Quote:
Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind
I give Taiba credit for still finishing fairly well after being taken a bit out of his game to chase the quick pace. The race was actually closer to a half a second faster than the La Brea ( if you correctly time the races ) but still, in relative terms, it was a bit underwhelming. Like Freddy, though, I give him a ton of credit for surviving the foolish early handling and think he's better than you do.
|
Taiba is a nice horse but he'll never realize his full potential considering what he's been put through. I don't bank on him making more than 3 or 4 starts next year, if that.
I'm not sold on the whole "he's not a sprinter" post-race vibe from his connections; Smith is usually full of BS, it's not like Baffert can't put speed into a horse, and Taiba broke like a shot, dueled a rival into submission, and drew clear in 1:09+ (good for a triple digit BSF) in his belated career debut.
Quote:
|
I would vote for Epicenter, I intentionally do not have a vote, as 3YO champ but it's fair to say Taiba made more than a reasonable case to win the Eclipse. I wouldn't argue with someone that gave him the award, I just think overall Epicenter deserves it more. It's close.
|
If Epicenter retired after the Travers he might actually garner more support; some people might not be drawing a line through his BC Classic.
Still, Epicenter should have absolutely been in the Belmont and could have had the requisite classic win that would easily trump Taiba's manhandling of the overrated Forbidden Kingdom.