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#1
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Honor A.P. retired
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All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. ~ Joseph Conrad A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right. ~ Thomas Paine Don't let anyone tell you that your dreams can't come true. They are only afraid that theirs won't and yours will. ~ Robert Evans |
#2
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Someone check on Betsy! She’s the first person I think of whenever Honor AP is mentioned. I’m sure she’s going to be disappointed.
But seriously, it would be nice to see horses like this race deep into their 4YO year or later to see what they’re truly capable of. Without any details, hope the horse is alright. |
#3
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Breed to breed instead of breed to race
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#4
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say, fools talk because they have to say something" - Plato |
#5
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Lane's End Puff Release...er...Press Release
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At any rate, if the author of this puff piece actually thought that the horse was "quickening" at the end, I don’t know what to tell you. The horse made up a total of 2 lengths in the stretch. Quote:
And by the way, what a field it was. Hardly missed Nadal, Charlatan, Maxfield, King Guillermo, Art Collector, Thousand Words, Uncle Chuck, Swiss Skydiver… Quote:
But relatively speaking, I guess in Shirreff’s world the horse was quite precocious… Quote:
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At least the “...and more” part is tenuously accurate since the author opted not to name Indian Charlie outright… Quote:
Whatever happened to stamina, durability, consistency, versatility, and--dare I say--longevity? At the very least, a classic win (or two) would have been nice… |
#6
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020) Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine |
#7
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I like the Summer Squall mention. I loved watching him as a 2 year old at Saratoga.
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#8
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Honor A.P. suffered a tendon injury in the Derby...whatever anyone else thinks, I think he was an extremely talented colt who would have been even better next year. This takes all the wind from my sales - it’s going to take awhile for me to get over this. I do want to say - I didn’t really read the other posts because I’m not in the mood to read about what mediocre horse he was, but I did see “one hit wonder” as I glanced through the thread, and I have to say I don’t understand the general disdain for the colt. He ran 6 times, won a grade 1, finished a very good second in the San Felipe to the eventual Derby winner off of a 5 month layoff and ran 4th in the Derby while injured. That’s all...have a nice day. |
#9
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Who knows how talented the horse was--as with most flash-in-the-pans, his connections did him in. |
#10
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Super post, Rollo.
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Curlin and Hard Spun finish 1,2 in the 2007 BC Classic, demonstrating how competing in all three Triple Crown races ruins a horse for the rest of the year...see avatar photo from REUTERS/Lucas Jackson |
#11
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Trying to guess why Betsy used sales instead of my sail is tough, if I would have used the wrong sale you would have known I was just dumb.
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#12
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It's usually 3. |
#13
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I mean, I like the horse, bet him in the Derby and found the retirement and especially that article pretty nauseating. |
#14
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If people want to dissect articles, go ahead - they have the right. I don’t think Bill Farish said anything wrong, certainly not to be poked fun of. But, no big deal - I’m not forced to read it. Do I think HAP will be a good sire? I don’t know. His own sire, who I was deeply invested in since I loved him as a racehorse and since he’s Indy’s last big son at stud, has been promising but not and cold. That said, the fact that he’s an outcross to Mr. Prospector mares should help. I think Honor A.P. is a gorgeous horse and very talented - his retirement has been like a punch in the gut, but hopefully he will be a good sire. |
#15
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Presumably taking his cue from Mike Smith's inane guidance, Shirreffs had the horse perform more workouts than normal leading up to the Derby, as he breezed only a week after the Shared Belief. He then put in 3 workouts with a jockey up, over increasing distances, on tightened surfaces different from what the horse was training over in the mornings (each time he breezed a few minutes prior to the first race in the afternoons), with overzealous gallop outs. That's a ripe formula for "squeezing the lemon dry" as they say. Never mind the horse being over-the-top, it was probably also his undoing as far as his subsequent leg injury. Outside of Mike Smith's typical straw-clutching post-race commentary, not sure where the presumption originated that John Shirreffs forgot to train Honor A.P. for the Shared Belief. As you said, wins aren't everything and most people wouldn't have been surprised to see Shirreffs use the Shared Belief strictly for what it was---a prep race. At any rate, Honor A.P. does have Mr. Prospector within 4 generations (Honor Code's 2nd dam is by Mr. P). That carefully worded blurb in the Lane's End press release about his dam being free of Mr. Prospector was probably another clever ploy to confuse potential clients that somehow breeding to him would avoid inbreeding to Mr. Prospector, which is not the case. Truth be told, I'm not sure why one would be scared of inbreeding to Mr. Prospector anyways. This year alone, 4 of the top 5 3yo colts (Tiz The Law, Maxfield, Nadal, Charlatan) are inbred to Mr. Prospector. Now 3 of those are on the sidelines which presumably is why inbreeding to Mr. Prospector is frowned upon (unsoundness), but the genesis of those injuries aren't necessarily solely genetic (i.e. supertrainers burn through horses of all shapes and sizes). Certainly I'd much rather have Mr. Prospector influencing my horse's pedigree than I would have Mike Smith influencing its training... |
#16
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__________________
The real horses of the year (1986-2020) Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine |
#17
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Try not to let it get you too down. This sport is filled with bitter disappointments and crushing defeats. But the beauty (or perhaps tragedy) of it is that it only takes one instance to fall back in love with it. I think what you’re seeing as disdain is really just a general lamentation about the state of the sport. Many owners would rather send a horse to stud than continue to race it. The general belief seems to be that the overall quality and competitiveness of races suffers as a result. |
#18
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Curlin and Hard Spun finish 1,2 in the 2007 BC Classic, demonstrating how competing in all three Triple Crown races ruins a horse for the rest of the year...see avatar photo from REUTERS/Lucas Jackson |
#19
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But Wait, There's More Honor B.S.
