Breeder's Cup Meeting

Well I do not think he needs to run in the States to prove he is the best - no one has better credentials anywhere in the world than STS
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I think the Americans will be unconvinced without seeing it on there doorsteps.
 
And yet, if Sea The Stars turned up and won the Classic, would the Americans say it was only because Rachel Alexandra wasn't there?

What is the general opinion over there about her connections avoiding the meeting?

Just to add, I don't think Rachel would topple him anyway.
 
If he's not going to the States for stud duties, there's little percentage to be had out of him running there. Otherwise, he might just as well travel to Japan, Australia, you name it, contesting their premier races, to prove what? He's already World No.1, so any more wins would be just more icing on a well-iced cake. There's no need for him to show the Yanks his ability - they've seen it on their screens, too. If the Tsuis would like him to finish off with an American win, fine, but that's just personal choice, not a necessity to embellish his future stud career.
 
I'm in two minds - I'd love to see him thrash the Yanks, but it's not a level playing field over there, with all the drugs etc so if he were beat, which I don't think he would be, what would that prove anyway? Until they ban drugs (esp steroids) completely right across the obard, we just don't know what any of the form means. What's the California rule on steroids etc anyway? Will everything be on Lasix?

And I've not really enjoyed the meeting since that dreadful night when George died (tho I did very well financially last year!). All the other dirt casualites stick a bit in the craw too. Admittedly this year on the pro-ride we should see none of that.

I think he's done enough all told. The Tsuis don't need the money to maximise his stud fee or shuttle him - so why risk anything bad happening?
 
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Irish Stamp said:
They'd say it was further evidence that synthetic tracks favour turf horses.

Check out the comments on www.thoroughbredchampions.com/forum to see how highly they rate STS - after last weekend it's far higher than Rachel Alexandra.
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I must say reading some of their thread on STS really does make one appreciate this forum!

Some incredibly silly remarks on there, and not a mention of Lasix or steroids either! I particularly rolled my eyes at the one posting that implies a great horse has to be dominant at 2 - they don't seem to understand STS is not a miler! And some of our best middle distance horses didn't even run at 2. Bit of a dialogue of the deaf really - but good that a few have grasped what is different about STS
 
I want him to run simply because I'm going! If he's coming into his Winter coat and looking wooly then transfering him to the California climate isn't the best idea but if he's fit and well, it'll be a canter round Santa Anita for him over 1m2f on that surface.
 
Still able to get 20/1 about Spanish Moon for the Breeders Cup Turf - doubt we'll be seeing Youmzain, Dar Res Mi, Vision D'Etat, Stacelita or Soldier of Fortune in the race. Gio Ponti is going in the BC Classic which effectively leaves us with:

Conduit
The Americans (Midships, Grand Couturier, Telling etc.) none of whom are all that good.

Massive value on a tight track and firm ground which he'll love.
 
He has such wonderful changes of pace and yet cruises so well that he will be fine on that circuit (which isnt as tight as some over there is it? Stamp ...and good to meet last week)

Wouldnt like to see him run on dirt myself but this is polytrack

Given the ownership, wouldnt rule out a run in Hong kong or japan?
 
clivex said:
He has such wonderful changes of pace and yet cruises so well that he will be fine on that circuit (which isnt as tight as some over there is it? Stamp ...and good to meet last week)

Wouldnt like to see him run on dirt myself but this is polytrack

Given the ownership, wouldnt rule out a run in Hong kong or japan?
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They've already ruled it out I believe. I thought HK would be his swansong earlier on in the year.
 
10/1 longest now. As mentioned several times on the Arc thread, I am a big fan, and considering the two ahead of him (Conduit aside) are unlikely runners, this is still a really good price. I can hardly imagine a better race for him, and am glad Moore will in all likelihood choose Conduit.
 
Let's get this straight. Here we have a colt so powerful that he might be fed by Getafix, the druid who brews the magic potion for Asterix and his fellow Gauls. And all people can do is fret that the sky might fall on his head.

