It doesn't happen to often but I do think that there are more horses that could do it if put in that situation. Bigsmc mentioned Unbridled earlier. Recently, BTW was reminding me of Turkoman. Neither of those horses would ever be thought of as sprinters but because they were talented horses, they could do it. I think that what happens too often today is that horses get pigeoholed into something and that's the only thing they are given the opportunity to do. I think there could be a lot more horses that could switch back and forth between dirt and grass. I think there could be a lot more times when we'd see fillies beating the boys. But unfortunately, taking chances is frowned upon. Sometimes I wonder how much I would have been laughed at and riduculed if this were 1973 and I was suggesting that the best dirt horse in the world skip the JCGC and instead make his turf debut in the Man o'War?
I think Philski is absolutely right about Hard Spun. Had he won the Haskell, I feel like it was almost a certainty that they would have went the Travers route even thought it might not have been the best one. Like with Roman Ruler a few years ago. Like with Lion Heart. Pressures to go the traditional routes with horses instead of being original.
__________________
The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
|
03-07-2008, 01:25 PM
Threaded Mode