3 year old of the year

[bisket]

I did read that Mage’s connections mentioned he was getting aggressive in his training before the Travers. Then he bolted from the gate with the pace leaders in the Travers. The jock took him back off the pace, and he never was a factor after that. I thought he could probably use another race to settle him down, but they’re training up to the Classic. I can’t put a line through him at this point, but I don’t know that I would bet him in a few months.

[cj]

Originally Posted by bisket

I did read that Mage’s connections mentioned he was getting aggressive in his training before the Travers. Then he bolted from the gate with the pace leaders in the Travers. The jock took him back off the pace, and he never was a factor after that. I thought he could probably use another race to settle him down, but they’re training up to the Classic. I can’t put a line through him at this point, but I don’t know that I would bet him in a few months.

If he's training up to the Classic off that race, I can definitely put a line through him.

[burnsy]

They tried to say the Haskell was a prep too . For Mage . Forte and Mage didn’t look good at all . Right from the gate . But Mage tries to run along side Arcangelo mid way thru. It’s no contest . Watch the replay . This horse looks about as good as it gets . If Arcangelo takes another step forward . He’s deadly . If that happens I’m confident there’s not a horse around that can beat him on dirt at a Classic distance. I’m always hesitant about the Belmont . They’ll never run that again. But at the Classic distance . Right now . He looked like a Cadillac. I don’t care what people say . No one has run like that this year at the distance .
Even in the Paddock pre race , this horse is a good one . Arrogate jr right now .

[bisket]

Originally Posted by burnsy

They tried to say the Haskell was a prep too . For Mage . Forte and Mage didn’t look good at all . Right from the gate . But Mage tries to run along side Arcangelo mid way thru. It’s no contest . Watch the replay . This horse looks about as good as it gets . If Arcangelo takes another step forward . He’s deadly . If that happens I’m confident there’s not a horse around that can beat him on dirt at a Classic distance. I’m always hesitant about the Belmont . They’ll never run that again. But at the Classic distance . Right now . He looked like a Cadillac. I don’t care what people say . No one has run like that this year at the distance .
Even in the Paddock pre race , this horse is a good one . Arrogate jr right now .

Watching the race I thought Arcangelo was playing with them. Lol one minute Javy is 2nd then in the backstretch he’s fourth. Then he makes that devastating 4 wide move on the turn, changes leads and buh bye top of the stretch. Javy is a marked man in the Classic. Arcangelo overcomes that… 🙏🙏 thanks for keeping the bloodline…

[Brass Hat]

I was watching Mage's warm-up on the track before the race; the jockey was galloping him at a good clip as if trying to burn off extra energy. I thought that was a good sign and the price was better than Arcangelo and Forte....WRONG!

[bisket]

Originally Posted by Brass Hat

I was watching Mage's warm-up on the track before the race; the jockey was galloping him at a good clip as if trying to burn off extra energy. I thought that was a good sign and the price was better than Arcangelo and Forte....WRONG!

I don’t think he’s trained hard enough. Most of these horses have been training since November, December, or January. They put him away after The Preakness, and I don’t think he’s fit now. I thought maybe another race would take the edge off and maybe he’d settle down in the Classic. Nope they took him back to that training center in Kentucky. Some of the others haven’t raced regularly, but they’ve been training regularly.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by burnsy

They tried to say the Haskell was a prep too .

If your horse is always prepping, then you never have any responsibility to get your horse to run a good race.