Michael,

You have to realize, Richiebee and I have a sore spot for In the Gold. In the field you describe, In the Gold would be 30-1 and you are right, likely to flatten out like a pancake. But nonetheless, she would be on a few of my tickets.

You are right though in that the Distaff has the chance to be the race of the year with field shaping up for it. Lets hope the field stays together. I also think that the fact that this is the filly race sheds some light on the discussion I mentioned earlier as to the reasons why we have watered down fields. There is significantly less money to be made having a top race mare who can produce one foal a year, than a stallion who can produce many many more. Funny how these minor injuries that cause early retirement happen way more disproportionately to colts than to fillies. Jerry, I really think that puts at least a minor hole in the theory that a lot of this early retirement is based on horses running so fast that they break down easier. I know economics have always been there, but it seems to be even more so a factor now.

9 million bucks for a storm cat colt. A lot the clown's posts about Storm Cat were a crock, but lets face it, he is correct that Storm Cat is not exactly crankkng out classic winners and he certainly gets the best mares avaiable.