Quote:
Originally Posted by Spalding No!
It's actually not that compelling and more of a statistical acrobatic feat than anything else. A lot of those horses that 'failed' to win 4 Grade 1s at 10 furlongs didn't because they were busy winning races at 12, 13, and even 16 furlongs as 10 furlongs was only considered a middle distance...as it still is in Europe...then.
Would Forego or Buckpasser or Damascus have failed to win the JCGC or Woodward if those races were 10 furlongs back in the day?
John Henry won between 10-14 furlongs 7 times in 1980, 8 times in 1981, and 6 times in 1984; but Accelerate trumped him in 2018? Laughable.
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Well John Henry had 4 great years. Very few horses do.
But there were plenty of 1 1/4 mile races back in the day, and horses ran more often. So it wasn't THAT hard to win 4 1 1/4 mile races. (For instance, while the JCGC wasn't 1 1/4 miles, Belmont often had a 1 1/4 mile race in the fall, whether it was the Woodward or the Marlboro. And the Suburban was a bigger deal back then, and was always 1 1/4 miles on or around July 4. The Gulfstream Park Handicap was a significant race at 1 1/4 miles too. And there were 1 1/4 mile turf races like the Arlington Million as well.)
Spalding, I will admit one thing. One of the reasons I really hate giving HOTY to Justify is I dislike what he represents. He didn't run as a 2 year old, ran 6 times, did just enough to get into the history books, and then was retired with a minor injury that should have never resulted in his retirement.
So yes, I want to punish the owners in any way possible. Accelerate had a year that I am sure you would concede would win HOTY in most years, so that's fine, he's a good vehicle. But I think Justify's owners are shameful.
I *don't* think Justify's injury was trumped up-- it is more like "almost all horses have minor injuries that could be used as an excuse to retire the horse if you can make $60 million, so they found one". And I don't think allegations of routine doping against Baffert have been proving. He is a great trainer who did a great job with Justify.
It's just that Justify, to me, represents everything that is wrong with horse racing. Do just enough to get stud value, and then retire and deny the public the opportunity to see him run. It sucks.
