Quality Road's schedule

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

The New Orleans H. is better than nothing as well.

The New Orleans Handicap has attracted some very nice horses over the last 10-15 years: Real Quiet, Funny Cide, Peace Rules, St. Liam, Concern, Ten Most Wanted, Deputy Commander, Ecton Park, Golden Missile, Mineshaft, Include, Badge of Silver, etc. You could make a argument that the rise in stature of the New Orleans Handicap has come at the expense of the Oaklawn Handicap.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by DaTruth

The New Orleans Handicap has attracted some very nice horses over the last 10-15 years: Real Quiet, Funny Cide, Peace Rules, St. Liam, Concern, Ten Most Wanted, Deputy Commander, Ecton Park, Golden Missile, Mineshaft, Include, Badge of Silver, etc. You could make a argument that the rise in stature of the New Orleans Handicap has come at the expense of the Oaklawn Handicap.

BUT IT'S A GRADE II!!!1!1!!1!one1one

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by DaTruth

The New Orleans Handicap has attracted some very nice horses over the last 10-15 years: Real Quiet, Funny Cide, Peace Rules, St. Liam, Concern, Ten Most Wanted, Deputy Commander, Ecton Park, Golden Missile, Mineshaft, Include, Badge of Silver, etc. You could make a argument that the rise in stature of the New Orleans Handicap has come at the expense of the Oaklawn Handicap.

Actually, many of those made their next start in the Oaklawn Handicap. Not sure if the NO Handicap has been repositioned along with the LA Derby, but in previous years it was a no-brainer to go from one to the other.

The Dubai World Cup and trainer's wanting to "save" their horses for the Breeder's Cup is the main culprit here, IMO.

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Actually, many of those made their next start in the Oaklawn Handicap. Not sure if the NO Handicap has been repositioned along with the LA Derby, but in previous years it was a no-brainer to go from one to the other.

The Dubai World Cup and trainer's wanting to "save" their horses for the Breeder's Cup is the main culprit here, IMO.

The Oaklawn Handicap used to be the logical next start for horses that ran in the New Orleans Hcp. You'd be surprised how much things have changed. It might have to do with purse changes (Oaklawn Hcp was reduced to $500k in 2002 and the NO Hcp was increased to $500k in 1998), as the NO Hcp became a rich early spring objective.

Of the horses I mentioned earlier, only Concern, St. Liam, and Peace Rules went on to run in the Oaklawn Handicap after starting in the NO Hcp.

Here is a list of horses since 2000 (I won't include 2006 since the race was run at LaD b/c of Katrina) who ran in the NO Hcp and the Oaklawn Hcp in the same year:

2000: Allen's Oop, Pleasant Breeze.
2001: No runners.
2002: Graeme Hall.
2003: No runners.
2004: Peace Rules, St. Liam, Sir Cherokee.
2005: Second of June, Limehouse.
2007: Smokeyjonesutton.
2008: Circular Quay, Reporting For Duty, Silver Lord.
2009: Its A Bird, Secret Getaway, Honest Man.
2010: No runners.

[richard]

I can't see where Quality Road's pedigree is terribly compelling for breeding. It's the oft seen Mr Prospector/Northern Dancer lines cross . The best thing for him is plenty of rest when he has 2 Raise A Natives (4x4) , which can be problematic for soundness as well.

His breeding is basically a repeat of his sire's predigree. Elusive Quality is Mr Prospector/Northern Dancer and so is QR. Even the family's of both trace to Frizette . The immediate impression would be that outcrossing QR is advised.

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

4-year-old year only:

i remember the whitney in o7

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

Munnings had been pointing to the Carter for a while, maybe Todd is trying to keep his big guns apart.... Munnings did disapoint, but he was the favorite going in. IMO the Carter would have made much more sense then either of the races Ateam mentioned.

munnings is a big gun? i'm glad people keep thinking that. hes a paddling hanger against the big guns. keep betting him please!

[Smooth Operator]

One of those "big guns" that RA had to face last year. lol

[RolloTomasi]

Amazing how a lack of affinity for sloppy tracks suddenly turns an otherwise quick horse into a lowly goat.

Fitting that his breakout win last year was the Riva Ridge...

[ateamstupid]

Making his next start in the Whitney, with one more after that before the BCC. Really, do what you want with the horse, but stop with the "he barely took a deep breath after the race!" propaganda BS if you're giving him another 2 1/2 months off.

How come hardly anyone with balls ever gets good horses?

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Making his next start in the Whitney, with one more after that before the BCC. Really, do what you want with the horse, but stop with the "he barely took a deep breath after the race!" propaganda BS if you're giving him another 2 1/2 months off.

How come hardly anyone with balls ever gets good horses?

because when your lucky enough to get a good one...

[justindew]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Making his next start in the Whitney, with one more after that before the BCC. Really, do what you want with the horse, but stop with the "he barely took a deep breath after the race!" propaganda BS if you're giving him another 2 1/2 months off.

How come hardly anyone with balls ever gets good horses?

On a scale of 1-10, my level of surprise is 0.

And while it's annoying, it's really hard to blame them. They have a goal, and they don't see any stepping stones between here and there that will help them reach that goal.

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Making his next start in the Whitney, with one more after that before the BCC. Really, do what you want with the horse, but stop with the "he barely took a deep breath after the race!" propaganda BS if you're giving him another 2 1/2 months off.

How come hardly anyone with balls ever gets good horses?

"Scared money don't make no money"

They should go the Moss route and protect themselves with the advantage. Their horse just happens to love one-turn races. Well then run the horse in one-turn races the rest of his career.

[Smooth Operator]

Pletcher petunia breezed this morning.

Hopefully it wasn't too taxing for him............

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Pletcher petunia breezed this morning.

Hopefully it wasn't too taxing for him............

Is Zenyatta* working soon?

NT

[Smooth Operator]

She could probably run a strong ten panels tomorrow.

Nothing better than training and racing on synthetic…

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

She could probably run a strong ten panels tomorrow.

Nothing better than training and racing on synthetic…

I don't know what the reason is. It may be that they aren't mainintaining the synthetic tracks properly. But the way the synthetic tracks have been in California for the last year or two, training on the synthetics is actually much harder on the horses than training on regular dirt.

I've talked to several trainers trainers about this lately and they all said the same thing. They said they can't train their horses nearly as hard on the syntehtics as they could on dirt. You can't gallop them fast and work them fast. You can do one or the other, but not both. The horses won't hold up if you do both. Because of this, a lot of trainers actually gallop their horses on the dirt on the training track a few days a week.

When they first put in the synthetic track at Hollywood, it was like a miracle. Horses that had been really sore started going much better within a couple of weeks. The track was great when they first put it in. Not any more. Now it's harder on the horses than dirt. Don't get me wrong, I'd still rather have the synthetic tracks that we have now than the run-down dirt tracks we had before. But that's not really a fair comparison. How can you compare a run-down dirt track that is 50 years old to a new synthetic track? A fair comparison would be comparing a new dirt track to these synthetic tracks. I would much rather have a new dirt track.

If you want to know the truth, I was actually shocked when all these different trainers recently told me that you can't train your horse nearly as hard on these tracks. They all told me that they have had to adjust their training and train their horses much lighter. I had originally thought it was the exact opposite. It may in fact have been the opposite when they first put them in but not any more.

You would be surprised if you knew how many guys are using the dirt training track for a lot of their training right now. They don't work them on the training track but they gallop them on it a few days a week.

[richard]

Aren't all tracks inspected to meet national standards ?