The summer classics are turning out to be less than advertised at the close of the excitement that was the Belmont. I wanted rematches. Big Ones. Street Sense and Curlin looking each other in the eye. Rags to Riches giving the boys another shot. Hard Spun let loose on the lead with Tiago trying to close from 9 lengths back. Mix in the older horses, Lava Man, Lawyer Ron, The Tin Man, Funny Cide, Perfect Drift and you had the makings for some special moments in those races that allow the 3 year olds to weigh in with their elders. Instead what we're getting is horses ducking horses, injuries, confusion over polytrack, more ducking, and retirements. I'd like to take this opportunity to bid farewell to the following recently retired steeds: Funny Cide, Bob and John, Cotton Blossom, Wilko, Bushfire, Flashy Bull, and Cash Included. Any Given Saturday won the most star studded race of the summer beating Hard Spun and Curlin in the Haskell, but Street Sense was relatively uncontested in the Jim Dandy (as he looks to be in this weekend's Travers.) The Pacific went off with Lava Man as the extreme favorite after Tiago scratched, afraid to test the Del Mar polytrack surface. Evidently Lava Man shouldn't have either and the unknown Student Council came home in front winning about 3 million dollars for the four people in attendance who thought he had a betable name. Hard Spun and Teuflesberg go again this weekend in the King's Bishop on the Travers undercard, which might actually be funner than watching than Calvin Borel steer Street Sense through absolutely nobody around the far turn. They dont call it hugging the rail if there's no one within five lengths of you. Still, it was a great triple crown and my only wish at this point is for the Eclipse Award voters to require a horse to actually beat someone more than once before handing over horse of the year honors.
1 comments:
I thought I was the only horse player in ATL.
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