dirt racing becoming an afterthought
 

at least at Gulfstream this week

Wednesday: 1 race carded for dirt
Thursday: 2 races carded for dirt
Friday: 4 races carded for dirt
Saturday: 2 races carded for dirt
Sunday: 1 race carded for dirt

racing in general is relying too much on grass/synthetic, IMO.

within 10 years you will see horses winning triple crown races from places like Germany and Japan.

No you won’t

with this very weak batch of 3 year olds we have this year
 

it could well be 2023's story - we don't have a monopoly on horse racing here, some may not quite get that of course being stuck in NYC tunnel vision

I think it can be confidently said that a foreigner won't win the Derby this decade. Ky Derby is a whole different world from winning a Breeders Cup race.

The program for 3 year olds before May elsewhere around the world is very limited. There are many ways here to get to the starting gate First Saturday in May, whether CA, FL, NY, AR, etc. Whereas any international horses will have to beat the clearly inferior horses in their country then basically allowance types in the UAE Derby. That does not get you close to ready for primetime on Derby Day.

Dirt races don't fill

One of my very favorite things about pathetic haters like you is your ability to say stupid things simply in an attempt, attempts that consistently fall flat, to insult me.

....because trainers with proven dirt horses aren't stabling there, they know the opportunities to enter, and race, are limited.

I think Japan will win the Kentucky Derby at some point in time. They've invested heavily in doing as much.

Just last year, Crown Pride was a solid entry, and went off at 18/1. A very valuable lesson was learned; in that trying to run American horses off their feet isn't the way to win a 10F Classic race in the states. A complete reverse of 'lessons learned' with Lani in 2016 that was a grinder that looked to pass tiring horses and simply never had enough speed to seriously contend.

While Crown Pride and his fellow non-American entry-mate in Summer Is Tomorrow rolled off ridiculous splits to set up the crazy winner in Rich Strike, they did show their talent.

With those ridiculous splits that compromised many a good horse, Crown Pride finished just behind one of our best horses in training in Taiba.

Since the KD, Crown Pride has rolled off 3 consecutive 2nd place finishes. Will be interesting to see if he shows up in the Dubai or Saudi Cup races coming up in the next couple of months.

Once a horse start failing on dirt, you can always try him on turf where the competition tends to be a little weaker (at least in the US) and he'll probably stay sound longer too. A lot of horses fail on dirt. ;)

Did Bob Baffert retire or did they extend his suspension? ;)

and then when they show they don't have any talent for the turf either, you can run them in turf sprints.

:ThmbUp:

Thought Crown Pride's performance was strong, and better than his finishing position.

Coming into the '22 Derby, I gave Summer is Tomorrow a chance to win, and I respected Crown Pride. I thought Summer is Tomorrow would give them a run for their money on the lead, but did not expect Crown Pride to join them. I knew Taiba was a win contender (and I think his performance was also better than his finishing position).
Completely missed the scenario of a pace collapse. With Taiba and Summer is Tomorrow opinion combined much higher than the public (and I'm sure it would be easy to find a bunch of horseplayers who think Summer is Tomorrow was terrible even after the race), and Epicenter, and then possibly others (Messier? Brad Cox? etc...) near the pace... I should have forseen it at least as a possible scenario.
I had doubles and gimmicks to Summer is Tomorrow, I used Mo Donegal, but I should have included Barber Road and Rich Strike on some O/D dd etc.

Crown Pride went too, the biggest priced closer happened to win, and hindsight is 20/20.

I definitely saw a pace meltdown, and had Mo Donegal as my Derby winner last year. Got nearly the same trip as RS, but when RS got the inside, MD went outside and fought and banged with Barber Road the entire stretch. Thankfully got half my $ back in the Belmont. :D

When you are playing deep closers in a 20 horse field, things need to almost fall perfect in order to win. For Rich Strike, and the jock on board in Sonny Leon, all the perfect things and decisions happened. Street Sense, Giacomo, Mine That Bird, Rich Strike, Orb. While Orb and Street Sense were wagered more heavily, they all needed things to fall their way as well.

As for Crown Pride, I still fully believe that is a very good horse. Certainly a horse that was a solid contender in last year's Kentucky Derby.

Japan will send more of the same, if not better. One of them is going to win it.