Declans Moon

[Five Star Derek]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

Some of the stuff you read here is incredible. A horse has a 3/4 of a length lead in :46 3/5, which is a very fast half at Oaklawn. The horse ended up blowing away the field by 6 lengths and the poster says that BB won because he got an easy lead. Unbelievable!

By the way, this whole discussion about Ellis is absurd. How could a bad trainer win graded stakes races at a 40% clip? How could a bad trainer have a win percentage of 29% in 2005? Those numbers are incredible. You have to be a really good trainer to have numbers like that.

Saying that Ellis did a terrible job with DM and ran him way over his head would be similar to saying that Pletcher did a terrible job with Flower Alley and ran him over his head in 2006. Neither trainer did a bad job. Sometimes horses just don't have it any more and sometimes you can't tell from watching them train. You think the horse still has it, but he doesn't.

Agreed
DM could look great in the morning and in the barn but just might not have the heart to race anymore. There are plenty of horses with great potential who fail to live up to that potential in barns everywhere. Ask any of the top trainers around and they'll all have stories of horses they thought would be great who failed to live up to their expectations. I loved this horse and looked forward to his comeback but I think Ellis is becoming a scapegoat. It might be in the horses head.