Rachel Alexandra a go for La Troienne

[the_fat_man]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Read below about the BC. Your own logic about dirt and synthetic horses should tell you why they didn't want to run her in the BC, especially after what happened with Curlin the year before. As for the Apple Blossom, I'm disappointed that they didn't run her, but if the horse isn't fit, the horse isn't fit. Unlike the Mosses, Jackson doesn't have a history of treating his supposed superhorse with kid gloves, so he gets the benefit of the doubt. Again, you're deflecting instead of explaining why the immortal Z continues to run against allowance horses in her playpen nine times out of ten.



Because, as your fellow Zentologist points out, dirt horses have a tougher time transferring their form to synthetic than vice versa. It's not understandable that Jackson didn't want to have an ultimate showdown between the two on a surface that Zenyatta was far more likely to excel on?

I think the Jackson camp misread what happened to Curlin. Curlin ran well on turf and he also handled POLY. What he couldn't handle was the setup: he moved too soon in what was a layered, and collapsing, race. RA had an advantage that Curlin didn't, and, that up until recently, was not really exploited by other POLY runners: the ability to control the pace by staying close enough to the lead but not moving prematurely and collapsing the race for the closers. This is what allowed the distance challenged Rail Trip to get 10F in the Pacific Classic. Too bad her connections didn't give her a chance to try the BC.

I'm not deflecting anything: Z won the BC classic last year. Other were welcome to try her. She made the trip to OP this year; others didn't. If you think that she needs to leave CALI to add to her resume, you'll also probably agree that she needn't do it except where it works to her advantage. Why ship the horse for meaningless races? She'll ship for the BC, at least. What else does she really need to prove? If she beats the dirt best at CD, then she's done about all she needs to.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by the_fat_man

I'm not deflecting anything: Z won the BC classic last year. Other were welcome to try her. She made the trip to OP this year; others didn't. If you think that she needs to leave CALI to add to her resume, you'll also probably agree that she needn't do it except where it works to her advantage. Why ship the horse for meaningless races? She'll ship for the BC, at least. What else does she really need to prove? If she beats the dirt best at CD, then she's done about all she needs to.

Why keep the horse in California? To save on shipping costs? Except for two weak Apple Blossoms and a mediocre BCC, she's won the same four or five races against the same four or five horses two years running. How much more boring can you get running her in the Vanity again? You might as well have kept her retired or turned her into a dressage horse, because the reality is she won't get tested unless she leaves California. But that's the point. They don't appear to want to test her now that she won the BCC and made the Oaklawn appearance. They seem to want to keep her undefeated as long as possible. She's had one major test in her career. She passed it. If that's all there is to prove in your mind, then you've got some low expectations for her.