My annual rehashing....
 

No horse who won his career debut at either Saratoga or Del Mar has returned to win the eclipse award title as champion 3-year-old male the following season.

The great Tom Fool won his debut at Saratoga back in 1951 enroute to a championship 2yo season. Even he didn't pull it off.

This years stellar class of Saratoga debut winners includes War Pass, Slew's Tiznow, J Be K, Majestic Warrior, Mamionides, Big Brown, Z Humor etc.

Extremely promising 2yo's led by such horses as ('00) Macho Uno, ('01) Mayakovsky, ('02) Sky Mesa, ('03) Birdstone, ('04) Proud Accolade, ('05)Discreet Cat, ('06) Tiz Wonderful, have very impressively and very swiftly won debut races at Saratoga ... only to have fairly injury plauged 3yo seasons the following year.

There is a similarly impressive list as far as Del Mar goes. It's topped by 2yo champions such as Vindication and Declan's Moon ... both very fast Del Mar debut winners who came apart there after.

Not that this stat/trend has to really mean anything... even if War Pass isn't able to break it, it would be nice to see him have an injury free season.

Of the real nice debut winners from Saratoga last year that I can think of - only the very promising Slew's Tiznow seems to have had the fork stuck into his 3yo season so far.

Extremely promising 2yo's led by such horses as ('00) Macho Uno, ('01) Mayakovsky, ('02) Sky Mesa, ('03) Birdstone, ('04) Proud Accolade, ('05) Discreet Cat, ('06) Tiz Wonderful, have very impressively and very swiftly won debut races at Saratoga ... only to have fairly injury plauged 3yo seasons the following year.

DS,

Wouldn't early success at stakes level at SAR/DMR preclude precociousness and potential for less soph development anyway? What's the core point here?

And it's not like Birdstone (a rather frail specimen anyway) and Proud Accolade, and even Discreet Cat to a limited extent, didn't gain notable laurals past their juvy campaigns...

Just how incredible fluky something like that is.

A pair of Delaware Park debut winners took 3yo championships back to back in Afleet Alex and Barbaro - while Hard Spun was a finalist last year.

There has been a very impressive collection of very good horses win debuts at the big resort meets...it's pretty mind-boggling to think not a single one has managed to come back and take a division title the following year.

Barbaro won 3YO Champion over Bernardini?

His argument holds... for '04/'05 instead of '05/'06.

His editor at the Erie Sun Times would have caught that. :D

Smarty Jones won his debut at Philly Park and not Delaware Park....

But yeah, "Seperate but equal" as they say.

I know where he won his debut, "seperate but equal" is what I was shooting for, yes :D

Maimonides sidelined...

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/rac...le-injury.aspx