why hard spun sucks...

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by kgar311

After reading most of the posts on this and many other threads it had occured to me that alot of people making the comments were not at Saratoga. I watched the race live from the rail and it was so damn hot and humid that it was hard to breath just standing there. So for people to make comments about slow final 1/8s and 1/4s without standing there and being engulfed in a complete sweat have no merit. It is amazing that these hoses didnt die of heat stroke after the races. Street Sense and Hard Spun in my book are true Champs after fighting hard that day and winning their respective races. Just take a look at all the other horses dragging their hoofs at the end of each race. I just hope that these races didnt take too much out of them.

That doesn't change the fact that both of these "true Champs" as u call them, were all out to beat horses that were both taking huge steps up in class. While it's possible that both Grasshopper and First Defence are just late bloomers and could prove to be among the best in their generation, as of now, the book is still out on them. And they ran under the same conditions as the two winners. So while what the two winners did was maybe worthy of some extra credit because of the conditions, the same goes for the two runners-up. I don't think it's a stretch for anyone to believe that had that been Curlin or Any Given Saturday chasing Street Sense home in the Travers, the result might have been different. Not saying that Street Sense wouldn't have still won because nobody knows that. But I believe that the extra credit that u are giving them was equalized by the quality of the field.

[slotdirt]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

That doesn't change the fact that both of these "true Champs" as u call them, were all out to beat horses that were both taking huge steps up in class. While it's possible that both Grasshopper and First Defence are just late bloomers and could prove to be among the best in their generation, as of now, the book is still out on them. And they ran under the same conditions as the two winners. So while what the two winners did was maybe worthy of some extra credit because of the conditions, the same goes for the two runners-up. I don't think it's a stretch for anyone to believe that had that been Curlin or Any Given Saturday chasing Street Sense home in the Travers, the result might have been different. Not saying that Street Sense wouldn't have still won because nobody knows that. But I believe that the extra credit that u are giving them was equalized by the quality of the field.

I don't think it's that hard to believe that not all animals react in the same fashion to extreme heat. Who's to say Grasshopper doesn't have a great affinity for hot weather? I know that once the temperature gets above 75, I cease to run as well as I would if it were 55 degrees outside.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

I don't think it's that hard to believe that not all animals react in the same fashion to extreme heat. Who's to say Grasshopper doesn't have a great affinity for hot weather? I know that once the temperature gets above 75, I cease to run as well as I would if it were 55 degrees outside.

I understand that but that wasn't the premise of Kgar's post. Kgar was saying that Hard Spun and Street Sense deserve extra credit for overcoming the obstacles, as if they were the only ones that had to run under the adverse conditions and everyone else had it great. While it's true what u said that all horses won't react the same way, who's to say that Street Sense isn't the one that had the affinity for it and that Grasshopper struggled mightily?