Eight Belles & Proud Spell

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by philcski

Agree on both points.

I have no problem with either of them trying the Derby, especially in this comical year, but I'd love to have seen a "test run" against the boys a la Winning Colors to have earned the graded money to run.

I talked about this on another forum but when you look back at WC's SA Derby, was that really a test against the boys? I mean, she was so far out in front and dominated so thoroughly that it's doubtful that the sex of what was running behind her was of any matter. In fact, I'd take it a step further and say that her toughest tests of the winter and spring came in the races in her own division against Goodbye Halo. Those races told us more about her than the SA Derby did. A lot of people have expressed the same thing that you have here and I'm not saying it's wrong but really, how important is it? Althea faced the boys and won the Arkansas Derby (along with a few others as a 2yo) but that didn't mean anything in the Ky Derby. Likewise for Serena's Song winning the Jim Beam. She even came back later to win the Haskell but that didn't mean anything in the Ky Derby. Genuine Risk lost the Wood but won the Derby. I've always felt that a prep is just that. It's not necessarily an indicator of what's going to happen later. I've also always felt that running outside of your division is overrated. I go back to 1989 a lot with this. That year, Sunday Silence and Easy Goer were the two best horses in the country. Well, King Glorious was the best but for the purposes of this argument, we'll go with SS and EG. Back to the point though, they were the two best. So what difference did it make that EG went out and beat older in the Whitney, JCGC, and Woodward if he couldn't beat SS in the 3yo races? In that case beating older horses didn't mean much of anything. Last year, being the best 3yo meant being the best horse in the country again. Females that ran in the female restricted races didn't get a break in 1986 when they had to face Lady's Secret, in 1988 when they had to face Personal Ensign, in 2002 when they had to face Azeri. It was probably the males that got the breaks in those years. Sometimes, your toughest competition can come from your own back yard is my point. Eight Belles probably got more out of facing what she faced in the Fantasy than had she been facing the boys out in Arkansas.