@topgunmail, I think your BC Classic picks are spot on!! I have it as So You Think to win, Flat Out to place, and Havre De Grace to show. I'm gonna box that tri-fecta!!
So You Think to win, Flat Out to place, Havre De Grace to show, and box the tri-fecta!! JMO.
I've read a ton of comments, primarily from fan's in Europe, saying that So You Think is over-hyped. Over-hyped, maybe? But not overrated as far as I'm concerned. I'll take this horse's underachievement's any day of the week!! 3 G1 stakes win's in his first season in Europe. Plus, 2 G1 stakes 2nd's at Ascot. Beaten less than a half-length in both races. Not to mention a hugely creditable Arc 4th. Lest we forget, Danedream and Cirrus Des Aigles both set track records in the Arc and Champion Stakes. Now, I believe he has a very legit chance of finishing his 2011 season with a win in the BC Classic here in America, still yet. A lot of people say he's being over-raced. By the time he run's in the Classic, he will have run in the Arc, Champion Stakes, and BC Classic over a 5 week span. Last season in Australia, So You Think won the G1 Cox Plate on 10-23 and the G1 Mackinnon Stakes on 10-30. Both over 1-1/4. Then he finished 3rd, 3 days later, in the G1 Melbourne Cup over 2 miles. That's 3 G1 races in 10 days. So I doubt running 3 G1 races over 5 weeks will effect this horse in the least. TJMO.
@ruhlmann, The same Cirrus Des Aigles who confirmed he's having the best season of his career in 2011 by holding off So You Think by a half-length to win the G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
Sad, sad news!! One of the all-time great American thoroughbred's, indeed!!
@ZenyattaFanatic, AMEN!! I just watched a story on HRTV recently about Ferdinand, and I still get enraged every time I hear them talk about Ferdinand having been sent to slaughter somewhere in northern Japan. Horses that win our Kentucky Derby's and BC Classic's are our national treasures, and deserved to be treated as such. With at the very least, a retirement due a king at the Kentucky Horse Park. Not sent off by the Japanese to be made into dog food. TJMO.
I haven't heard officially one way or the other if Henry Cecil and Prince Khalid Abdullah intend to make the trek to Churchill Downs with Frankel in 3 weeks time for the BC Mile or not? But regardless whether Frankel shows up for the race or not? He's left little doubt that he's the best turf miler in the world by a street this year. If he does show up for the BC Mile? My advise to everyone is to lump on big. Because with no disrespect intended to Goldikova or Freddie Head, Frankel could likely stop halfway through the race to take a p-ss, and still beat Goldikova with a fare bit in hand. TJMO.
When did this come about, all of a sudden? Henry Cecil and Khalid Abdulla have been repeatedly saying for month's that Frankel will not come to Churchill Downs for this year's BC Mile. But that he will race again as a 4yr.old, and may come to Santa Anita for the 2012 Breeders Cup races. That's been Cecil's and Abdullah's stock answer for most of the season when ask about the possibility of Frankel running against Goldikova in this year's BC Mile? Don't get me wrong. I'm happy as can be to be reading this!! I'm just surprised to be reading it. I had already come to the conclusion that Khalid Abdullah's 3yr.old colt in France, Mutual Trust, was likely going to be Juddmonte Farms representative in this year's BC Mile. I can tell you this much. If Frankel does run in the BC Mile? Goldikova's bid for a 4th straight win in the race is all over but the crying!! Because no one is going to beat Frankel at a mile. TJMO.
I'm a little disappointed that Await The Dawn isn't going to get to run in this year's G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot, nor will he likely run in the G1 BC Classic next month at Churchill Downs, either? Would've loved for this horse to have gotten a chance to make amends for his disappointing 3rd place effort in the G1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York back in August. A race where it was found out that Await The Dawn had a very high fever after the race. But you still can't really blame Aidan O'Brien for feeling like So You Think will give the stable a stronger chance of winning both the Champion Stakes and BC Classic than Await The Dawn likely would. But I still believe this horse has a ton of still untapped potential because of still being so lightly raced. I say go ahead and winter Await The Dawn, and bring him back fresh at the beginning of the 2012 season. TJMO.
@medlocke, Danedream has a partial Japanese ownership. Which may have played a big part in the decision to skip the Breeders Cup in favor of the Japan Cup with this filly? That said, I believe Danedream's chances of getting a piece of the $3 million dollar BC Turf or the $2 million dollar BC F&M Turf were a lot better than her chances of getting a piece of the Japan Cup purse will be. Primarily because the European horses who have ventured over to Japan over the past few seasons have found trying to beat the Japanese horses at Tokyo racecourse very difficult. Purple Moon only managed a 9th place finish in the 2008 Japan Cup. 2-time BC Turf winner, Conduit, could only manage a 4th place finish in the 2009 Japan Cup. Several European horses made the journey in 2010. But Cirrus Des Aigles finishing 9th, Joshua Tree finishing 10th, and Dandino finishing 11th was the best finish that any of the European horses could manage in the 2010 Japan Cup. Beating the local Japanese horses in the Japan Cup is quite a difficult challenge, and I'm not certain that Danedream will find it any easier than some of her predecessors have? TJMO.