I have to go out in a few minutes, but where are her remotely competitive races? The only thing she has going for her, as far as I can tell, is the trainer switch. She was drowned by Omeya when they met and lost by five lengths to Pattiano in her last turf race.

I just don't see her at all.

losta layoff kev and in reality wasnt that great before

Guess the trainer switch, Bejerano back up (although not a huge fan) and the works look solid.

This is why I am asking...to learn.

Kevin, I just think she's not good enough.

Basically, when I find a horse that I have some esoteric angle on, the most important thing is does he or she have at least one race that is fast enough to win. IMO Wild Wedding does not. Is she impossible? No, but I couldn't use her.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM Miss Shop.

She's like candy.

As in, bottom side of the exacta candy.

Tasty.

Fair enough, thanks Andy.

thats a great basic capping skill in this type of race...who can who has ..btw refresher capping 101..at some point your reaching hoping that a horse will show something new..but in the end they dont

Not real sure where that comes from....unless you are speaking about the health issues....She has never been off the board....multiple grade 1 wins....when all in the distaff division are right, she is the best out there and barring any unforseen setbacks, she will be the dominant one this year...but then again, I might be a little bias....

No horse is ever as good as their hype from those connections due to the lunacy eminating from that website. If you didn't learn that from Rockport Harbor, and then Hard Spun, you never will.

None of this precludes Round Pond from being a very nice filly. It just means her on-track performances belie her reputation. The simple fact is she has never run an even remotely special race. She's run pretty well a few times. Perhaps her physical issues have kept her from showing more. I hope we find out that is the case this year.

Define "special" for fillies, Azeri special?
I loved her Acorn. That was her best career performance IMO.

Don't disagree about Porter's website, though.

Did you see her win the Acorn, what about the Azeri (which was considered the race of the year by many), or even the Distaff....this has nothing to do with RPH or Hard Spun...my interest is from a totally different perspective from which I think you are pointing towards....Round Pond is a very special horse that has run some very special races....

agree 100%

Azeri was pretty special. Even Ashado, who ran few particularly fast races, and was exposed in competitive situations, ran many better races than Round Pond.

Phil, you are kidding about the Acorn, right? If not I guess you cashed a bet on her and never clearly thought about the race objectively ( something I find hard to believe in your case ). She sat a perfect trip behind a very fast pace set by Splendid Blended and was the greatest beneficiary of Bejarano's absolutely buffoonish ride aboard In the Gold when he sent her around the turn ( hardly a wise move at Belmont ). Round Pond ran OK in that race but was essentially a perfect trip winner. Or, do we disagree, and you think Smuggler was a TRUE champion?

One perfect trip after another. If you think any of those were " special races " then you and I are on different planets of race watching.

I already discussed the Acorn. In the Azeri she dictated the pace ( the comment in the chart is " soft duel " ) in a small field where the first two finishers ran around the track together....and still barely beat a very weak third finisher. In the BC she had the dreamiest of trips, never leaving a souped up rail, in a race where the first TWO favorites failed to finish.

Sculpting opinions of performances based on one's personal feelings about horses is the road to losing. Maybe you don't bet, which is fine, but if you form opinions such as the ones you expressed, and bet, you are certain to lose.

On her day, Riboletta was better than Azeri. Azeri was consistent, a notch above Ashado who was consistent but slower. But she wasn't special.

Riboletta, on her good days, and there were quite a few, was flat out scary. That win at Belmont was devastating.

Inside Information, and for that matter Heavenly Prize, would have drowned a horse like Round Pond. Hell, a sound Lakeway would have crushed her.

The Belmont race is one of the best filly/mare race I may have seen in 10 years.

I'm not sure that 7 for 11, multiple graded stakes wins, never out of the money would classify as sculpting anything on feelings....so with that said...

I'm not going to debate her potential or pp's anymore because we are obviously on different planets. While it's fun to compare horses and running styles and what if's, the fact is unless the horses being compared are running in the same race, then it's nothing but hypotheticals....

No, I agree it was a perfect trip. And yes, I cashed a bet on it :o but you cannot completely discount the performance as she was running a 1 turn mile which I think has been proven is not her optimal distance. On top of that, it was the only relatively fast race any of the 2005 fillies ran.

I hated Smuggler and thought that was an awful choice for 3YO champion... but then again, outside of Round Pond (and a goo goo admiration for admittedly slow In The Gold), I'm not a fan of ANY of the 2005 3yo fillies. Sweet Symphony winning the Alabama so easily pretty much sealed the deal for me as a very weak crop.