The Sunday Silence-Easy Goer battle was a bit before my time, but I remember a post from a few days ago comparing WE to SS. Did SS win the Preakness on the lead? Do WE and SS have a lot of things in common?
you really think WE is going to be alone again....i dont think so.
No, I do not think he will be alone. I am trying to figure if WE can get the job done if he is pressured up front....
Check Nov. 23 race 8 at the Fairgrounds.
MO
I am not a War Emblem fan, nor did I bet him in the Derby, but I think you\'re not giving this horse near-enough credit. Isn\'t there a possibility that he\'s simply becoming a very nice horse? Sunday Silence WAS considered a very nice horse well-before winning the Derby. I believe most people thought he was the only serious threat to Easy Goer that year, and vice versa.
I also don\'t think War Emblem will have a cushy lead on a slow pace in the Preakness, but as long as Victor Espinoza doesn\'t get him involved in a suicide speed-duel he can probably be right there again, if not win. I agree with Mark...he proved that he can pass horses in past races, but apparently just has enough natural speed to make the lead if he wants.
Remember this.....War Emblem was seemingly almost caught turning for home in the Derby by the \"closer\" Perfect Drift who I, for one, thought was going to power by in the stretch. Now PD did have some traffic trouble trying to squeeze inside of WE, but make no mistake that WE easily outkicked everyone down the lane including the others who benefitted from the slow pace (Proud Citizen, Perfect Drift, Came Home, etc.) and probably was only outfinished by Medaglia D\'Oro (who was too far back to contend).
I think that you can argue both theories (he won only because of the pace OR that he won so easily that it didn\'t matter)with some validity. Either way, as I look at the replay it was definitely one weird race (I still expect someone, just anyone, to make some kind of move on the turn - totally baffling).
so many questions to answer: can he hold his form after 3 efforts ? will someone challenge him early ? and if so, will he just rate ?
I will say this - this horse looks perfect for the belmont if he gets there in shape to run.
Easy Goer was a tremendous horse Sunday Silence was a tremdous athlete .I believe SS was on or close and EG sat off ,however I seem to remember EG ending up inside of SS and really had no excuse .I do also remember thinking that P.Val on SS outrode P.Day on EG .EG was somewhat crowded along the inside during an epic stretch duel .The crowding was not enough to warrant DQ but I believe it intimidated both horse and jockey .SS up to 1 1/4 miles seemed to have EG \'s number ,EG ended up crushing SS in the Belmont ,but in the Breeders Cup Classic SS again beat EG this time it was C.McCarron outdueling \"Patient Pat\"in spite of EG\'s furious stretch run ,too little, too late .His record against SS does not reflect it but i\'ve always felt that EG was one of the best racehorses I had ever seen and the last one I saw before him who was that special was Spectacular Bid.
War Emblem won Saturday for two reasons. The Churchill strip was racing like a wet/fast track and a lone speed horse loose on an easy lead. I don\'t think he could have done it without the benefit of both.