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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
* He never once made more than 6 starts in a single year ... and he raced from '98 to '03 .. a time when horses ran more frequent than now.
* He was held out and not entered from more races because of high weight assignments - than probably any horse in recent history.
Workouts... I laughed.
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Never mind that he didn't get really underway until August of '98 at Del Mar as a 4yo no less. Yet despite the tardy start, he somehow managed to make it into the BC field that year (as a member of the mutual field) and finished 3rd. What was it, 5 races in the span of 3 months...that's less than every 2 weeks.
At 5, he and Big Jag unleashed a furious rivalry that spanned, IIRC, every major sprint stakes at the Santa Anita winter meet (with the possible exception of the 6.5f Potrero Grande).
Typically, after a full SA winter meet, he would take the Hollywood Park meet off (skipping a Grade 3 race and another going 7f) before prepping for the BC with the Bing Crosby at Del Mar and Ancient Title at Oak Tree. Sounds like a solid plan to me during a time when the only $1 million sprint in this country was the BC.
I suppose on the surface giving a racehorse a 3-month break once a year is too much babying, but rest assured, coming from the Bruce Headley barn, when he was in active race training his feet were being put to the fire, so laugh at the "workout tab" comment all you want.