Ghostzapper

[Ill-bred]

Ghostzapper is a champion in my book and he's proved it virtually every time he went to post.

The first time I realized he was special was in defeat at Saratoga in 2003. The track was carrying speed that day and it was almost impossible to close any ground in the stretch. GZ nearly won anyway with a five-wide trip, closing 10 lengths over the last 3f to narrowly miss.

His only other career defeat came when he was 2-yr-old in his second lifetime race, first vs. winners. He got squeezed at the start that day and couldn't catch up to Scrimshaw, who was a good 2-yr-old and ran a very quick time that day.

His other nine race all resulted in wins, run in extremely fast times. (seven graded stakes wins and five GIs.) He's as versatile and fast a horse as I've ever seen (racing fan since 1992). He's lightly raced, but he has not ducked anyone.

[henthorn]

I can't see how all the griping about Frankel's babying the horses and keeping them from competition is laid squarely on his shoulders. What do you think these owners are doing, keeping their mouths shut? If they want to see the horses run, they'll run--if not for Frankel, then for someone else. Just as Michael Paulson switched trainers on Azeri when he felt she was being mismanaged. Not all wealthy owners leave all the decisions to the trainer; some like to be hands-on with decisions regarding preservation of and/or marketing their horses for future stud value.

Could it be that the owners are babying the horses to preserve stud fee value, and that Frankel is forced to play along? The trainer is always in the public eye for criticism until it's time to retire the horse or sell him, then suddenly it's the owners' turn to get the flak. I'm sure both are in on the decisions all along; some more than others.

[Ill-bred]

Uh oh......hearing rumors on GZ.



Take my earlier post as a retirement tribute...

[kimberley mine]

It's official; he's retired.

Story at the BloodHorse.