[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Running against colts would have been great and all, but there's something to be said for females going off form after facing colts.

Bayakoa (after the Big Cap), Paseana (after the Pacific Classic), Sharp Cat (after the SA Derby), Eliza (after the SA Derby), and Surfside (after the SA Derby), all lost their next starts at short prices when back in against their own gender.

Maybe, with the division so deep right now, the connections didn't want to risk their tenuous hold on the title.

Bayakoa also ran second in the San Diego Hcp. She went on to do big things though later on. Same with Paseana. Sharp Cat rebounded to have an outstanding year. I don't know that Eliza went off form as much as she just lost to a very good horse in Dispute (Bonnie Miss, Gazelle, Beldame at 3, Spinster at 4). Her going off form could just as easily be attributed to facing Dispute as it is to facing Personal Hope. Surfside later ran a very good second in the BC Distaff and beat older males in the Clark. For every one of these that you mentioned, there's a Winning Colors, a Ouija Board, a Miesque, a Six Perfections, a Serena's Song, a Personal Ensign.....the list goes on and on. I don't think there is any proof whatsoever that says they will go off form after facing males. I think it's more about what competition you face and how hard you may have to run that may influence your immediate form coming back. If racing against the boys means you have to run a harder race, yes, it can be understood that the next one out may be a little flat. But sometimes, you have to run harder to win races in your own division than you do to win races outside of it. If they were worried about her being knocked out by a tough race against boys and suffering in her next start against her own sex, they could have tried it in June and had plenty of time to recover and show her best against the girls later, as each of your examples did.