Tim Ritchey

Sorry, posted twice.

To say that Easy Goer had better acceleration than SS is just plain silly.

Easy Goer raced in 6 important races against solid competition.

BC Juvenile - Lost
KD - Lost
Preakness - Lost
Belmont (at home at 12F on a biased track) - Won
BC Classic - Lost
Metroplitan - Lost

In his other Grade 1 wins against older horses he beat It\'s Academic (a Grade 3 winter horse), Cryptoclearance (a decent second stringer), DeRoche (a chronic suck up horse of limited ability), and Forever Silver (a decent second stringer). He won in the mud, just when there wasn\'t a good horse in the race to beat him so his fans could use that as an excuse.

His fans are just never going to get over the fact that he wasn\'t as great as they hoped. He compliled a terrific record beating up a weak group of 3YOs (Rock Point and Triple Buck in the Wood ) in the east and what just happened top be a very weak group of older horses in NY that summer. He was terrific, but he failed in almost every single important test of his career.  

[colt]

I can't believe that the EG supporters are still claiming that EG was better than SS.  How can they continue the dispute SS 3 for 4 record against EG? They have blamed Patricia Day - He was never Pay Day to New Yorkers!  They have blamed the CD racing surface (0 for 2 at CD)...they have blamed the wet-tracks...The list goes ON...and ON! The bottom line is that SS was clearly the better of the two...What EG supporters should NOT FORGET - is that SS DID NOT RACED ON LASIX (was not allowed in NY back then) when he finished second to EG in the Belmont...Not allowing LASIX in NY certinaly cost ALYSHEBA the TC as well!  Clearly, the BELMONT WAS ALYSHEBA\'S WORST race during his remarkable 3yr season in 87...Another overated NY based Horse was JAVA GOLD! I am done and out....

[fasteddie]

I said this last year, and Ill say it again now-IF Birdstone isn\'t in the Belmont, Smarty wins by 10 and is hailed as the 2nd coming and nobody gets on Elliot. In reality (not the horse...lol) Rose was smart to spend the week at Belmont to get used to the track; that was Elliots\' grave error.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

delete

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

If memory serves in the 2004 Belmont they went  10 marks in 2 minutes flat or thereabouts. Smarty came home in about 27 seconds for a 2:27 and change finishing time. For comparison this year they went 10 marks in 2:04 and came home in .24 and change for a final time of 2.28.75. However the track was sealed and reharrowed before the Belmont and that may have affected its glibness. The last dirt race was also pedestrian compared to the early races. Visually, it appeared they were motoring early in the Belmont, so we\'ll have to defer to Tgraph on the number.

Smarty\'s loss last year was an aggregation of factors that similarly did in Alex in the Derby. Big previous efforts, a fast pace, running a legitimate distance while not at peak form, but I have to agree that Elliot was a factor too. Its very hard to believe he couldn\'t find a way to give Smarty a breather in that race. Smarty was never gonna lay 10 lengths off, but if he could have just laid 3 off like in the Derby, its a different outcome. Still considering the pace challenge and early move off contested pace it was a fine effort in defeat. Birdstone was a good horse and he would have finished well in the Classic had he not gone bad in the race.

[NoCarolinaTony]

Quite honestly it\'s called conditioning ---in humans. It\'s done with harness horses all the time. Don\'t know why they treat horses (Tbreds) like they do instead of conditioned athletes. Sure they get sore from traing et al as do professional athletes but those that are in condition, can fight through the pain/fatigue better,sustain performance longer etc  than those that are babied.

I hope this guy opned the eyes of a few people, it was obvious this horse was in better condition than his competitors even the fresh ones.

NC Tony