Nashoba's Key

[Silver Charm]

Does she need to win the Distaff on dirt to win this division?

Watchmaker has her number one in his pole and yet she has never run on dirt. Some of what she has been beating got beat up pretty bad in the Beldame.

[Barry Irwin]

Some day the Breeders\' Cup or the Graded Stakes Committee will hire a professional handicapper or group of handicappers to keep ratings in pounds on our best horses and nobody will even bother to read Watchmaker.

[Silver Charm]

Barry,

I think you are being a little tough on Watchmaker. He was always a big fan of Lawyer Ron and looks like the kind of guy who back in college always had the best stash.

The issue with Nashoba\'s Key is she just won a good Grade One ON GRASS preceded by some good wins on Synythetic/Polytrack.

Your horse Unbridled Belle faced much tougher on Sunday in the Beldame, won a very big race in the Delaware Hcp and the second in the Personal Ensign was not too bad either.

So if Nashoba\'s Key goes in the Distaff Turf and wins does she win both Eclipse Awards for Older Females. The dirt and grass divisions even though she never actually raced on dirt.

This would be the second year in a row where an Eclipse was awarded to someone who did their best work on a surface other than dirt. Last year it was Wait A While.

This type of vote could be just another extension of the power struggle that is going on where the powers that be that rammed in Polytrack/Synthetic instantly anoint the surface as a replacement for dirt racing in all phases and categories.
When almost any pedigree handicapper or even the horses will tell you it isn\'t.

If you don\'t believe me just ask Lawyer Ron...........

[Wrongly]

Silver Charm

Are you considering the Euros (Peeping Fawn)?  Seems like a big leap to give the F&M Turf to Nashoba\'s Key.

[richiebee]

Wrongly:

I think I ask you every year-- where to go to find out about Euro BC runners?

NTRA BC site very good but I haven\'t seen mention of Euros.

[EJXD2]

Nashoba\'s Key is HANDS DOWN the leader of the older female division.

[Silver Charm]

Perhaps Barry Irwin may want to respond to that.

And if there are any other DRF personnel left that Jerry hasn\'t banned Mike Watchmaker for that matter..............

[Wrongly]

Richie

I\'m sure there\'s other sites but I often read http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/

and the anti-post for odds
http://www.oddschecker.com/horse-racing/ante-post-racing/flat/prix-de-l-arc-de-triomphe

[TGJB]

Just for the record, as far as I know I have only banned one DRF guy, and it was for some really nasty behaviour done not for the benefit of DRF, but for Ragozin. I certainly would not ban Mike Watchmaker. After all, he has the good stash.

[PapaChach]

In addition to sporting life have found these two useful at times -

Racing Post (can get replays for fairly cheap)

globeform (a lot of sales pitches on the site but some worthy items).

[Perfect Drift]

Well... Nashoba\'s Key is pretty fast; and she is the leader of the west coast fillies/mares, but you can\'t be a national leader when you\'ve never run a race outside of SoCal.  Come fly 3,000 miles to MTH and win a 3-turn 11f race against East Coast & Euros, then we\'re talking about a champion.  At this point, she\'s nothing more than a Sky Beauty or Manistique.

[Perfect Drift]

Wrongly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Silver Charm
>
> Are you considering the Euros (Peeping Fawn)?
> Seems like a big leap to give the F&M Turf to
> Nashoba\'s Key.

The Filly and Mare Turf lost some of its international appeal earlier this week when Irish trainer Aidan O\'Brien said that Peeping Fawn was unlikely to start for the rest of the year. A winner of four Group 1 races this year, she was considered a leading candidate for the Prix de l\'Arc de Triomphe against males in Paris on Oct. 7.

[Barry Irwin]

Silver Charm, fyi, in virtually every major racing country, Champions are decided by the official handicapper of The Jockey Club, not by some guy that may have had an excellent \'stache in junior college.

Rankings and rating are too important to the industry to be entrusted to a journalist or newspaper handicapper.

There is a science to this stuff that requires many man hours and a guy in Watchmaker\'s position simply has neither the time nor the tools for the trade.

[Barry Irwin]

Silver Charm, you keep making the mistake of thinking that I am posting in this thread because I have something to do with a leading filly. That is not my interest.

[Barry Irwin]

Watchmaker baits people like you guys in a misguided attempt to generate readership by purposely making absurd selections. He has done it for years. Don\'t take the guy too seriously and stop being so gullible.