Barclay Tagg's comments on NoBiz
 

“The problem with the Mile is that even if he wins he won't get the accolades he deserves,” said trainer Barclay Tagg. “English Channel or whoever wins the Breeders' Cup Turf will probably be voted turf champion, and he's not going to be three-year-old champion, so what does he really have to gain by running in the Mile?”

making excuses or does he have valid point..

does anybody actually care who wins the Eclipse awards? If he wins the BC Mile that's accolades enough!!

The problem is he isn't fast enough to win the BC Mile.

Thought he looked great Sat, but brushing off the BC Mile seems extreme..

He has not faced G1 company on the Grass yet, correct?

No comment.

He's right. No need for a grueling race if there is nothing on the line. Yeah you can say it's still money to win....but he can pick up some easy money and a graded stakes at Hollywood Park next month.

Actually I do have a comment.

Looking at John Henry's PPs just magnifies how pathetic the owners and trainers of today are. They should be ashamed to call themselves horsemen.

Is PointGiven1985 ghostwriting for Haskin these days?

I think Shakespeare would crush him as would After Market and Crossing the Line, I don't think he could even beat Out of Control, Tagg is getting a bit ahead of himself if he thinks he had that race in the bag.

No Biz wouldnt even hit the board in the Mile. I dont mind Tagg skipping the Mile. I think it would be a silly attempt. Like others have said, there are softer spots and plenty of money to earn

where arm meets chair
 

he isn't a miler

I wouldn't enter someone just for the sake of saying he was running on the big day. Then again my last name isn't Valando or Tagg.


:cool:

Just to put things in perspective, Tagg skipped the Mile with Showing Up off a similar campaign and he would have rated at least TWICE the chance of Nobiz in the Mile.

Tagg doesn't either. That's one of the many things that makes him a great trainer/horseman.

$1200000 winners purse

Tough ****, Barclay. YOU made the decision to run him on dirt half the year as well as the decision to run him against strictly three-year-olds all season, making him all but ineligible for any grass or three-year-old honors. And now instead of going in the BCM, where, with a good showing, he would actually start to deserve and receive some of the "accolades" you think people are denying him, you're going elsewhere. Either run him or don't, but don't make it seem like people are shortchanging the horse.

i think barclay tagg is underestimating the astuteness of many racing fans, who give most winners their due when they win a big one.

what he meant to say was i'm looking for softer competition than what he would face in the mile, and we will pad his resume and wallet against lesser horses than what he would face at monmouth.

Does anyone remember who won the Eclipse award last year? It was an unheralded longshot in the MIle named Miesque's Approval. If Nobiz were to win the race and some crazy longshot won the Turf, he absolutely could be named champion. Tagg did the same thing last year with Showing Up. Just baffling.

Paul

While I won't attempt to decipher what exactly Barclay Tagg said or meant because deciphering "trainerspeak" is more difficult than reading Nietzsche, I think the assumptions that Tagg is skipping the Mile because he is afraid of the competition he may face are a tad faulty.

Nobiz beat the hell out of a good group of horses on Saturday, specifically Red Giant who had enjoyed a PERFECT trip. He rolled by RG, and showed a terrific new dimension, which was to rate well off the pace and finish strongly.

Maybe I'm alone in thinking that the Jamaica was a far, far better performance than we had ever seen from Nobiz. That being said, I'm not Barclay Tagg and am also not privy to his thoughts, so I don't know why he's not running in the Mile.

NT

Joe,

That's not entirely fair to Tagg who received unending meddling from Mrs. Valando who reportedly was driving him nuts. He told Haskin way back that he wanted to get Nobiz on the grass but she insisted on a Classics course. If it's up to Tagg, he'd probably run everything in the barn on the lawn!

to say however that one is skipping a race because if the horse wins he won't get recognition imo is bullshit. i can think of about a million bucks worth of recognition he'd get. so, it's something else. so, what would that be? probably the same thing that drives many to avoid the top fields, fear of losing. or realizing that altho his horse might win a turf race, that in no way translates to winning a mile race on turf, or a 12f on turf, which isn't fear of losing, but recognizing that the chances of a win are somewhere between slim and no.

Good to know, but I still think playing the whole "there's nothing to win, because he's underappreciated" spiel is weak. Either go or don't, but don't act like some uncontrollable factor is keeping you out of the race. Also, in regard to his somewhat slighting remark about English Channel, why didn't Tagg put Nobiz in the Hirsch? Surely if NLS beat EC there, he'd have more of a claim for the male turf Eclipse than he does now. Tagg chose to keep him facing three-year-olds and now he's whining about how a horse that was there for the beating might get the Eclipse over him.