[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by Danzig2

from what i've seen about barbaro, when he ran his first race they really got to thinking he was a t.c. horse. his entire schedule was set up based on having a fit, but not tired horse for the trail. like matz said, a lot of people focus on the derby, he focused on the series. that so many try so hard to get the horse to ky, without considering the bigger picture. of course the winner than heads to md, but that's more of an 'afterthought'..hey, won the derby, now we gotta try to win the next two. he set up everything to make all three, knowing how grueling the three races would be. so, i'm not so sure barbaro dictated the time between starts--the overall plan did.

I understand that and to an extent, it makes sense. U shouldn't go to the Derby unless u plan on winning it and u know that winning it means u go to the Preakness so u need to plan ahead. But there is a very old saying in life..."practice makes perfect." In most areas of life, u get to be good at things by practicing them constantly. That way, u are prepared when it's time to actually perform. This is especially true in sports. So to me, it seems like while trying to ensure that they left room in the tank with Barbaro, they may have done him a disservice at the same time. Horses are creatures of habit and it seems like a mistake to me to get him settled into the habit of having x amount of time between races then all of a sudden changing up the pattern with him and sending him right back out.