The next person who tells me that Sea The Stars should not be sent to the Breeders' Cup had better be John Oxx himself. Otherwise I may not be responsible for my actions.
Unfortunately, Oxx does not have the luxury of absolving himself that way. Indeed, after that epoch-making performance in Paris last Sunday, his next action carries a still greater burden of responsibility.
The way this wise and gentle man has campaigned Sea The Stars to date means that it would be impertinent to grumble, should he finally resolve that discretion is the better part of valour. But that does not explain why so many others are being mysteriously precious on his behalf.
What, they ask, if Sea The Stars were to go to California – and something happened? Well, that's a pretty safe bet. Something would happen, all right. As happenings go, you couldn't really ask for more than one of the most momentous races in Turf history. And that is exactly what you would get.
For Oxx, poor fellow, has more than one responsibility here. As he rightly reiterates, his initial priority must be Sea The Stars himself. He could not "do the wrong thing by the horse". Fair enough. No problem with that, no sir.
But Oxx has already marvelled that Sea The Stars is in better shape than ever. Before the Arc, he felt the same sort of historic reservations, bequeathed by the failures of past champions, as he now admits in contemplating California. But every time he saw the sheer bloom in the colt, all doubt was stifled. Michael Kinane, his jockey, asserts that Sea The Stars has only now reached the peak of his powers.
As Oxx said here, a week ago, that is what makes the best better – the way Sea The Stars can thrive, mentally and physically, on the demands that excoriate lesser talents. With that in mind, let's just consider what is supposed to be so "unfair" about sending him to Santa Anita.
It is too glib to dredge up the memory of Dancing Brave, whose failure at the same track belongs to a Triassic period in international racing. Sea The Stars has contested six Group One races, without a break. And exactly the same was true, last year, of Henrythenavigator, before he ran the race of his life in the Classic. Second, that is, to Raven's Pass – who had run seven times without a break (albeit only five Group Ones). Anyone who saw these two slug it out at Goodwood, in high summer last year, has to explain why endeavours at Santa Anita should be beyond a horse who has barely felt the whip in his life.
If you instead prefer to exhume the carcass of poor George Washington, moreover, you actually turn the moral imperatives in favour of running Sea The Stars.
For the loss of George Washington, in a vile slop at Monmouth Park, was one of several grotesque accidents that shocked American conservatives into acknowledging the need for the sort of synthetic surface introduced at Santa Anita. It is only the coincidence that the Breeders' Cup comes to the same venue, for the second year in a row, that makes it a remotely palatable project for Sea The Stars. In 2010 it is back on dirt, in Louisville, where it would never have been remotely entertained.
This process of integration was first embraced, against colossal vested interests, by American visionaries; and then by the trainers who favoured the Classic, for Raven's Pass and Henrythenavigator, over the Mile on turf. Back in fourth last year, however, was Curlin, whose connections are so disgusted that the Classic will again be run on "plastic" that they have vowed to keep away their outstanding filly, Rachel Alexandra.
In that context, Oxx might sense a responsibility to the future of the sport. The Breeders' Cup already lacks one marquee name; to miss this one, too, would be poor reward for its wholesome renewal.
Some people say Sea The Stars has nothing left to prove. But that's pretty insulting, whether to the Americans or the intelligence. For if you are so worried about a 6,000-mile journey; about clipping a winter coat in 90 degrees of heat; about the colt who gave him the toughest race of his season at Sandown; and about meeting new, indigenous rivals, including the unbeaten Zenyatta, on a new surface; then how could this horse not prove himself more wonderful still?
By the same token, posterity would not think one jot less of Sea The Stars should he happen to falter. Everyone laments the brevity of a Flat champion's career, yet now they want to rush him to the fire escape.
Sea The Stars is being treated as near divine; certainly as sacrosanct. But much theology is predicated on the sacrifice of the immaculate, of the divine embracing mortality for a noble cause. Horses get hurt in races, but they get hurt in paddocks, too. Let the sky fall on his head. It is all the Gauls feared. But at worst they would have seen the stars.
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Zenyatta is a huge price for the Classic; no guarantee Rip will turn up with his history of problems. Is she a definite runner?
 
Galileo said:
Zenyetta wins again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi1cLb-VP4k
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Impressive and she is certainly a very scopey and robust looking individual - towered over her rivals unless that was a trick of the camera. But has she beaten the colts yet? - or was than another fillies-only race last night?

PS That's a very interesting article Gal, who wrote it?
I'm half convinced by it, even the remarks about a responsibility to encourage pro-ride in the US
 
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Cheers - I thought not. I can't see her beating STS if they ran against each other
It's a great shame Rachel Alexander won't be there - she is the yardstick imo
 
I think she may go for the Classic if STS gives it a miss.

She would easily beat the American males. Gio Ponti might be the only one I would be worried about and she loves the track at Santa Anita.
 
Zenyetta looks pretty awesome but it is so hard to get a grip on her form seeing as she keeps beating the same (average) fillys over and over again while her style of racing ensures she will never win by huge margins.

I do not think the supplementary will be too much of an issue for Coolmore regarding RVW eligibility for the Classic but I wonder are they giving Fallon any consideration for the ride on Mastercraftsman.
 
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