I\'m unbelievably busy with the Derby seminar and shouldn\'t even get involved in this stuff, but:
1- Secretariat\'s Belmont went in 2:24, he went the first six furlongs in around 1:10. It\'s possible each quarter was faster in his Derby, but what difference does it make-- he ran the final time he did, and there is no evidence the pace affected it.
2- Easy Goer, on figures, was much the better horse. Whittingham, that time, was much the better trainer. EG ran his eyeballs out in the Gotham and again on two weeks rest in the Wood, then came back AGAIN on two weeks in the Derby (in the slop), bounced, and AGAIN on two weeks in the Preakness, moving back towards his top-- that\'s 4 races in 6 weeks. When he finally got 3 weeks before the Belmont he won by a pole. All this racing took it\'s toll, and by most accounts he spent the later part of his career racing with an ankle the size of a softball.
SS, on the other hand, always went into his races with EG fresh, which was Wittingham\'s strength, and at the top of his game.
You\'re right, you shouldn\'t. Thanks anyway.
You get grumpy when they don\'t give you your feed in the morning.
Now just go clobber the race like you always do!
B
JB,
I respect your opinion immensely, its why I buy your product. As a left coaster I get a little tired of hearing people bash horses like SS. I think he deserves better and while EG had tremendous talent, bottom line is he lost 3 of 4 regardless of the reason. If he had faster figs, great. He was spectacular when on his game. But to hear that SS was a staggerer, lucky to win, didn\'t beat anybody, he \"tied\" EG twice.........these comments are so ridiculous. LA beat Oakland in the 1988 Series. You can never convince me that the A\'s didn\'t have superior talent. But they lost. I accept it. I don\'t cry and say that the better team lost. Tabitha, who writes excellent posts, for some reason 14 yrs later still can\'t get over the fact that EG lost. I\'m surprised I haven\'t heard the many reasons why Alydar is better than Affirmed and that essentially Alydar \"tied\" Affirmed in the TC. I guess that was the jockeys fault too.