AP vs Texas Red in the Travers.
 

Its on!

AP worked 7f today in 123 and change so he's going to the spa to take on Jim dandy winner Texas red and runnerup frosted, has the makings of a great race.

Allan

AP splits were 47.2. 58.4 123.2 out 1 mile in 136.4
Baffert "his bags are packed. Don't sell your Travers seats"
Quoted in Louisville courier journal.

I'm not a workout guru but it looked rather impressive to my novice eye. Horse really moves well.

I think Texas Red is the only authentic competition for AP, and I am pretty sure he can beat him. I guess we shall see.

That's a major league workout.

Texas Red just barely beats Frosted in the Jim Dandy - the same Frosted that AP beat like a rented mule in the Belmont.

We were deprived of the race where Texas Red could have beaten American Pharoah, which was at last year's BC Juvenile.

Now-- um, doesn't look good for Texas Red.

(Having said that, Beholder can definitely beat AP, and I predict AP will duck any race that has Beholder in it until he retires.)

The only view Texas Red is going to have of AP, is going to be his bitten tail...

http://i62.tinypic.com/311ma83.png

Wow, I guess you are really going out on a limb with that last statement. Let's see if we can determine what race that "ducking" might occur in. On Sept. 26th the Awesome Again Stakes is a Grade I on dirt for 3&up. Maybe Beholder will run there next. Wait a minute, I forgot the Zenyatta is also a Grade I run the same day also a with the same purse. Hmm, a real tough decision for Beholder's connections, right. But, hey, why not give Beholder another week's rest and ship across country for the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont. I kind of doubt it. She just beat older male horses, so nothing to gain by that. So I guess that pretty much leaves the Breeders Cup Classic, and if you think American Pharoah's connections are going to "duck" a race with a five million dollar purse your out of your mind. :)

I could totally see AP being pulled out, a la Big Brown a few years back, in advance of the BC Classic with some sort of injury.

Look, Beholder's Beyer figure is legit and her Pacific Classic is a couple of lengths faster than anything American Pharoah has done (and you can also see that by the fact that she left a bunch of older stakes winners in her wake who run faster than the 3 year olds AP has beaten). There's no way that Zayat or Baffert wants to face this mare. I hope to be proven wrong. But I remember enough of Rachel Alexandra ducking Zenyatta (and her fans making excuses for it) to know that this is very easy to pull off.

AP is a completely different horse than BB. The latter was never the same horse after his Belmont, while the former continues to be the most dominant horse in training..

Although Beholder's last race looks visually impressive, she is more of a local here rather than an all around super star and I do not see her able to compete against AP.. More than this, I doubt if she will ever run against him; her connections should instead try one of the easier Breeder's Cup races against her division (frankly, even in this case I do not see it very possible for her to win)...

As I recall, Big Brown looked great in the Haskell, after the Belmont. So he was not "never the same".

As for "local horse", that's ridiculous. Beholder lost the Kentucky Oaks BY A HALF LENGTH TO A REALLY GOOD FILLY. She isn't like Lava Man, who ran up the track every time he ran in a jurisdiction with different doping rules. Beholder is fine outside of California and specifically fine in Kentucky.

I really get a kick out of the stuff that eastern types use to dismiss California horses. Beholder's race on Saturday was better than any race American Pharoah ever ran. If he had run in the Pacific Classic he would have lost to her unless he ran a new top by a couple of lengths.

No, I do not agree... BB's haskel win was very stressful and his last race in the same track was even worse... There are really no similarities to AP, who is indeed becoming better race after race..

As far as B, yes, she lost the Oaks and she also lost when shipped to Belmont, so I do not really understand what exactly you mean when you are saying that she is fine outside California... As i have said before, she is a local hero, who failed twice to win when shipping to a different circuit... What you are saying about here race been better than AP etc, is simply your opinion which is not backed by any substantial evidence, at least not so far...

Is Texas red bred the distance? i never heard of his chilean dam.