Belgravia, Horse Greeley

[tammysinnett]

BELGRAVIA< HORSE GREELEY >Two Gone West MrGreeley boys .....any future hope for them to see any roses???

[Rokeby Forever]

Don't know about Polytrack horses at Churchill. Go Hard Spun!!!

[geowarrior]

I had a partnership horse in today's Lecomte Stakes which was won by Hard Spun (see a couple of threads in Stable Watch section). I don't know that I'm rooting for Hard Spun, but after today he has to be considered one of the first really serious TC contenders.

[Rokeby Forever]

His 2nd dam is a full to Little Current. I don't think distance will be an issue with Hard Spun.

[geowarrior]

I didn't look at the specifics of the immediate female family, but his mare conduit profiles suggest that Hard Spun will get the Classic distances easily. The only doubt about Hard Spun in my opinion is whether he has heart when he has to duel a foe down the final stretch. He has won all his races so easily, he has never had to face a challenge. Compare with Bernardini - won things easily till he was in a fight and then flopped.

[Rokeby Forever]

Geowarrior, I couldn't agree with you more! Horses like Affirmed and Sunday Silence never won by wide margins, but they simply wouldn't let another horse go by in a stretch drive. So until Hard Spun faces real competition, we won't know how good he is - but all the ingredients are there.

I guess the same can be said of Tiz Wonderful.

[geowarrior]

Thanks Rokeby. Yes it's shaping up to be interesting. No biz like shobiz (sp.?) apparently got away from his rider and posted a bullet workout yesterday or the day before. Then we still have to see if Street Sense can reproduce the B.C. form, not to mention the 'juvenile jinx'. As I said in my more detailed threads (Stable Watch section) about yesterday's Lecomte, there were many good horses in the race, but one I do not consider to be a Classic contender (although I don't think that will stop his connections) is Teuflesberg who came third in the race. That is a horse with proven heart in my opinion, always gives everything he has, but doesn't get the longest distances and did well to get the result he did in yesterday's mile. If he stays sound (he has an awful lot of starts for his age), look for him to be a real contender in the sprint division once his connections give up on the Classics.

Izzie's Halo came second yesterday, and he has an early meeting with Street Sense (he came second to that horse) in his form, as well as his excellent performance yesterday. As the babies grow up and the distances stretch, he could still surprise us.

So far we have (in no particular order):

Hard Spun
Nobizlikeshobiz
Tiz Wonderful
Izzie's Halo
Street Sense

but nobody has commented on the two horses proffered by the original poster. I can't because I don't know anything about them. Feel free to add to the list.

On a slightly different topic, I also wonder how well Tiz Wonderful would have to do to offset this reputation that Tiznow is getting (prematurely in my opinion) as a sire that is an 'unequivocal failure'. Yeah he only had one B.C. winner out of his first crop.

[Rokeby Forever]

I really like Day Pass...but now that he's out of the Kiaran McLaughlin barn and on his way to Dubai, I imagine we'll see a Henny Hughes deja vu and he'll return as a messed up horse in the late spring.

[Rokeby Forever]

And I wouldn't exclude Dreaming Of Anna. She's as far ahead of her crop as were Sweet Catomine and Halfbridled, but I don't think we've seen the best of her yet - Rahy's generally are not precocious and don't falter as they get older. The 3 year old fillies are, to this point, a pretty weak crop and I think she's got them wayyyyy over a barrel...it'll be interesting when she takes on the boys - and has already shown a liking for the Churchill surface.

[geowarrior]

Right, I forgot Dreaming of Anna. Definitely a contender at this point, but same problem as Hard Spun and Tiz Wonderful - how will she be if it comes down to a fight?

[geowarrior]

Speaking of dreaming. Wouldn't it be truly a wonderful day for racing if we were going into the Belmont looking at a possible Triple Crown filly?

[Rokeby Forever]

Yes, it would be. But would the Belmont Stakes be shortened to 1 1/4 miles like the Coaching Club? LOL!

[Barbaro06]

Genuine Risk toughed out 1 1/2 miles and finished a game second to Temperence Hill on a sloppy Belmont track in 1980.

Nah, no need to shorten--I'm sure Anna can handle it!

[geowarrior]

I agree, no need to shorten for any filly. The questions for Anna are, can she handle a duel, and can she handle the boys? I don't really doubt she can handle the distance.

[Georgerz]

She had already beaten the boys in a stakes race in Woodbine, prior to the BC race.