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#1
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Mike Smith made sure he was uncontested by aggressively cutting over and forcing his only pace rival Handsome Mike to shuffle back. You love that move every time, so long as you can get away with it.
Probably not wise to unnecessarily flirt with a DQ though. No idea for how long he will hold this current form, but Game On Dude could wind up being one of these geldings who hangs around at the top levels for a long time. Fellow Awesome Again gelding Awesome Gem won his only career Grade 1 at age seven when he took the Hollywood Gold Cup. The female family of Game On Dude is especially sturdy as well. * His dam Worldly Pleasure (by Devil His Due) won 8 of 31 lifetime starts. She finished 8th beaten 34 lengths in a maiden claiming race at Laurel in her debut. Took six tries to break her maiden, did so in a maiden claiming race at Pimlico. Eventually won a minor stake race. She was a very bad gate horse. She unseated Ramon Dominguez at the break once, as a 4/5 favorite. On numerous instances had gate problems. * Game On Dude's 2nd dam Fast Pleasure won 10 of 42 career starts. She also needed six tries to break her maiden, before doing so in $8,500 maiden claiming race at Laurel. She raced more than a dozen times with "no whip" She apparently hated the whip. * Game On Dude's 3rd dam was 7 of 47 lifetime. This one needed eight tries before she finally broke her maiden. She eventually was multiple stakes placed and competed in some tough allowance races at Santa Anita. That's an anti precocious pedigree on top of being a sturdy one. Game On Dude was 9/1 in the Florida Derby by just his third career start and was a 4th place finisher in the Belmont Stakes by his 6th career start. His sire Awesome Again didn't break his maiden until June of his 3yo season and he improved a whole lot from age 3 to age 4. ![]() It sure would have been fun to see Awesome Again come back and race as a 5-year-old. |
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#2
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Its funny how Awesome Again going in to the 98 BC Classic on a 5 race win streak wasn't even second choice in that field. Goes to show how deep that field was in that Classic. Possibly the best ever assembled.
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#3
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Quote:
Awesome Again was part of an entry with Coronado's Quest (that years Haskell and Travers winner) and Touch Gold (who won the Belmont Stakes and Haskell at age 4) Think about that, 4.7-to-1 odds on a trio that included Awesome Again in search of a perfect season + Coronado's Quest (10-for-15 lifetime and a multiple Grade 1 winner going into the race) + Touch Gold |
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#4
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I bet if they ran that race 5 times, there would probably be 5 different winners each time.
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#5
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I bet if they ran that race an infinite number of times, Dettori would've switched the stick to his right hand
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#6
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Im not a believer in Game on Dude vs the real top class horses, but I will admit he is good in races like this. All it takes for him is for another classy horse thats up or near to him then he is ready to pack it in. But when left alone and allowed to run the way he runs he looks like a super horse. Too bad this horse only can go one way and can win one way
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#7
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Quote:
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#8
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Quote:
I assume you meant "Touch Gold (who won the Belmont Stakes and Haskell) at age 4." I didn't really remember much about his 4yo form for some reason so I had to refresh my memory. Did he have foot issues that year as well? Not like he had to be ashamed of being anywhere in that Classic field, but he got his start just before July and had a loan GSP in a 4 horse field. |
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#9
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Touch Gold was coupled with Awesome Again and Coronado's Quest in the Classic at age 4, yes.
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#10
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No sh!t. If you corrected the grammar and syntax of all of my posts, you'd be busy as hell.
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#11
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Can you please clean up your personal message inbox? Some folks would like to reach out for you privately.
__________________
"I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'." |
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#12
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Done.
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#13
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Quote:
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