RIP Arrogate

[dilanesp]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheBigASt...35262689779715

[CheckMark]

WHAT!

Baffert getting the bad luck now ever since his his scandals
RIP Arrogate

[classhandicapper]

Wow, that's a bad loss if true.

[GMB@BP]

Thats a rough one.....I have a signed print by Baffert and Mike Smith in my office.

[cj]

Confirmed:

https://www.juddmonte.com/news/2020/020620Arrogate.aspx

[Tom]

ad, he was so young.....him Travers - just an awesome performance!

And his World Cup.....Shut UP!

[Mulerider]

Horrible news. RIP, Arrogate.

[dilanesp]

YouTube

[GaryG]

When he was at his best he was "one of the ones". RIP Arrogate, you were a true champion.

[Spalding No!]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkj3jtY-RPY

Victor Espinoza's ride on California Chrome that day was more valuable to Bob Baffert than any of his rides on American Pharoah.

Worse ride than Kent D. on Premium Tap in the Dubai World Cup in 2007.

[Wiley]

His World Cup race was as impressive a performance as you will ever see. Had an amazing stride when right, really gobbled up the ground. He was a rarity in that he wired the Travers in track record time and then was able to come from the clouds to win the World Cup.

Thought he would have relished a mile and a half and too bad he missed the Belmont Stakes.

Sorry to hear this news. RIP

[Spalding No!]

Originally Posted by Wiley

His World Cup race was as impressive a performance as you will ever see.

I've never understood the World Cup performance ranking as an all-time effort. He was bothered and pinched at the break, losing about a length but still managed to be in stride very quickly.

Ferdinand and especially Alysheba had much more trouble at the start in their respective Kentucky Derby victories.

The Travers, though, that was something.

[Wiley]

Originally Posted by Spalding No!

I've never understood the World Cup performance ranking as an all-time effort. He was bothered and pinched at the break, losing about a length but still managed to be in stride very quickly.

I take it from him being put into a new and adverse race situation which he overcame in a big way.
Ate a lot of dirt, raced wide throughout, on a track that generally favors speed and ran down a pretty nice horse in Gun Runner like it was nothing, finishing in race horse time.

My opinion of course, just as yours is on Ferdinand and Alysheba's Derbys, but both of those horses were more closing types, so breaking slow to me did not mean as much.

A lot of horses don't fair too well when taken out of their element, War Emblem's Belmont when he had a similar start comes to mind.

[Profesor]

Whatever needle Bob BFrt puts into these horses to makes them run so fast sure doesn't do anything to enhance their long-term health.

[Spalding No!]

Originally Posted by Wiley

I take it from him being put into a new and adverse race situation which he overcame in a big way. Ate a lot of dirt, raced wide throughout, on a track that generally favors speed and ran down a pretty nice horse in Gun Runner like it was nothing, finishing in race horse time.

Fair points but he wasn't facing much outside Gun Runner and he had already dusted that one by 15 lengths in the Travers. Thunder Snow won the UAE Derby from mid-pack so the track certainly wasn't carrying speed the way it did in 2018.

My opinion of course, just as yours is on Ferdinand and Alysheba's Derbys, but both of those horses were more closing types, so breaking slow to me did not mean as much.

All 3 horses were handy, push-button horses rather than closing types; they relaxed well in the early stages if asked and were often contending for the lead by the 1/2 mile pole in many of their respective starts.

Arrogate, were it not for the rail draw, might have ended up off the pace in the Travers as he was 3rd or 4th early going into the first turn before emerging with the lead when his pace rivals went wide. In all his subsequent races he relaxed nicely on a long rein.

Ferdinand was squeezed and shuffled back all the way to last from his rail position well after a furlong in the Derby; arguably much more difficult to recover at that stage than immediately after the break.

Alysheba was absolutely butchered from the 3-hole, also after more than a furlong, and McCarron had strangle him back to avoid catastrophe falling far out of contention early. Later in the stretch, Bet Twice wandered right in front of him when he was in full stride and he clipped heels dangerously but lost no real momentum and won the race.

A lot of horses don't fair too well when taken out of their element, War Emblem's Belmont when he had a similar start comes to mind.

War Emblem stumbled badly and went to his knees at the start; much more disastrous than Arrogate's slow break and squeeze. That aside, War Emblem was probably already out of his element running in a 12-furlong race in the first place.