i am sick of Tacitus

[Spalding No!]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

I hope he is back in the Woodward or Whitney or both.

He should be in both if he stays in form. Only excuse would be if he ran somewhere else instead.

In 1997, Skip Away won the Suburban and ran in both the Whitney and the Woodward PLUS ran in the Iselin at Monmouth in between those 2...

...and that was with figure darling Formal Gold in all 4 races.

[cj]

Originally Posted by Spalding No!

He should be in both if he stays in form. Only excuse would be if he ran somewhere else instead.

In 1997, Skip Away won the Suburban and ran in both the Whitney and the Woodward PLUS ran in the Iselin at Monmouth in between those 2...

...and that was with figure darling Formal Gold in all 4 races.

Figure darling? Forgetting figures, he was pretty damn good. He destroyed Skip Away in his last three races.

[Spalding No!]

Originally Posted by cj

Figure darling? Forgetting figures, he was pretty damn good. He destroyed Skip Away in his last three races.

No doubt; one of my favorite horses. He might have also registered the top Beyers for any horse in its first 3 career starts.

Just wanted to make sure that those only using figures knew he was a good horse if they didn't remember or know the name.

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by Spalding No!

No doubt; one of my favorite horses. He might have also registered the top Beyers for any horse in its first 3 career starts.

Just wanted to make sure that those only using figures knew he was a good horse if they didn't remember or know the name.

No self respecting racing fan doesn't know of the awesome talent that was Formal Gold. Clearly some non-self respecting ones do as well.

On another note, not that it makes a big difference, but when he and Skip Away, perhaps the most remarkable horse of the relatively modern era, ran in all four of those races, Skip Away likely added the Jockey Club Gold Cup as well, the Woodward was run at least a week later I believe.

[jimmyb]

Watched Skip Away and Formal Gold tangle In the Massachusetts Handicap putting put on the most thrilling stretch run I've seen live. Skip Away was a better horse with Jerry Bailey IMO.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by the little guy

No self respecting racing fan doesn't know of the awesome talent that was Formal Gold. Clearly some non-self respecting ones do as well.

On another note, not that it makes a big difference, but when he and Skip Away, perhaps the most remarkable horse of the relatively modern era, ran in all four of those races, Skip Away likely added the Jockey Club Gold Cup as well, the Woodward was run at least a week later I believe.

Skip Away ran two awesome races at Hollywood Park, and I saw both of them. He was wonderful.

And for that reason, though I never saw Formal Gold ran, I always respected him. Because while he didn't have the long list of accomplishments Skip Away did, he had to be super-good to beat him repeatedly when Skippy was at the top of his game.

[GMB@BP]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

Skip Away ran two awesome races at Hollywood Park, and I saw both of them. He was wonderful.

And for that reason, though I never saw Formal Gold ran, I always respected him. Because while he didn't have the long list of accomplishments Skip Away did, he had to be super-good to beat him repeatedly when Skippy was at the top of his game.

great day that was, wont forget it. I was only at the BC day.

[classhandicapper]

Ah, the late 90s. The era before Beyer figures for Grade 1 horses magically started shrinking and ultimately leveled off about 6 or more points lower all while Thorograph was saying horses were getting faster and faster.

Ducks and runs!

[Tom]

He had a good excuse today.....a horse was in front of him!

Well, it was a pretty strong Grade 3 race.

ba dum.

Winner came out the race looking really good.
The rest came out of the race.

Probably didn't really need to run the Woodward this year, but at least it showed one horse with some kind of promise.

Wonder if the Derby gets a higher Beyer?

[dilanesp]

3 to 5! Ouch! More money went into the incinerator.

He sure knows how to hang.

[classhandicapper]

The Woodward was another example of what I've been saying.

If you "want to" make another excuse for Tacitus you can. You can say the pace was slow and he was forced into the uncomfortable chaser role. That's not an ideal setup for him. But that's not a realistic analysis. It's the way a fan thinks.

The difference between a horse like Tacitus and a legitimate high level Grade 1 horse is that the latter has the reserves in the tank to overcome a less than ideal trip against inferior opponents. Those are the horses that pile up wins and the kind of overall record that makes them stand out. Even when the figures are similar, the horses are not.

A legitimate Grade 1 horse would have stalked a horse like Global Campaign and won despite being out if its perfect comfort zone.

Tacitus is a very nice horse that's had some legitimate bad luck, but he hasn't developed much since last spring and is not good enough to compete at the highest level at this stage in his career.

[burnsy]

I totally agree Class. And I thought he would win yesterday’s race. The fact he didn’t shows all the weaknesses he has as you stated. The difference between him and a horse like Maximum Security is Max refuses to stop running even when he’s put in the chasing position which is every other trip he gets..... but still wins. Tacitus does not have that killer instinct to prevail in him. You can’t win every time. But He falls flat at a short price way too often. Some make it seem like you are being mean by pointing out the truth.... this horse has “win” issues.....but is continually bet

[VeryOldMan]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

3 to 5! Ouch! More money went into the incinerator.

He sure knows how to hang.

This ongoing thread was literally the first thing I thought of after Incinerator, er, Tacitus crossed the finish line second yet again

[clicknow]

Originally Posted by Tom

He had a good excuse today.....a horse was in front of him!

Thank you........belly laughing here.

[Robert Fischer]

Rooting for him to get his G1 today, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.