Sod, Off...

'Do you have something in a walkover?'
-Michael Iavarone

Maybe I don't have all the details but this seemed like a golden opportunity for me to jump all over this imbecile, again.

IEAH turns down a $500k purse, on the turf, because they don't like the course. What the hell is the matter with this man?

It is easy to decry the evils of money and marketing in this or any sport. Gone are the innocent days of yesteryear and the simple joys of running to see who is best. Money and marketing have their place in this game and someone should pass that along to Waldrop but I digress. What is so hard to understand are the horsemen. The breeders and trainers, falling all over themselves to breed and buy to and from unproven and short lived runners. Ostensibly, these people know a good horse when they see one. The AGSC aside, a GI race that meets the conditions for a N3X probably doesn't separate the wheat from the chaff with any satisfaction.

Horse racing is not a conformation exhibit nor a pedigree showcase. It does not care what horse interferes with itself or wings out when it runs; none of the horses care who sold for the highest amount. There is a time and place for all that and it is called the auction; when that hammer falls all you have is a pretty lawn mower. It remains to be proven on the track if your purchase price was worth it.

This game used to be about racing horses. You staked out a course and then the first horse to cross the wire was the best. Owners won bragging rights by having their horses beat other horses. If your horse couldn't run, it didn't matter a damn how good looking or regally bred he was. The only thing that mattered was winning and at the risk of pulling a Zito, you couldn't win unless you ran and now we come full circle. See?

I think this year's three year old (male) crop has proven sub-par and Big Brown was just better than average. Now that they are older, those horses are catching up to Big Brown and making imbecile one (I1) et al. a little worried. Not only is I1 ducking the competition on dirt but now he can't collect the brass to face them on the turf?

Just do everyone a favor and retire your horse, send him out to stud where he will sire mediocre horses for ridiculous fees because if you are so unwilling to run him anywhere then he can't possible be as good as was previously thought. You cheapen the game and all of us by pulling a stunt like declining the Philly race. You have a horse with suspect feet who was all out in his last race to beat a maiden grad. You can't run him on three weeks rest because...your excuse here...and so you beg for a turf race to be created in the middle of September. Someone does you the favor of throwing you a friggin' bone and you turn it down. Is it possible that you got wind that Gio Ponti might show up, Winchester, Tizdejavu? That timing would be good for all of those horses too. How very sporting of you.

So you're an imbecile. It's not a crime. You at least retained some decent advisors and bought yourself a good horse. You employ a star crossed trainer but he knows how to drug handle a horse so you get credit there too, just don't let him talk. Being the imbecile that you are, it might be difficult for you to understand but you have no qualifications whatsoever when it comes to horses. Stay out of the way. Let your people do what I assume you pay them to do. Sit back in your owners box and try to hustle another rich imbecile out of some money but for the love of the game and the horses in it...Shut the hell up.