I believe the only three

[CSC]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Horses don't run to their competiton.

If you put Zenyatta in with claimers ... she would bury them by a wide margin.

Both her and Life Is Sweet were against unfavorable paces in their preps - they both got more distance to work with, more pace to set them up, and their trainer had them both peaking at the right time.

Running to competition is sillyness. You don't have to bet very long to figure that out.

While it is obvious that Zenyatta would bury a bunch of claimers this is an extreme case mind you, jockies ride differently to different races and competition, it's just impossible to know or say II would have beaten Cigar at a different distance and a different time of the day when the track was drying out because conditions and race dynamics were not identical. It has been said Zenyatta does as much as she needs to win, I would surmise Cigar was also this way, to illustrate this I remember Kent D saying once after a race Cigar beat him in about Bailey on Cigar, he could only wonder if Bailey would finally let Cigar go how fast could he really run, but Bailey's thinking was he was looking at the big picture down the road and he only asked what was required of Cigar to win. Hogwash or sincerity it's up to everyone to decide. But I think Cigar was one of those horses who only did what was required of him to win in 95. Looking at Zenyatta after last weekend, one can see a similarity in the 2 styles where beyerwise they may have looked suspect on the surface.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by CSC

While it is obvious that Zenyatta would bury a bunch of claimers this is an extreme case mind you, jockies ride differently to different races and competition, it's just impossible to know or say II would have beaten Cigar at a different distance and a different time of the day when the track was drying out because conditions and race dynamics were not identical. It has been said Zenyatta does as much as she needs to win, I would surmise Cigar was also this way, to illustrate this I remember Kent D saying once after a race Cigar beat him in about Bailey on Cigar, he could only wonder if Bailey would finally let Cigar go how fast could he really run, but Bailey's thinking was he was looking at the big picture down the road and he only asked what was required of Cigar to win. Hogwash or sincerity it's up to everyone to decide. But I think Cigar was one of those horses who only did what was required of him to win in 95. Looking at Zenyatta after last weekend, one can see a similarity in the 2 styles where beyerwise they may have looked suspect on the surface.

Cigar dominated and blew out fields ... Bailey was whipping and driving him in the Classic when he won as well. Cigar was also a very fast speed figure horse... and a very consistant speed figure horse. His competition certainly wasn't much though .. and some real epic female horses were around during his run of dominance.

Don't listen to jockeys ... they are just as brutal as trainers... if not more.

It may not show in win percentages, but Cannon Shell is like the Albert Einstein of horse trainers... and I try my hardest not to listen to him most of the time.