When the brilliant Fabulous Strike scratched out of yesterdays Tom Fool I thought he might have been injured. The horse is so damn fast he seems like one who could hurt himself. That was not the case, instead it looks like the trainer was sending out the message to not tack on the weight on his horse. Catering to horseman is what racing secretaries have to deal with. With so much racing out there and so many stakes spots racing offices have to market their races to horsemen. Tracks are in serious competition for stakes horses and the horsemen have the upperhand.
Todd Beattie "I have a lot of respect for Munnings and we were giving him 11 pounds today," said Beattie, who trains Fabulous Strike for Walter Downey. "With the difference in weight, drawing the one hole, and going seven furlongs, we just felt there wasn't a lot working in his favor. He ran a monstrous effort four weeks ago. I had a long discussion with Mr. Downey and he felt the same."
In the future you can expect any racing secretary to be very careful when putting weight on Fabulous Strike as not to upset the trainer and end up with an uninteresting short field with limited wagering. This is a win-win for Fabulous Strike, not only will he get more time for his next race but he will likely carry less weight the rest of the year. As Todd Beattie feared Munnings rolled and won impressively with ease. Look for this three year old to take the Amsterdam and Kings Bishop up at the spa. Fabulous Strike is likely for the six furlong Vanderbilt at Saratoga.
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5 comments:
Munnings is going to the King's Bishop, no layover in the Amsterdam. Incidently, Quality Road is supposed to make his return in the Amsterdam. Source, NY Daily News
-nyra1
Also Fabuluos Strike's limit is 3/4 of a mile it seems, as I recal in the Carter he hit the wall past the 1/8 pole.
-nyra1
Since when does 123 pounds even qualify as "weight?"
Yeesh, 3-year-olds carry 126 pounds for 10 furlongs in the Kentucky Derby. A 6-year-old G1-winning gelding is lucky not to get imposted with 126 or 128 against the field he was supposed to face Sunday -- a very nice horse in Munnings (albeit who is only 3) and three others who've now never won a stakes race in 46 combined lifetime starts.
This was a case of a G1 older horse whose connections were afraid of a 3-year-old. Yes, the distance was not his ideal and I think he'd have gotten beat. Munnings nearly ran 1:21 flat and Fabulous Strike has never shown he can carry his record-setting speed out to 7 furlongs; been beaten twice in races run in over 1:22.
But if you enter the horse and he's healthy and the track comes up fast, race the horse.
It isn't like they found out Sunday morning that the Tom Fool Handicap was going to be run at 7 furlongs.
Still holding out hope for 2 or 3 racing secretaries to for once pull together and make connections such as FS's an offer they can't refuse:
"Either you take the (more than reasonable) conditions we offer, or you go my friend's track, where conditions will be the same - or you'll have to take your act overseas. And if you think this one was too tough, you'll be amazed at what they'll throw at you in European or Asian G2 races.
P.S. I clearly understand that 123 pounds is "weight." One pound is "weight." ... It isn't a LOT of weight.
Seventeen horses are carrying 124 pounds in races at Colonial Downs tonight, most of them cheap claimers and maiden-claimers. Some of them are giving up as much weight or nearly so to opponents (usually older against 3-year-olds) as Fabulous Strike was to Munnings.
You can argue that too little weight was given to Munnings, but not that too much was assigned to Fabulous Strike. And really, an older G1 winner vs. a 3-year-old G2 winner is going to result in an eight- or 10-pound difference in weights just about anywhere in the U.S. ... Eleven pounds is wrong, it isn't that far off from right.
Yes, I'm disgruntled with Fabulous Strike's connections. :-)
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