Dumdolphin up to their old tricks again

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

Notice the company he kept in that third start? VH, Cribnote and Munnings? Those are all three quality sprinters, and DP wanted NOTHING to do with that field. Yeah, he did have some trouble, but he was pretty close early and got outrun pretty badly late.

That's not completely fair.

Desert Party crushed Vineyard Haven one start earlier in the Sanford. As for his Hopeful debacle, he came out of it with an injury, which is why he made no further starts as a 2yo.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

That's not completely fair.

Desert Party crushed Vineyard Haven one start earlier in the Sanford. As for his Hopeful debacle, he came out of it with an injury, which is why he made no further starts as a 2yo.

True enough.

However, VH steadied at the 1/2 mile pole, making his second career start, which is why I discounted that race.

And yeah, he does seem to be injury prone.

Maybe another reason to not sprint him.

[KirisClown]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

I'm not really sure what makes people think he's a sprinter, other than pretty circumstantial PPs.

Of those six starts going 7 or less, three were as a two year old, after he sold for 2+ million at a 2yo in training sale. None of those three starts were particularly great, though indeed one or two of those were pretty nice. Notice the company he kept in that third start? VH, Cribnote and Munnings? Those are all three quality sprinters, and DP wanted NOTHING to do with that field. Yeah, he did have some trouble, but he was pretty close early and got outrun pretty badly late.

Next up, he makes an early 3yo debut in the desert and wins going 7f, by 1/2 a length over Regal Ransom.

Three weeks later, he makes his next start going 1m, in what is very obviously his best performance. Again facing their apparent star router from the group, Regal Ransom, DP wins by nearly five.

Six weeks later, in what is clearly his second best performance, he goes 9 in their big 3yo race, and loses by about half a length to Regal Ransom. 15 lengths back to third.

Up to this point, it could not be any clearer that this is not a 6f horse.

The wheels fall off in the Derby, but if I recall correctly, he did suffer an injury and was not seen again until this year. He won some crappy 6f race where he overmatched his field, then ran up the track going a mile. He trailed, or close to it, throughout the entire race, which signifies to me that the distance had nothing to do with it. He just didn't run that day, or had something go amiss (besides having bad connections).

The Philly race? Who cares. That field was ugly.

Next you have his breeding. Sired by a World Cup winner that also sired the greatest staying mare in history, I see little indication in his sires side that would make me think he's a sprinter.

His damsire won the Preakness and the Belmont. Granted, the females in his family were awful, but that would indicate more of a soundness difficulty than a distance problem.

It seems pretty obvious to me, also, when you watch him run, that he's not a sprinter.

I don't agree that it's so cut and dry easy to see that he is not a sprinter.. but we shall see, his next start should give a clearer indication.

Street Cry himself ran fairly well while sprinting as a 2yr old.. just missed the Del Mar Futurity..

You have to dig deep into the damside, but there's some relation to multiple graded sprint winner Good And Tough..

[Indian Charlie]

Well, I'm not entirely saying that he cannot sprint. I just don't think he can be a top level sprinter, while I do believe it's possible he can do much better going longer.

I just see him as having much more upside going 8-9f.

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

Well, I'm not entirely saying that he cannot sprint. I just don't think he can be a top level sprinter, while I do believe it's possible he can do much better going longer.

I just see him as having much more upside going 8-9f.

Then it's a good thing his year-end goal is the Dirt Mile. All of this is about them using a 7f race as a prep? The article also said they're going to use the Kelso, which apparently has been moved to dirt, as the final prep.

NT