ruffian and rachel

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by Phalaris1913

The Maskette became the Go for Wand.

On a slightly different topic, one of my pet peeves is naming races for horses over conditions that have little to nothing to do with what the horse actually accomplished. It irks me how many major turf races are named for horses that never ran on the turf, or never won on it, and likewise, there are numerous major sprint races named for horses that were not best known for sprinting.

Secretariat was his stellar self on turf, but I really don't think he or MOW should be having turf races named after them if their most famous races were on dirt unless I'm just missing something that makes it logical. There's no dirt race at Belmont we could give to either one? Given the weight they kept offering to MOW and what they threatened him with at age 4 (140+ lbs) when Riddle asked about running hypothetically, I say a Man O' War Handicap on dirt would be appropriate.

I realize the sponsorship of sporting events by cigarette companies is a problem, but I miss the Marlboro Cup. There ought to be a special allowance by Congress for just that one race. Who's with me?