3 year old Champion

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Ok. If you want to convince yourself that the Belmont is the race trainers are shooting for and not the Derby, I can’t stop you.

It is your fantasy that the trainer was training the horse substantially different for certain races in his campaign. Following that line of fantasy, doesn't it make fantastical sense that--given the LOSS IN THE DERBY and the anticipated STALLION CAREER of a champion son of TAPIT--that they would likely go ALL IN in the Belmont Stakes? Maybe there's some semi-objective way to figure out if any of that is even partially true. Anyone know in which race Essential Quality registered his highest Beyer Speed Figure?

I wonder if the connections of say Easy Goer or A.P. Indy did anything different with their horses ahead of the Belmont after they lost or were held out of the Kentucky Derby?

At any rate, I'm not trying to convince myself of anything; certainly none of the nonsense that you posted above.

If you think the BC Classic was an afterthought, a sort of “well, he’s bouncing off the walls so we might as well enter him somewhere to get the edge off him” kind of race since he had already won the Travers, which was his real main objective, go ahead.

More disingenuous filth. Did I say the BC Classic was an afterthought? No.

I suggested that the horse was past his peak (you know, because some industry participants actually care about ALL prestigious races during the year rather than focusing solely on some bloated nonsense conducted in circus fashion at the end of every year).

You are way over the top with this "real main objective" BS. If you really believe class horses are only able to put in one good race a year then you are part of the problem. The hilarious part is that Medina Spirit with his losing record won only one "real main objective" during the year (and lost several non-"real main objectives") and wasn't even able to clear a post-race test. And yet he's your champion...

...although to be fair he certainly fits with your past 2 "real" HOYs.