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Originally Posted by DaTruth
The stakes horses shipping from Santa Anita off Cushion Track/Pro Ride races did well in dirt starts last spring. Zenyatta won the Apple Blossom, Tiago won the Oaklawn Handicap, Circular Quay won the New Orleans Handicap, Intangaroo won the Humana Distaff, and Giant Gizmo won the Alysheba on the Oaks undercard. Granted, that is a small sample, but those aren't bad results.
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In fairness, Circular Quay was never a synthetic horse. He won a Grade 1 and Grade 3 on dirt in his 2-yo season, and a Grade 2 on dirt as a 3 year old.
He never won a race on synthetic or turf.
I know many are buying into the west coast horses for the Derby simply because of the blanket statement that they'll all move way up on dirt, which I completely diasgree with.
In Papa Clem's case, you don't think the trip and the horrific field assembled in the Arkansas Derby had more to do with him winning, rather than moving up on a natural dirt surface? For Oaklawn, after a number of memorable Arkansas Derby's the past 5 years, the last 2 have been ridiculously bad.