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Originally Posted by Bigsmc
What if he came back in a Stake and was last or vanned off? Is getting injured in a Stake somehow okay, but getting injured in a 16k plater an injustice to the horse?
Bottom line, if the trainer knows the horse and is not knowingly risking the horse's welfare by running him in a race, what does it matter what level the horse runs at?
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Tough to say at any time whether the trainer is risking the horse's welfare, but some circumstances do draw attention. I don't think that any of us know why Papi Chullo was away for a year, but it is fair to assume that something was wrong. Perhaps the horse is over it, and the connections were taking an edge, knowing that no one was likely to claim the horse off such a steep drop, and now he is eligible for starter allowance races all winter.
The problem comes with the recent example of Brookhaven's Money at Belmont. Here is a horse with whom the current connections won a NY Stallion Series race (off the claim) in early June and then had consistently run him in NY-bred allowance company since the stakes win. After a few mediocre efforts, he is dropped precipitously to a $15K NW3L claiming race, and he is pulled up and vanned off after running less than a half mile.