Crist: The great distaffers..

[Smooth Operator]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

While the 13 for 13 may not stand up to Zenyatta's 17 for 17, there is a big difference IMO between running at 2 and 3 and not starting until nearly 4 years of age ... Though in basic terms, there race records are similar, here's the essential difference between the two:

One needed "several screws" in her ankle after two starts while the other has been pretty much sound as a bell after 17?


By the way, upon further review of PE's Whitney … G looks to have been beyond his scope going nine … and thus quite vulnerable … and the show horse was like a hundred years old that year … and basically just a G3-type Aqueduct runner at that point.

[blackthroatedwind]

Gulch won the Wood Memorial.

[CSC]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

One needed "several screws" in her ankle after two starts while the other has been pretty much sound as a bell after 17?


By the way, upon further review of PE's Whitney … G looks to have been beyond his scope going nine … and thus quite vulnerable … and the show horse was like a hundred years old that year … and basically just a G3-type Aqueduct runner at that point.

Watch yourself, it is blasphemy to compare any horse to Personal Ensign on this board.

[Smooth Operator]

Originally Posted by CSC

Watch yourself, it is blasphemy to compare any horse to Personal Ensign on this board.

Hang in there, bro

If Z can somehow, someway manage to take the BCC again this year, gunna need your help delivering all these servings of crow...

[Smooth Operator]

By the way, why was the Suburban shortened?

Is the JCGC the only major race in the east contested at ten furlongs now???

[CSC]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Hang in there, bro

If Z can somehow, someway manage to take the BCC again this year, gunna need your help delivering all these servings of crow...

I'll have my shovel ready.

[slotdirt]

Why am I completely unsurprised that someone so adept at digging himself into a hole is already prepared with a shovel? Presumably to serve heaps of crow?

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Hang in there, bro

If Z can somehow, someway manage to take the BCC again this year, gunna need your help delivering all these servings of crow...

Crow for what, exactly? Show me all the people who are saying "Zenyatta sucks and can't win the BCC."

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

One needed "several screws" in her ankle after two starts while the other has been pretty much sound as a bell after 17?

I understand your point, but I don't think we can make claims about Zenyatta's soundness because instead of having periods of absence within her form, she simply showed up late. Zenyatta didn't start for nearly the entire first two seasons of a normal horses career. The reason? Could be any number, including a fracture. As far as I can tell, Personal Ensign retired without incident after the Distaff.

By the way, upon further review of PE's Whitney … G looks to have been beyond his scope going nine … and thus quite vulnerable … and the show horse was like a hundred years old that year … and basically just a G3-type Aqueduct runner at that point.

Well, Gulch was a Grade 1 winner at 9f, competed in all 3 Triple Crown races (placing in the 12f Belmont), and won the Met Mile inbetween those races over his elders. His durability and stamina are hard to fault. Was he at his best at 9f? It's a similar scenario to the idea that Medaglia D'Oro couldn't stay 10f. Yeah, I suppose he's vulnerable, but it would take a very good horse to beat him. And it did.