Re: Sword Dancer: ? for the board (1073 Views)
Posted by:
TempletonPeck (IP Logged)
Date: August 30, 2016 10:34AM
richiebee Wrote:
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> My personal opinion is that had Gryder stayed on
> the rail, Javier Castellano could
> have yanked on the reins, made a hard right turn
> to the widest lane, and still run
> away from MM and the rest of this overmatched
> field. Possibly the only way to have
> made this race interesting would have been to have
> Flintshire carry 130 pounds and
> those days are gone.
>
> Its a Chad, Chad world and the biggest challenge
> now is to keep this guy happy until
> his throwdown with the Euros at Santa Anita, where
> Flintshire suffered his only NA
> defeat.
>
> As to the use of the rabbit, Juddmonte has done it
> before, most notably with Bullet
> Train, who used to assure an honest pace for the
> great Frankel.
>
> Hard to call a race "fixed" when the favorite, who
> laid over the field on paper and
> during the running, ended up prevailing.
Flintshire may have been able to make that right turn and still run away, To me, the point is that he should've had to.
I think running a rabbit is not very sporting, but what Gryder did goes beyond that. He intentionally ruined the chances of another horse, and simultaneously made it much more likely that a horse of his choosing would win - and no amount of handicapping could have resulted in a prediction he'd behave that way. I see no meaningful difference between what he did and any other kind of race fixing.