having had time to look at the race again and read various comments,ive think ive got a new,well sort of new theory about workforce
workforce himself as won both the arc and derby(and maiden win) when he went into the lead at the final furlong.those 3 races had large fields which enabled him to have lots of cover now ,in small fields he as now either failed to get to the lead(dante,king george) or gone to the lead too soon(eclipse).in the brigader gerald stakes ,he had a nice lead well into the last furlong also.but in that race he was only racing with 6 other horses and was taking a keen hold which may of been caused by lack of cover.
i thought this during the week about him but becuase other factors seemed the reason for his losses i dismissed it but im now wondering again if he simply needs the large fields to give him cover and which also garrantues he is not left in front too soon.
im not taking nothing away from SYT ,but i imagined confront setting a good pace,not mad,and gradually increasing the tempo to about 2-3f where he would fade and then the battle would commence,but workforce for me was in front way too soon and was a target for hefferman.hefferman didnt seem also in a hurry to go after workforce when he kicked on 3f out ,suggesting he knew workforce had gone too soon and all he had to do was wait for the 2f pole then get after him.
i was there in 2003 when falbrav won,my heart was in my mouth though as holland pressed the button about 2 1/2f from home and his stride was shortening inside the last 100yds,you just cannot go to early at that course with its stiff finish,like ascot where so you think was shortening inside the last 1/2 furlong to be caught.in many ways workforce ran like SYT did at ascot.
i believe the bc turf is a better target then the arc for SYT.he as that quickening speed to come of the last bend with a short run-in to win a race like that.think also he would win the irish champion back in his own back yard.
the king george would be tricky.both stoute and godolphin would want a strong pace in that and i seriouly think SYT would not win over 1m4f of a fast pace and both stoute and godolphin would use pacemakers.you stick 2 pacemakers in from different stables and 1 is garrantued not to fluff his lines.
to me both workforce,rewilding and SYT are as good as each other,top class animals that i rate equally, but are but its those small differences at the top level that means winning or losing.