What An Allowance Race!!

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

You mean Beholder, the 3YO filly that DRF's ace handicapper has listed as the fifth best filly in her division?

LOl, I thought you were joking then I looked, how can you have close hatches ranked ahead of Beholder when she crushed her when they met.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

LOl, I thought you were joking then I looked, how can you have close hatches ranked ahead of Beholder when she crushed her when they met.

Not to defend Watchmaker much, but wasn't Dreaming of Julia ahead of Beholder on everyone's list after her win at Gulfstream, despite the fact Beholder beat her in the Juvenile Fillies?

Young horses are evolving pretty quickly. A few months ago doesn't matter much if you are judging which is best today.

[10 pnt move up]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Not to defend Watchmaker much, but wasn't Dreaming of Julia ahead of Beholder on everyone's list after her win at Gulfstream, despite the fact Beholder beat her in the Juvenile Fillies?

Young horses are evolving pretty quickly. A few months ago doesn't matter much if you are judging which is best today.

I think based on body of work Beholder should be ahead of both of those horses, its not like she showed up for the Oaks and ran well at 37/1 to get on the list. In fact as a handicapper I would have her #1 on the list but I can understand having the Oaks winner ahead of her as wins are wins.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by 10 pnt move up

I think based on body of work Beholder should be ahead of both of those horses, its not like she showed up for the Oaks and ran well at 37/1 to get on the list. In fact as a handicapper I would have her #1 on the list but I can understand having the Oaks winner ahead of her as wins are wins.

No argument from me. But what are these rankings, anyway? Are they which horse is better now or which has more accomplishments? I always assumed it was the former, but I don't see it spelled out anywhere.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Not to defend Watchmaker much, but wasn't Dreaming of Julia ahead of Beholder on everyone's list after her win at Gulfstream, despite the fact Beholder beat her in the Juvenile Fillies?

But subsequent races have pretty much exposed Dreaming of Julia's performance in the Gulfstream Park Oaks as yet the latest in a long line of performances from Pletcher trainees in South Florida (with its out-dated testing protocols, if you can call them testing protocols) that are not duplicated elsewhere.

I'm a huge fan of Midnight Lucky but putting her, Close Hatches or Dreaming of Julia ahead of Beholder in the divisional rankings when Beholder has two Grade I wins, and a "maybe best" second in the Oaks (beating each of those three fillies) to her resume is pretty silly.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

But subsequent races have pretty much exposed Dreaming of Julia's performance in the Gulfstream Park Oaks as yet the latest in a long line of performances from Pletcher trainees in South Florida (with its out-dated testing protocols, if you can call them testing protocols) that are not duplicated elsewhere.

I'm a huge fan of Midnight Lucky but putting her, Close Hatches or Dreaming of Julia ahead of Beholder in the divisional rankings when Beholder has two Grade I wins, and a "maybe best" second in the Oaks (beating each of those three fillies) to her resume is pretty silly.

I know she has been exposed, but at the time nobody was complaining that Beholder should be rated ahead of her. We've all seen Triple Crown race winners passed later in the year by other horses that couldn't touch them in April. That is all I'm saying. Maybe he thinks Close Hatches has improved a lot and Beholder has not. I really don't know.

I'm certainly not defending his rankings as they've been off base many times over the years. What are they even supposed to represent?