between the signs/signals you mention, and the tough post, and the dream trip of the :1: up to that point, ... - I thought he was getting beaten today.

Looked like a different animal than these once they hit the stretch. I think we knew that coming in (based on Greatest Honours previous races and Holy Bull), but it's not easy to beat a loose&inside speed going 8.5 @ GP.

Therein lies the key to this horse.....

It's hard to tell on TV, but he looked like a long sleek horse to me yesterday. Some horses prefer running outside, but the wider you go the less sharp the turn too. Maybe he's the type that will love Belmont.

Beyer came back a weak 89.
My figs have the race under par as well, but it was the only two turn dirt race on the card.
Also, two races at 1m on dirt were hand timed (one of them being the Gr2 Davona Dale) with no fractional splits...so who really knows what the actual time of this race was ???

GP timing is still a joke

I really don't care about the speed figure, given how visually impressive this was.

11:30 on the video
Randy actually gives out the big 50/1 Winner :1: Wholebodemeister??

WTF!?

Great call. :jump:
Wish I had played that.

(Paraphrase) "I want to try to beat Vequist. I start with one of the horses ":1: Wholebodemeister I'm taking a little bit of a flyer with the :1:... I think he's going to forwardly placed and might get the distance... troubled starts etc... Zayas stays on... "

Great Call. Wow! Totally dismissed that horse, but was the key to (the mint in r12!) and a 50cent Pick-4 sequence that paid $782 on a ticket where most people singled the Fountain of Youth Winner :8: Greatest Honour.

Yeah, imo this was one of the situations where when he crossed the finish line he was still loaded with energy. It's not so much that he could have run faster if he wasn't eased in the last few strides. It's that if he had gotten going sooner he probably still would have finished just as well and run a faster final time. IMO, there's a little more in the tank than an 89.

Went in ultra-respectful of a chalk who not only appeared far superior, but who figured to benefit from the flow. With a Maclean's Music in front and most of the field sporting speed-oriented pp's, why would you even want that winner anywhere near the early pace?

I do confess to considerable (and apparently misplaced) interest in the 7 horse given the near certainty of more patient tactics.

Do you know what Essential Quality got

He got a 96 Beyer

Despite the high marks visually, enthusiasm should be tempered not only by low BSF (although for this crop it seems decent for the time being) but also, as you suggested, by the fact that his main rival was stretch out sprinter. In that respect, perhaps Greatest Honour was able to gear down late simply because the rest of the field toiled late.

He clearly has superior stamina (not shocking given his pedigree) but again to temper the visual impression he gave in the last 100 yards, the horse was toiling as they entered the far turn, despite being under heavy pressure. The Sano horse went by him like he was standing still. Perhaps he's a colt that isn't agile enough on the turns and/or needs to be outside, but that isn't going to help matters at Churchill (or Pimlico for that matter). That said, he didn't seem to have trouble moving on the turn in the Holy Bull.

The other two contenders in the FOY were turf horses biding their time until the big money grass races this summer. Prime Factor probably has talent based on his debut, but he has labored in his 2 subsequent starts; I wouldn't be surprised to see him a victim of the Black Hole of Winstar after this race. With the 2 Godolphin colts (Prevalence and the indecipherably named horse of Pletcher's that bucked his shins after winning the Mucho Macho Man) on the shelf, the group in Florida is somewhat suspect. I guess the Tampa-based ones still deserve consideration along with Known Agenda (who beat Greatest Honour previously).

Two races were hand timed? :rolleyes:

Welcome to 2021.....

I'm not super-high on the winner. At least not yet. And scoring geared -down means very little to me.


Did you notice, btw, an odd structuring of the second wgt allowance?

No; looks like they consolidated the conditions from previous renewals and added an incentive for state-breds; what was the significance?

I didn't understand all the hype post race on Greatest Honour...........he was floundering on the turn -But the horses on the lead were sprinters who stopped .... That's why he got back in the race--- it looked great visually because he went by easily --But he wasn't moving that fast because the race was simply falling apart......I knew the number would come back slow......I love Shug and respect him-----But i will be betting against in his next race at short price !