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Originally Posted by GMB@BP
Would you put say Bellamy Roads performance in the Wood in that category?
Most of these horses are odds on or at the very least well backed. (Authentic was third choice, Justify was odds on in just about every race he ran, and they were all very fast efforts (including his maiden against no one when there is no reason to use some super chemical).
Baffert is cheating, most are, he is just better at it than most with better stock. I dont think there is any comparison though with the chemicals that Service used and those that Baffert uses. His horses often hold form for many races and there are very few 1 off efforts or horses running 50 beyers and now run 100's.
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Baffert's approach to the business has changed over the years. Not that he wasn't always trying to win the big races but now it seems like he is only trying to get 10 or 12 races out of his best horses. He wants to win a few big two-year-old races and then get them ready for the triple crown. Justify only ran 6 times. American Pharoah 11 times. Arrogate 11 times. Years ago he had horses that were lasting longer. I'm not so sure that horses like Silver Charm and Real Quiet were juiced like the horses he's had in the last several years.
With whatever he's giving them, he doesn't have to worry as much about inconsistent form or hurting the horse's siring ability because he's only going to race them a handful of times.
Personally, I don't think most of the trainers that have a lot of classy horses in their barns are cheating. Pletcher's horses run the way horses are supposed to run, if they get used in a fast pace, they slow down in the last quarter. In the top 10 this year, the most obvious cheats besides Baffert are Brad Cox, Diodoro, and Broberg, but they are more like raceway trainers.
