Jerry Brown's letter to TDN on HOY discussion

Originally Posted by Roc525

Gio is a great horse, but he didn't try to do anything on a dirt surface this year.

i know i am thinking outside the box with this, but Gio Ponti ran 7 times this year and 6 were grade 1 races and won 4 of them. He ran at Belmont,Arlington and Santa Anita. He ran on soft,good,firm and yielding surfaces. true his main surface is turf,but does that make him any worse than both fillies who run on a different surface. havent seen either filly run on the turf, so does the surface really matter. i know i am in the minority, but i will always put my $$$ on this tallented 4year old. he just runs and gave Zenyatta, on a surface that isnt his best, a run for the money.

[letswastemoney]

Originally Posted by arizonadave

i know i am thinking outside the box with this, but Gio Ponti ran 7 times this year and 6 were grade 1 races and won 4 of them. He ran at Belmont,Arlington and Santa Anita. He ran on soft,good,firm and yielding surfaces. true his main surface is turf,but does that make him any worse than both fillies who run on a different surface. havent seen either filly run on the turf, so does the surface really matter. i know i am in the minority, but i will always put my $$$ on this tallented 4year old. he just runs and gave Zenyatta, on a surface that isnt his best, a run for the money.

I don't understand why Zenyatta supporters are not understanding this....but it's the same logic as saying Zenyatta should be HOY.

Gio Ponti accomplished a lot on his surface as Zenyatta accomplished a lot on her own surface. So if people are going to hype Zenyatta for HOY, Gio Ponti arguably had the harder campaign.

Personally, I believe HOTY in America has always had first preference for whoever the dirt champion is (if there is a clear cut one). RA was the clear cut dirt champion. She deserves it.