How about "CD couldn't guarantee me a SUPER SPEED FAVORING track with NO OTHER frontrunner"?. Does anyone really think that RA has a shot in the Classic. Come on man, she's cooked. Can you imagine what BLAME (for example) does to her going 10F at CD. Jackson figures that anyone with a remote CLUE about the game knows she's done. He's just trying to keep some interest in her from the 'peripheral' followers of the sport, who just love it that a filly beat males.

The irony of it all is if she never came back this year, alot of experts would have hailed her as one of the greatest fillies the game has seen off of her wins in the Preakness over Mine That Bird(winless since), The Woodward(nuff said) and the Haskell. If they didn't know then, they surely should know now.

West's points are not exactly valid. First of all if someone would tell me why the added money is a big deal I could stomach it a little better. Just taken at face value considering the horse and owner it looks a little greedy. I am not against anyone making money and can't knock a track for adding money from its own pocket to entice a big draw but as Freddy would say, 90k is a drop in the bucket for Jackson. Come out and say you want to try to break the record for earnings for a filly if that is the goal. Of course he may not want to say that in case Zenyatta winds up with that title. Acting as though Monmouth didnt pander by not only raising the purse but date of the race and distance is well typical from this writer concerning anything Asmussen related.

The comparison to Kelso was incredibly stupid. Top horses of that era often tuned up in non stakes races between starts, you know sometimes like 5 or 6 days, not weeks, before the next race? The fact is that not only was there no grading system then, there were also a whole lot fewer stakes and transportation was a lot more complicated than it is now. For horses of that era, 17 starts was a season, not a career.

The other cases are laughable. How many horses did Damascus duck? Why wouldnt Holy Bull start his campaign in a sprint stake? That was how it was done then. Favorite Trick? As a 3 year old? LOL. He was a punching bag by that point. The irony in bringing up FT is she is certainly challenging his 3 year old campaign as the weakest by a returning horse of the year.

Plus Gary West is a sourpuss. He's a dial turner.

:tro:


Too funny, man

The interesting thing to me is going to be who is going to run in this race? I would assume any half way decent horse will be running in either The Ruffian or the Del Cap, why ship to Monmouth for an ungraded stake that was custom ordered for Rachel?

No one is going to run in this race...is it even a handicap?

Obviously nothing more than a paid 9f workout for RA

A few Jersey rats will show to vie for that second money

Absolute joke of a start for a reigning hoty


Hilarious watching her defenders try to spin this thing, tho…

I'm going to kill myself.

I don't understand what that has to do with it. That was 2009, when she ran a great campaign. There really is no defense for this race except, it's a new year and she just might not be as good as she was last year.

If all you care about is HOY then stop worrying about RA and start focusing on your continual bashing of Quality Road. Because as long as Zenyatta continues to stay at home he is going to be your biggest competiton for the prize at the end of the year that you cherish oh so much.

I'm going to love it when QR stays home for the BC this year and still wins
HOY over Zenyatta.

Couldn't care less about hoty

Looks like it's QR's to lose at this point (which I hope he does, btw)


Really all about the BCC for Z

Odds are clearly against her … but it would be incredible if she can throw a Tiznow at the great race…

lmao


these threads full of irony today.


yeah, right. you sure reference it a lot for someone who doesn't care about it!

Wouldn't you really rather have him show up for the 10F, either refuse to get in the gate again or start looking for some oxygen as he enters the stretch? Pletcher's elixir will have run out by then and it's not like Warrior's Reward will come running after him late.:rolleyes:

If there is a God Zenyatta will get beat next out...

She's going to duck her way to 20.

you lose.

all good points. i don't think the money matters to jackson-except insofar as adding to rachels overall money won. his bottom line is healthy whether she runs for 200k or 500k, or more.

i'm just trying to find a good reason for them starting her here. i haven't figured out the logic behind it yet, and thought west presented some valid points. it is true tho that horses of the past didn't start only in graded races, but as you say, there weren't a lot of them, and travel wasn't as easy then. horses didn't have works between races, they raced to stay fit.
so, why is jackson going here? why is he so chicken with her this year, after going so far with her last year? it seems a lukewarm effort, and one that makes no sense. he at least tried other things with curlin-he isn't trying anything new with rachel. seems a waste of her talents. her legacy would have been better had they just retired her last year.

No, horses did work between races then as well. I stand by my reasoning that he hates to lose more than he likes to win. Don't forget that she was odds on in all those tough races last year. And the Woodward was an awful weak edition last year. He is simply looking to run a layup drill a la Zenyatta though he is much more demanding that the Z crew. At least they recognize the competition is terrible and they dont need to resort to having races created for them.

Do they though? If Shirreffs can call Rail Trip "the highest mountain" with a straight face, I doubt they're being honest with themselves about the slugs she's beating.