Carpet Champ trained by gutless trainer......

[jimbo66]

Ok,Congaree and Smalltimer.  

You win.

i take back \"gutless\".  It was too far.  Like I tried to explain I was being intentionally \"over the top\" to provoke some conversation, as we wait about 11 more days for what could be a great day of wagering on Belmont day.

Let\'s say the connections are taking the less ambitious route, which makes this gambler really appreciate what Jess Jackson did with Rachel.

I wrote that post last night right before I went to bed, after reading the roadmap that Shirreffs was laying for the rest of the year and I was really disapointed to see that we will never see Zenyatta in a challenging matchup.  I am still distraught over last year\'s Breeders Cup Distaff, where we would have had the best filly/mare race ever IMO, if that race was on dirt.  Zenyatta, Proud Spell, Ginger PUnch, Hysterical Lady, the Shug filly, the filly from Godolphin, and a few others.  

Great matchups and the associated betting opportunities are really interesting IMO.  And the zenyatta campaign is not going to provide any of either.

[smalltimer]

He\'s a New Yorker, I\'ve heard they eye-gouge, Pearl Harbor, hit below the belt.  In other words, a good warrior uses all weapons at his disposal.  TGJB has lots of weapons.  
We need to start a new thread, this is getting ridiculous.  Sadly, I\'m part of it.

[congaree1]

Have a good day to all, even Jerry!! LOL!

[smalltimer]

Jimbo,
As I said earlier, I\'m perfectly willing to let that go, so we can maybe get onto something more constructive.
Honestly, I\'m going to the BC again this year, but earlier when there was talk about Santa Anita going down and maybe moving the BD to Churchill, I really was excited because it would have put Zenyatta and all the other great fillies on the dirt at Churchill in front of the world for maybe one of the biggest filly races ever.  
I will agree this is the less ambitious route.  
I do have a question though...When I\'m at the BC in the fall, you want me to have John Shirreffs autograph a program for you?  You\'ll know who I am because I\'ll be the guy standing next to John when they load for the Distaff.

[TGJB]

I\'ll let the personal stuff go, you may be the one black belt who actually does try and pick fights, who knows. But the point I made-- and which you didn\'t respond to-- is that all you are doing is making wise cracks. You want handicapping discussion, go ahead and do it.

[P-Dub]

Since I\'m the resident West Coast and Mike Smith apologist, my 2 cents worth. BTW Richie, is it Uncle Buck or P-Dub you were referring to??  I didn\'t have a problem with your post.

Jimbo,

Agree with you for the most part. I also was disappointed that she will run basically the same campaign as last year. I was hoping that after running through that division last year, they would try something a bit more ambitious this year. However, to dismiss her as overrated and on a par with Pepper\'s Pride really diminishes your argument. Its a ridiculous statement for obvious reasons. Leave that nonsense out.  BTW,  didn\'t she dust the previous year\'s BC champion by 6 lengths or so over the dirt at Oaklawn??  I guess that doesn\'t count. Loved the Gobetrotters line, funny.

This mare can run on anything, its just that shes based in California.  Thats not her fault. Since the BC is in California this year, why don\'t some of these fillies/mares ship out west and challenge her?? Yeah I know, its not dirt and the synthetics diminish natural speed. There\'s a built in excuse if they fail and they can try out the surface to see how they handle it.

They were going to run at CD but the track came up off. Not the first time a horse has scratched due to conditions. Anyone can argue all they want whether or not they should have or not, they had the intention of running her. On dirt.

I doubt that Shireffs is the lone voice in this. Hard to imagine that a competitve guy like that wouldn\'t want to run her elsewhere, but he takes his orders from the ones paying the bills. Thats how it works. Have to wonder, if she wasn\'t undefeated would they be so conservative??

Like Smalltimer, I just enjoy watching her race. Carpet, dirt, California, doesn\'t matter. She\'s 5YO and still running.  That should count for something.

[congaree1]

I was trying to be funny Jerry.. I do not picks fights, nor do I like to argue. My apologies..

Jimmy

[P-Dub]

smalltimer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I\'m at the BC in the fall, you want me to have John Shirreffs
> autograph a program for you?  You\'ll know who I am
> because I\'ll be the guy standing next to John when
> they load for the Distaff.

Smalltimer,

I\'ll be there too.  Can I stand next to you??

[TGJB]

No problem. I did look you up, Man, there\'s some big guys posting here. We should challenge Ragozin to a football game.

[TGJB]

Pdub-- Now that was funny.

Listen, Jimbo wasn\'t knocking the mare. He was knocking the way she is being managed. Two different things.

[P-Dub]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No problem. I did look you up, Man, there\'s some
> big guys posting here. We should challenge Ragozin
> to a football game.


He\'ll never be able to figure out what positions to have his guys play. He\'ll look at them all and then he\'ll just use them all lightly as Quarterbacks.

[smalltimer]

Absolutely, you can help me crack jokes and loosen John up just a bit.  Last year, I told him a joke and asked him for his autograph just as they were getting ready to load.  Poor guy was so nervous, you can hardly read him signature.  Lots and lots of pressure on these people at crunch time.
I\'ll be buying you the first cold one Paul.

[smalltimer]

Latest line:

TG Animals   1/9
Ragozin    100/1
CTC          2/1  (heard he\'s a biter)

[smalltimer]

Follow up:
Let me know and I\'ll my son invite some of his friends.  Tom Brady, Ben Watson, Dallas Smith should cover the TG passing game.

[jimbo66]

P-Dub,

Finally a response from the guy I thought was baiting with this thread.....

I expected to hear from you, not Congaree and smalltimer...

She beat Ginger PUnch on dirt and beat her handily.  IT counts and for my money, it is her 2nd best race, behind the BC Win last year.  Even though all the horses she beat in the BC were diminished by the surface, she did beat a quality field.  Having the best dirt horses from the east go out west and race her on carpet is better than nothing, but not the same thing as her traveling a bit and taking on challengers on dirt.  It seems from some of the posts here that Shirreffs is a popular guy on the board, but read the article on DRF.  His words are ugly.  \"When you get closer to Breeders Cup time you don\'t want to ship around too much\".  Huh?  It is Memorial day weekend!!!  The Breeders Cup is 5 months away.  He is worried about her having to ship and return to California and be ready in 5 months?  Gimme a break.  That is a ridiculous statement.  Other horses are shipped to the Middle East and come back and run in a month or two.  Horses ship coast to coast all the time.  He can\'t do it ONCE with this filly?  Is she made of porcelain?