Beyer Checks In on Godolphin

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Yes but this is a Horse Racing Message Board. Of course we all know about Bernardini. Bernardini is not a household name outside of racing by any stretch of the imagination. EVERYONE knew Funny Cide and Smarty Jones. You have no idea how many people I know in NY that have no interest in racing that were asking me about them. Now, to be fair they were TC aspirants, but even people knew about Lost in the Fog. Now, sure, Bernardini's Preakness win was WAY overshadowed by Barbaro's injury, but it also masked that there was no human interest story involving Bernardini.

I think it would be fair to say that Beyer is acutely aware of how much human interest stories fuel racing.

Exactly what I was going to say. I've been at a loss to understand why people think that Bernardini is so good for racing. The only people that know him are the people already involved in the game.

I agree with just about all of the article except for the part where it says their strategy doesn't work for the Derby. Granted, they haven't won the race yet but I feel it's more because they haven't had horses good enough try it yet. I haven't thought a single runner they've sent over has been a legit contender and it had nothing to do with where he was trained. Besides that, the Derby is just simply not an easy race to win. Look how long it took for Wayne Lukas to finally win it. A guy like Frankel has never won it. I personally think that it's silly to say that a certain strategy doesn't work because it hasn't happened yet. They say the same thing about Pletcher and that he can't win the big one. It takes time. Soon enough, the right horse will come along (for both of them) and it will happen. I think it's best to say that it hasn't worked YET. Like I said, look at Lukas. It took a while to get the door opened but once he did, he blew it off.

[blackthroatedwind]

True enough, but their Derby results have been horrendous so far, and that does not JUST include those that have run. They have paid enormous sums for many horses over the years, and not only have those that tried it done poorly, but many never even got close to making it.

In the cases of Frankel and Pletcher that you brought up, each has had some success, Invisible Ink and Bluegrass Cat were second for Todd, and Empire Maker and Peace Rules ran two-three for Frankel. Plus, Frankel has never been a trainer focused on TC races. The Sheiks have been at least trying to be effective in the Derby for quite some time.