Whats your take on Gio Ponti's career?

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by the little guy

The problem with this thinking is that the single best turf race he has ever run was the 1 3/8 Man O War at Belmont in 2009 ( not his 2010 win ). Plus, all three of his 1 1/4 synth races, the 2009 BC Classic and the last two World Cups, could well be considered his finest efforts. In the Classic, he ran second to arguably the best synth performer ever, in perhaps her finest synth performance, and in both World Cups he was hampered by dramatically slow paces, after not shipping well after travelling half way around the world.

While you can say you like him at those shorter distances, his lifetime pps do not back that up.

The lifetime PP's don't back me up because he seldom ran at those distances I suggested. When he did, like those last two mile races one at Keeneland and the runnerup to Goldikova (arguably the best miler in the world), to my eye looked like superior efforts, with a much better finish.

In the BC classic and the two world cups, they were good efforts, but you're talking about a second, a fourth and a fifth place finish, like I said no disgrace at all. But I feel the second in the BC mile beating everyone but Goldikova was even better.

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

The lifetime PP's don't back me up because he seldom ran at those distances I suggested. When he did, like those last two mile races one at Keeneland and the runnerup to Goldikova (arguably the best miler in the world), to my eye looked like superior efforts, with a much better finish.

In the BC classic and the two world cups, they were good efforts, but you're talking about a second, a fourth and a fifth place finish, like I said no disgrace at all. But I feel the second in the BC mile beating everyone but Goldikova was even better.

Getting overly caught up in where horses actually finished, as a specific ordering, when judging performances is a mistake in my opinion, and find it hard to believe his last win at Keeneland, at one mile, can realistically be considered close to as good as the three 1 1/4 synth races mentioned.

To each his own but I would take a MUCH closer look at his Keeneland race, from dynamics to who finished second.

[ukbro00]

From a financial standpoint, it makes no sense to retire him now. He is 100% sound, and can easily get another $1,000,000+ this year by running in the same races he ran in last year.

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by ukbro00

From a financial standpoint, it makes no sense to retire him now. He is 100% sound, and can easily get another $1,000,000+ this year by running in the same races he ran in last year.

I don't think " easily " is fair for a 6YO that won't even start again until the middle of June at the earliest.

[lamboguy]

he ran a great race yesterday, we will have to see how much weight he loses on the back and forth trip to see when he comes back.

[joanied]

Lots of good opinions and observations of Gio P. IMO, I beleive if he'd had that prep for the DWC, he would have ran better...everytime they mentioned the surface in an interview or during odds talk, it was said the track was very tiring, one person, I think Baffert, said it was 'gooey"...so between no prep and a tiring surface, really no surprise...he he did run well enough to take a piece of the purse.
I'm crazy about this colt, and I hope they do continue with him this year...I also would not consider him a horse that hangs, just a horse that's had some bad luck in both race set ups and who he's finished 2nd to...as in the likes of Goldikova and Zenyatta...no shame in that!!

[FlowerEssence]

I wonder if they were also trying for more exposure as an international stud stud prospect with Gio. As a son of Tale of the Cat, he doesn't have as much value as a stud prospect here as he would elsewhere. Lion Heart getting shipped off probably alarmed them.

[joanied]

I wouldn't hesitate to breed a mare to him (if she was a good match)...he's great looking...well balanced, is,IMO, quite versital in surface & distance, and he's sound...I'm not a big fan of Tale of the Cat, but I'll excuse Gio P on that count!!