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Originally Posted by Bold Brooklynite
My final words before departing on my secret mission ...
• We can agree that just about all trainers want to win the Kentucky Derby ... and eagerly seek to find and prepare a colt for that objective. And yet ... look at the absolute joke that most recent Kentucky Derbies have been. At best there has been one ... and if we realy stretch it, two ... horses out of fields of 20 ... who were fit enough to make a decent effort there. In several years ... none ... not a single one ... was fit enough to go 10f on the first Saturday in May. Can you say Giacomo? And how did utter mediocrities like Funny Cide, War Emblem, and Charismatic get into a position to win the Triple Crown? Where were all their superbly-conditioned opponents? What does this say about today's training methods?
• In any case ... the subject of this thread was how "spaced" races are killing the sport at the G1 level. And that, my friends, is undeniable. Here we all are waiting, and waiting, and waiting for something intersting to happen ... and this in fact is a rare year when there are several exceptionally talented colts and horses in training. Bernardini may well be the best colt since Spectacular Bid ... but go down to your local mall and ask ten people at random who Bernardini is.
Whether or not "spacing" is a good or bad way to condition race horses ... and I think the evidence is overwhelming that it's bad ... very bad ... it's affect on building a future fan base is undeniable ...
... it's a disaster.
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Most horseplayers are much more excited about when a horse on their "watch list" is going to run, than when Bernardini is going to run. I'm not going to make any money betting on a 2-5 shot. It's nice to have fans like you but the sport doesn't make money from fans like you since you are not a bettor. The sport needs more bettors, not fans who don't bet.