the equation-but lukas saying the ky derby should be shortened to 9f hasn't got any mention. i think his idea to change that is even crazier than changing the belmont.


btw, i think true champs have won the belmont. the horses should be tested-the test shouldn't be lessened to produce more 'champions*'.

MDO lost to Sarava...at 70-1 and the race went in 2:29.71 making it second only to commendable as slowest this decade. Yes...he fought...but it was still a crawl.

The final quarter mile of the Birdstone-smarty race was one of the slowest in belmont history...yes they were crawling its just smarty crawled slower.

Rags to riches was certainly not crawling. She ran a great last quarter although the rest of the race was slow.


I disagree with Lukas about the derby. 10f is pretty much the classic distance these days.

[cakes44]

I'd be interested in DWL's record(# of starters, % ITM) in TC races since his last victory. If I was in the cold streak he's in, I'd want some changes too.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by dalakhani

MDO lost to Sarava...at 70-1 and the race went in 2:29.71 making it second only to commendable as slowest this decade. Yes...he fought...but it was still a crawl.

The final quarter mile of the Birdstone-smarty race was one of the slowest in belmont history...yes they were crawling its just smarty crawled slower.

Rags to riches was certainly not crawling. She ran a great last quarter although the rest of the race was slow.


I disagree with Lukas about the derby. 10f is pretty much the classic distance these days.

i just don't see how anyone can take any of his comments seriously when some of them are completely ridiculous. most people think that the reason so many top races are 10f because the derby is 10f-and therefore the 'classic' distance. so, what would happen if the derby was shortened? i think that would be a far bigger mistake to make than changing the belmont, and would have a bigger impact on the entire sport.
the issue isn't that the belmont is too long. the real issue imo is that too many other races have been shortened, and that weights aren't correct in these other races. too often you see the comment 'nothing left to prove'. older horses should have something to prove. but it seems that a horse can be asked to do no more at four than they are asked to do at june, as a three year old.