Third time in five years someone has come from nearly last to win.
One year the pace collapsed-Giacomo
One year the best horse won-Street Sense
And now this.
This doesn\'t mean a permanent trend but the miler sires and weak mare bottoms has been. May be that 126lbs and a mile and a quarter in early May is too much for these types.
Brittle unsound horses who can\'t stay in one piece and struggle beyond.a mile and an eighth is almost as bad for the game as Drug Using Trainers
Or maybe they go hand in hand........
Also need to look at the ever increasing filly crops in this assessment.
Abybody doubt RA doesn\'t win this by 2-3 lengths which means she beats the actual 2-4 finishers by 8-9.
Eight Belles runs second last year
Rags to Riches win the Belmont the year before that.
The fillies have the same pedigrees the boys have.
Silver:
Horses are now being bred to turn a quick eighth of a mile/ quarter of a mile
at a 2YO in training sale, why is it surprising that Spring 3YOs are gasping
at 10 furlongs?
Further proof of the \"shortening\" of American racing can be seen every day at
Belmont, where turf marathons (10 and 11 furlongs) have been replaced by turf
sprints.
As to the pedigree of the winner, he descends from Unbridled on the sire side
and his maternal grand sire is Smart Strike, who given proper management and
a long life span, may go down as one of the great stallions of all time. (SS
also sired 4th place finisher Papa Clem).
Unbridled also the paternal grand sire of POTN;(cue Carl Nafzger) you bred a
great stallion, Mrs Genter!
But just to show that breeding is an inexact science, Musket Man, who has put
together an admirable record this Spring, descends from Yonaguska and Fortunate
Prospect, best known for their exploits at 7 furlongs or thereabouts.
The winner of the Derby was purchased at auction for $9,500. The third place
finisher was purchased at auction for $15,000. Dunkirk, on the other hand, was
purchased for $3.7 million,Desert Party $2.1 million, and Regal Ransom,$675,000.
These last 3 mentioned will all be eligible for early retirement upon achieving
their initial Grade 1 victory, further diluting a gene pool already containing
many stallions of questionable stamina and ability.
Ritchie maybe the 1/8th mile training angle is why the top fillies are performing equally as well as the colts.
They don\'t \"baby work\" them quick like that do they?
Unbridled is the Northern Dancer of our era.
But these colts are staggering home on the first Sat in May at least the ones who don\'t fall apart, literally, in the race or the week of it.......