Re: Eclipse Award Sprinter (589 Views)
Posted by:
richiebee (IP Logged)
Date: January 05, 2006 08:58PM
JB:
I understand your point.
To me trainer Gilchrist gambled and lost. He came into the BC Sprint in a position to lock up the Eclipse if he won his only race against top quality competition.
Unfortunately, not only did he not win, but he did not factor.
JB, I'm a purist like you. I don't like to see Eclipse Awards given to animals off of one or two performances, but this seems to be the way the animals who are running at the top levels are being trained these days.
Blame it on the figure makers. Everyone is so preoccupied with campaigning lightly, training up to races, avoiding the dreaded bounce.
If racehorses have gotten faster, they have certainly become more fragile. And none of us looks at Pletcher, Frankel and Dutrow and sees Whiteley, Stephens or Whittingham.