Originally Posted by
str
The Apollo Curse does not come into play for me. Why? I think it is kind of outdated. Especially for horses that are forwardly placed. Justify would agree.
Back in the day two year olds ran much more often. And everyone wanted to run them as 2 year olds. In todays game of much more time between races, as well as less overall starts, it has switched somewhat. Way back, many would have run 8 times by now. Some even more.
A lot of these have run 4 or 5 races. He has run 3. And while that still might be a problem, with his natural speed allowing for a forward position , this horse does not need to learn how to eat a ton of dirt and maneuver between or inside of 10 horses when running. If he does, he is in trouble.
With a lack of crazy speed like last years addition, he should be laying anywhere from 2nd to 4th or 5th, depending on post, break, etc. That is not a ton of problems to deal with. And I go back to how impressive I have seen him mentally which really stood out IMO, to have him in a hopefully nice spot early. From there, if he gets swallowed up by horses, it won't be the lack of racing that did it, It will be ability, or a problem that has occurred. And if he is moving forward, that makes the race with less horses around him.
If he was a real closer and was going to lay mid pack or back, yes, the lack of experience would likely show. But with a forward type trip, he has a chance to get away with that lack of experience.
And I do respect those name guys, or girls that talk about all these horses. I really do. But I have heard nobody mention how incredibly well KB handled that gate episode last time out. And handicappers won't necessarily see that and understand how incredible it was. Nor should they. If I hadn't trained and been a customer all those years, I would not have noticed it either. But from a horseman's point of view, it was special. So special I'm not sure I have ever seen a horse with 2 starts prior do that. If I did, I cannot recall. I was stunned.
There is a racetrack reunion at Laurel this Sunday for former Md. workers. Many of us retired or old, yikes, former jockeys, trainers and backside employees will be there. Pretty sure CJ is coming and if so, I will make it a point to ask him about it. If he has not seen the race, I can try and get a replay that we can watch. I would really like his take on the gate stuff, pre break in the Lou. Derby. I'll let you know if that works out.
That impressed me as much or more than the race itself did. All that took place pre race and he walked the dog for the 1st 1/2 mile, responded immediately when asked and finished the last 1/8th in 12 flat while being geared down going 1 3/16's.
I don't know where he will finish but if they ran this exact race 20 times, I have to think he would win more than once. It comes down to ability which maybe we have seen all he has, or maybe he is still improving and he has not yet reached his potential. It's all a guess but there is a reasonable chance he has more room to improve.
He has a chance to be very special. Will he do it? I don't know. But there IS a chance. And in this game, that is all you can ever hope for.
Hope that makes sense.
Thanks Mr. GandT