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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
You are right...you most certainly can.
See Black Tie Affair and his 122 Beyer figure.
I'm just about convinced this year's pace will be as soft as any Classic I've seen in my lifetime. The advent of the BC Dirt Mile can be thanked for that.
The main contenders won't....that is for sure. Any Given Saturday isn't fast enough to press him...and Garret Gomez isn't that style of rider.
JRV will back Lawyer Ron, that I have no doubt of.
Street Sense and Curlin obviously won't be dueling with any front-runners.
A horse like Wanderin Boy, who would normally run in the Classic, would opt for the Dirt Mile and 70 yards. Same with a horse like Fairbanks.
The thing I'd love most about Hard Spun's chances, is the precieved notion that he doesn't want to stay 10 furlongs. Because of that, whoever is sitting 2nd is much more likely to try and settle his horse in hand.
If anyone remembers back to Ghostzapper, the idiotic questions about his (in)ability to see out the 10 furlong distance was the reason he was allowed an unpressured lead.
GZ and Roses In May sailed 1-2 at every call all around the track.
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Wanderin Boy opted to skip the Classic last year when he could have run in it. Now he'll likely run in the Dirt Mile yet he'll be used as an example of a pace horse lost from the Classic even though he wouldn't have run in it either way. I think you are overestimating the lure of an ungraded $1 million race as opposed to a $5 million G1 that is the biggest race on the planet. The horses that go in the Dirt Mile will for the most part be horses that wouldn't have run in the BC otherwise. Perhaps Brother Derek and Suave would have been lost from the field last year, certainly an impact on the race but it is hardly going to turn into a situation where the Dirt Mile turns the Classic into a paceless affair. This could all change though if the purse in the Dirt Mile were to be boosted in the future and it were elevated to G1 status. For now though anyone that feels they have enough of a chance in the Classic to enter will do so regardless of whether or not there is a Dirt Mile as an option.