Strong Pretender Excuses Thread
 

Here you go, let the excuses begin for Strong Pretender. I'll give you some ideas. The distance was too short. He wasn't cranked up for a big effort. Oh wait, here's a good one. How about the horse just isn't that fast and was hopelessly overrated by a 32 point Beyer adjustment in the Dwyer.

He ran terribly. There is no excuse. He didn't run a lick.

That was ugly.

By the way, who the hell is Chatain?

By Forest Wildcat out of a Red Ransom mare-- only loss in a NW1X to Showing Up in March. Huge NW1X score last out in Jersey.

Thanks, maybe he'll be one to watch moving forward.

Haven't watched today's race yet, liked Sweetnorthernsaint -- but Chatain had room for improvement off the layoff and being very lightly raced could still be any kind with the talent he showed early in the career.

They're going to say Strong Contender wasn't ready, that he's a big colt, and needs more time to "get things going." Well, he ran horribly, and I wouldn't even consider the race as a paid workout...because he ran too slow!!

Where is your Sweetnorthernsaint excuse thread? U did rate him as the fourth best older male in the country.

SNS showed up with front wraps for the first time ever today. I figured that was probably a bad sign.

Well SNS certainly did not look his best, but he at least hit the board and seemed vaguely interested in the race. Strong Contender never lifted his feet off the ground.

interesting. thanks for that tidbit, not sure i would have noticed with just watching the replay after work.

Does he really need excuses? First off of a layoff of more than 6 months, on a speed-favoring track, at distance that is probably less than he wants to show his best. Sounds like second was a good return race. You have to know they didn't have him fully cranked up for this one anyway. It was a preparatory race to get him ready for the better races later. Honestly, only very special horses win every time; even great horses lose now and again (Kelso was 39 for 63, Round Table was 43 for 66, Secretariat was 16 for 21), and Jazil isn't a great horse.

Jara took him late. He closed to within 2 lengths and had they went another 1/16th we would be talking about some amazingly bright 4yo campaign ahead of him. Don't kick dirt on him yet....He's got alot to show

I'm sorry I didn't just delete this thread the minute I saw the title...

Instead of looking to attack the 6, 9, 11 horses that finish behind the SINGLE winner of these stakes, how about some credit for the performances of those that won?

Chetain emerged today as a real nice horse... Classic Campaign won a thrilling turf stake... And people are looking to create negative attributes towards ones that 'didn't win'...

I don't get it... And I frankly, hate it.

Race fans complain UNENDINGLY about premature retirements, and here you have a handful of horses BACK for their 4 year old seasons and they're immediately decried as useless off single starts. It's ridiculous.

Jazil got back to the races after a 6 month layoff to start a season off an the same injury that ENDED Smarty Jones' career... Maybe you'd prefer he just be sent off to one of Shadwell's stud farms? Strong Contender, and Saint for that matter, have bigger objectives on their itinerary than the Mr. Prospector. And all three trainers of these horses made it very clear what was on their minds going into these races.

Why is any discussion of a loss these days labeled under 'excuses'?... Defeats in racing are far more frequent than wins. There are all kinds of reasons that races go the way they do. What possible complaint would anyone have with the performances of Saint and Greeley behind Chatain today? What complaint would anyone have with Johannesburg Star's performance? Etc... 'Seasons' and 'careers' are bodies of work. Not single snapshots.

well said Steve...

and for the record NONE of them can use the excuse that my money was on them...I didn't bet the race:p

Hoss - just going by the replay...the field was subpar at best and Take the Bluff had all he could stand. The fact that we couldn't even see the pace until the head on (for the fog) leaves alot to conjecture. I wouldn't bet against him against the same field going 1 1/8th or better.

Excellent points. And I was happy with how SNS ran. Even being 3rd, he should move forward off this....But yes, positive threads on horses should outweigh these ones.