ROTW: "It's time to make the Triple Crown longer than five weeks."

[Rick B.]

It\'s one thing when Joe Weekend Horseplayer says this -- it\'s quite another
when is comes out from a top horseracing industry source, essentially the same
as if on Thoro-Graph letterhead.

WOW.

Let the Great Debate officially begin.

[Silver Charm]

Wonder of he will say the same thing in the Papers in that Analysis. Nothing like a little Sex Appeal or Controvery to make a name for oneself.....

[phil23]

Yes, god forbid he\'s espousing it because he actually cares about the welfare of the animals.

[Silver Charm]

Tell that to Andy Beyer. He says the Preakness date cant be changed because it would be after the beginning of Boating season in Baltimore.

[phil23]

The dinosaurs in hockey claim that things can never change either (larger nets/make the trap illegal) and their game is dying a 4.5 Over/Under per game slow death.  But at least no one actually dies.

The dinosaurs in racing do not have that...ahem...luxury.

[Lost Cause]

phil23 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The dinosaurs in hockey claim that things can
> never change either (larger nets/make the trap
> illegal) and their game is dying a 4.5 Over/Under
> per game slow death.  But at least no one actually
> dies.
>
> The dinosaurs in racing do not have
> that...ahem...luxury.


Hockey never appealed to me as a sport watching it on TV but one day someone took me to a game and after watching the game I came to say it was by far the best sport to watch live..Others have the same thoughts about non-appealing thoughts about Horseracing but if they actually ever learn to handicap ad play the game there is no way they would be playing slot machines instead...

[TGJB]

For the record I went into this with Kerrison at length, he didn\'t use it, at least in the Post article that ran today.

[phil23]

LC- yes certainly agree there.  Live hockey biggest difference in sport from the tv version.

[phil23]

Your distinguished competition agrees with you on this one.

"It's a mistake to run him back in the Belmont, but there's nothing Doug can do; they are trying to win the Triple Crown."

http://goo.gl/inArG

[plasticman]

It comes down to the idea that the owner of the Derby winner does have a choice to skip the Preakness. Has anyone just \'skipped\' the Preakness with the Derby winner or is there some actual United States law that says you have to run? There\'s probably NOT a law, but you wouldnt know it by the actions of Derby winning owners.

[JR]

Boating season in Baltimore never ends. At least that\'s what they tell their wives.

[JR]

Spend a Buck. But that was for reasons other than the welfare of the horse.

[P-Dub]

plasticman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It comes down to the idea that the owner of the
> Derby winner does have a choice to skip the
> Preakness. Has anyone just \'skipped\' the Preakness
> with the Derby winner or is there some actual
> United States law that says you have to run?
> There\'s probably NOT a law, but you wouldnt know
> it by the actions of Derby winning owners.


Considering that the vast majority of Preakness winners have come out of the Kentucky Derby, why wouldn\'t they??

I would also say that many Derby winners, if not winning the Preakness, have run very well.

There may not be a law stating you have to run in the Preakness, but you haven\'t offered any reasons why a horse shouldn\'t.

[kencbs]

Also Gato del Sol.  Rested him for the Belmont 5 weeks later.  But he got smoked by a horse who won the Met Mile by 7 lenghts 5 days earlier.  Funny game at times.

Ken

[plasticman]

Because a 2 week turnaround might not be good for the horse in the long run? Sure, plenty of Derby winners won the Preakness, but horses like Charismatic might have had longer careers if they didnt come back 2 weeks after the derby. Im fairly certain that the connections of Charismatic would have preferred to race him thru his 3 year old year and not retire after the Belmont.