kev wrote:

>The next race he shows up in ( whatever it might be )
> will other trainers back down from him now??

GZ ran big figure again. Is it the negatvie 4 he's been earning in sprints or the negative 6 he has earned in routes? Seem to recall reading the following races were on Ghostdodgers agenda:

Woodward
Suburban
Whitney
Breeders Cup Classic
Possible Turf Start

Have to guess you won't see backer downers in a couple of them and if the others are handicaps the racing secretary can fill the fields if he assigns fitting imposts. (No more jokes like the Met.)

Looking at that Met Mile, the complexion changed immensely when Medallist bowed out and you had to figure if Ghostdodger was right, and any horse at all, he beats whats left by about six lengths in about 1.33 A 123 impost is not sufficient to impact a good horse in a weak field. Ghost is a good horse that was ready, though theres been other recent winners of the Met Mile that would have beaten him, even on the poorly assigned imposts. Though he had every right to be tired, Ghost was shortening up late.

> of the past great ones, there were alot of times where they
> faced only 4 or 5 horses.

Facing small fields increases every horse's chances. Facing only five in the Met was more commentary on the level of competition currently available. (If was almost 4, but for Love of Money's error in coming back short) Past walkovers and very small fields have been a result of a Great horse previously beating his contemporaries while carrying 130 plus pounds and spotting them 14 pounds in weight. Ghostdodger is not a 3YO, hes a good handicap horse and he certainly needs to be weighted properly in relation to the accomplishments of his rivals. Until then, he may not face truly competitive fields and thats one reason until he does he can't be called Great.

He also has two other big hurdles to overcome. The Suburban and the Breeders Cup Classic. Guessing its Ghostzapper that dodges weight and 10 marks for as long as he can.

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"You dream of winning the Kentucky Derby, but your best dream is to know you have the best horse," said trainer Bobby Frankel, who won his fourth Met Mile. "All the years I've been training and watching Spectacular Bid, Affirmed, and Secretariat and wondering if I'm ever going to get a horse like that. This might be the horse.''

Crybobby, not even close, those others proved their greatness with distance and weight. You got some work to do.

"Forest Danger, the Carter winner who many believed could upset Ghostzapper, "ran off with me the whole time and drifted out," Velazquez said."

Thought he wanted a wider path for some reason. Now it seems something was amiss:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/65470.html



Post Edited (05-31-05 12:01)