Ok its here, the Breeders cup, the 2nd rate horse racing festival, the world championships of North America?. Mickey Mouse will not be attending due to inclimate weather (his ears may start to sag). This is the thread to say what you think about anything to do with the racing and the participants, anything goes, but if your going to dish it out , be willing take some back. Ok the weather has screwed everthing up. Turf is going to be slow,So i would imagine that GOLDIE wins( only because Shergar has said that with her post draw of #1 she should win, even though he has stated on many occasions that she is not a worthy champ, and never won against a good horse.) There is a good chance that a Canadian horse will win the Blue Goose, a great finisher who will never give up, but never has run on dirt/ mud and kick back could be the down fall. The races the last two day have been at around 18ft out of the inner line, Churchill is a very tight track,(roll on next year Santa Anita) so the turns will be very tight, and with a short final stretch, a jockey needs to get his/hers ride in position coming out of the corner. Uncle Mo will not win. There will be a big surprise in at least two of the turf races. And no European horse will win on the Dirt. So there you go members let the fun and games start at CHURCHILL DOWNS
Goldikova probably will win the Mile, but it is a mickey mouse event, with no horse of real quality in it, the same as it is every year. Goldikova has been the 5th best miler in Europe this season. This would be my pecking order: Frankel Excelebration Canford Cliffs Immortal Verse Goldikova So she is perfectly entitled to win at the Breeders Cup, as none of the superior milers in Europe have gone over to take her on. We all know about the mickey mouse horse's the yanks have, there listed class, and that's being generous. She could win this race 15 times, and it would make no difference to my opinion. The QE2 was the real champion turf miler event, and the 3 best milers in training at the time finished 123. As for the Turf, that's just a mickey mouse version of the Arc, a consolation prize for horse's beaten in the Arc, where once again, the only decent horse's are European, and the American horses in opposition are laughable. The Championship races as far as turf racing is concerned, have already been held in Europe, and no egg and spoon event, in American changes this
For what it's worth I actually hope Goldikova wins the mile, just because I don't rate her ability as a great, I still think she has been very admirable throughout her career, and it would be great to see her retire on a high
Fridays first two races are a joke, why put an allowance optional claiming $62,500 for the first and a $48,000 claimer for the second, for frig sake we have pacers and trotters runnning for that every weekend on the east coast. For newbies of horse racing across the pond as some would say, here is a break down of prize money, for example. Race 8 Blue Goose $20,000 pre enter/$ 40,000 enter $2,000,0000 purse including nominator awards of which 54% to the owner of the winner,18% to the second, 9.9% to third, 6% to fourth, and 3% to fifth, plus stallion nominations awards of 3% to the winner,1% to second,and 0.55% to third and foal nominator awards of 3% winner,1% second 0.55% for third.
Islanderpei........Money is irrelavent, David Beckham and Thierry Henry earn millions more a year, than the top footballers in Europe, playing in the MLS, do you think those 2 (well in there 30s) are better than the top players in Europe? Or do you think the MLS is better than The Premier League or La Liga? It's the same with horse racing, the yanks throw money around, to tempt some top European stars to come over, but like in football, they may tempt a few stars over, but they don't tempt them all over, nor do they tempt the very best over. Hence why Zarkava, Sea The Stars, and now Frankel have not been sent over for the BC
Shergar, Frankel would not win in a month of Sundays at Churchill thats why they kept him on home turf, but they are saying, that they will enter him next year in the breeders, in Santa Anita which is even further west, but as you know all north American tracks are the same, so why would they do this.And to save argument why would they race Frankel next year, surely he is worth more at stud
I really dont care what the likes Shergar says.I love the BC and i always have.USA v Europe.Who doesnt like that kind of competition? And as far as Goldikova winning the mile 15 times and it not making her a better horse.Shergar do you want me to write a list of the top Euro horses who couldnt even win BC race never-mind 3.
Shergar your a betting man what do you think of the chances of Northern Passion in the Blue Goose, no joke
DBF....It is along way to travel for any horse, and ofcourse that can have an affect on a horse, you should know that better than anyone. Goldikova is very admirable, in that she can travel all that way and hold her form. But dont use the defeats of horses like Dancing Brave to try and make out the BC is difficult, you know and I know, that had the Arc winner Dancing Brave shown up, he would have won
No DB didnt turn up.So what about the tons of other top horses.Di they not turn up either?The point im making is it takes a very special horse to turn up and win 3 of these things. Look at the "Rock".Couldnt even win one of those miles.Yes he had difficulties during the race but look at how far back Goldy has had to come to win hers...especially in 2009.Was the opposition a lot worse than when he ran?I dont think so.
Islanderpei.....I was just using an example of another sport, where the yanks throw money around, yet it doesn't mean the standard of competition is higher. Anyways Northern Passion, I've not realy done any real research into this race, I've just looked at it now. The problem I have is that the form is from all over the place. There are 4 horse's in the race who are unbeaten and I would look to them to find the winner. My Miss Aurelian the likely jolly, won a G1 LTO by 5 lenghs, and I would find it difficult to oppose her, as nothing else has form in G1 company like that. Northern Passion has only won a G3, and that was only by a small margin, so she is going to have to find plenty of improvement, to win this, though there 2yos improving all the time, so you couldbt rule anything out, but I would be suprised if she won. The form as I say is from all over the place, so its not realy a race, I would be getting heavily involved with, as there is no way of linking the form lines together, of most of the runners. Good luck though if you do back her
DB......The Rock was just incredibly unlucky, he got stuck behind a wall of horse's, and on these tight tracks, it's not easy to overtake, as a horse is using to much gas, there was also a stupid amount of runners that year, everyone knows that ROG was by along way the best horse in that race, you should understand this being a fan of Dancing Brave, given how he lost in the Derby. Goldikova as I've said is admirable, and very consistent, and I respect her alot for what she has achieved, but I don't rate her as a great, because she has always come up short against the very best in Europe. She has never faced any horses as good as Zarkava, Makfi, Canford Cliffs, Immortal Verse, or Dream Ahead out in America. You have to admit that?
So you just pulled the race and found My Miss Aurelian at 5/2 morning line, her last race was 1mile on dirt in 1.35 Northern Passion did the same on turf. Miss Aurelian is a front runnning horse and when threatened gives up and just about wins Northen passion has great closing speed, coming back from 4to 5 lengths at the 3/4. I'm not saying your wrong but you have missed the dark horse Candrea, likes to come from behind and can also run first sectors good.
Shame about the rain Islander. Long, long time back, when I first saw a water logged US event, I was as surprised as hell.There were even races where they made their way through pools of water. But I didn't get a real insight into what it all means, until I saw the stuff Inglorious copped the in the G1 Alabama at Saratoga. Equipment can be called different things in different parts of the world. We have a head devise that has a sort of "fly mesh" that covers the eyes. We call them Pacifiers. They go along way towards keeping the eyes clear. (sort of.) Will the rain mean that on pace horses will now have a major advantage on all the dirt events? PS. Thanks for the info.
Have they had a lot of rain then? The Euro trainers were saying that they hadn't had very much when they were barred from working on the Turf. I can only assume that they've had a lot more since then. I hope not though because i am no fan of sloppy dirt racing, that's for sure.
