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Originally Posted by Pillow Pants
The difference in Lava Man and the Midwest and East Coast contingent is at least the majority of the top horses this side of the country have traveled outside of their area and faced different competition.
Not giving Lava Man a prep at Belmont or Keeneland is going to backfire. Running him in the Hirsch is avoiding all challengers that matter. The horse might not be a fluke, but his connections sure are acting like he is.
I want the horse to compete with the best. What's left in California?
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the majority of top east coast horses have shipped?? top ones? flower alley was the big pick all spring, he hasn't traveled. invasor ran in the pimlico special, and then twice in new york. he probably hasn't put any more miles on than lava man since last fall, with him going to the japan cup, and invasor to dubai--neither of them got a win, only frequent flier miles.
as for lack of competition in the hirsch, what do you consider the tin man?
what would a prep at keeneland (big sandy) or keeneland (polycrap) do as a prep for churchill??? o'neill said they plan to go to churchill weeks ahead of the bcc to get lava man acclimated. they've obviously learned from their mistakes last year, when he shipped twice in a row without success....i'd think he'd get a bit of a pass on that considering the state he was in just after his last race in cali before shipping!! they had to van him off the track due to exhaustion, and chose to ignore the signs and shipped...twice. oops...he hasn't missed a beat since.