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Gotta take what we can get nowadays. Quote:
At any rate, the horse might have been a living tribute to A.P. Indy’s stallion career which is peppered with horses of great promise that were only ever able to win at the top level in a single race (i.e., one-hit wonder). Quote:
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Hopefully he’ll impart some of that “late Autumn precocity” that his trainer was raving about… Quote:
And what’s the big deal of missing 6 months with most of it coming in the early part of the year? Outside of some inflated purse races scattered across the globe, what’s the hurry to get started back in the early part of the year in the older horse division? Quote:
And I’m sure most people would laugh at the horse as evidence of the theory of evolution after they took a gander at his 4 white socks… Quote:
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Since when was Honor Code some sort of revelation in the stud career of A.P. Indy? He basically rode a 2-race win streak over the course of a few months (skipping several important races) and ended his career with a whimper making no impression whatsoever on a 3yo Triple Crown winner over a classic distance. Ironically, A.P. Indy himself—given his pedigree and race record--could have perhaps laid claim to being the culmination of generations of breeding had he been sound enough to run (and win) on Derby Day and had come out as a 4yo. Oh...and two testicles would have helped, too. On the other hand, perhaps A.P. Indy is one of the prime examples of the negative generational update that currently plagues American racing given that he was retired early (because he was “too valuable”) and couldn’t quite overcome some pesky physical issues (reportedly his feet). Personally I would vote for Fusaichi Pegasus to claim that unwelcomed prize since he was a magnanimous flop as a stud and had a much more tailored racing campaign than A.P. Indy. Quote:
No, it isn’t. It’s getting tough to stomach some of this BS. How about “well before he was a classic winner”? Quote:
Does anyone like where this is headed? Quote:
How “uncanny” that it all came to pass… Quote:
Bonus points for Lane’s End’s own agent for killing two birds with one stone by orchestrating the horse’s stud deal before the colt ever set foot on a racetrack. Quote:
Not more stamina, not more seasons of racing, not more Grade 1 wins, not success on multiple surfaces or multiple distances, not success on an international stage. No ...it's more white on the legs and face that we want. Kind of like the progress of turf writers. More fluff, more puff, more BS. Quote:
Of course, they both paled in comparison to A.P. Indy as racehorses and more than likely will do the same regarding their stallion careers. But hey, they got a lot more white than A.P. Indy which is what most people in the industry will tell you is what they look for in top racing prospects. Of course, these guys are worried about breeding prospects, so the point is moot. Quote:
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He was also a half-brother to uber-horse Ghostzapper--who could handle any distance. Maybe this guy doesn’t have any further words of wisdom after all… Quote:
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Every bloated puff piece has to start somewhere. |
#20
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I share that disdain, believe me. Racing has become primarily an avenue for breeding, sigh. In this case, though, even a minor tendon injury isn’t good. HAP’s owner stated outright that the colt would race next year - but what can you do? Fate decided it wasn’t to be. I have no interest in seeing them try and push the colt to make it back - he probably would never be the same, anyway. Some of the comments I’ve seen have been frankly horrifying. I get people being upset about premature retirements..but save that for when perfectly healthy horses like Bernardini are retired. That still ticks me off. Don’t be upset because owners want to care for the horse they love. |