Breeder's Cup Classic Post Mortems

I tend to side with the proposals that the Breeder's Cup be moved to an artificial surface. Weather and injuries!

STREET SENSE: Anybody else besides RR astounded to see Street Sense sent 1 1/4 miles along the rail on a sloppy track. Earth to Carl, I know your horse likes the rail, but, in these conditions??? Notice in the photo how much less slop dealt with by Curlin than HS to the inside!

HARDSPUN: Ditto. L. Jones and M. Pino again don the dunces.

CURLIN: very good horse, but, how many times in the slop have we seen the horse to the outside run away from those struggling on the inside?

ESPN VIDEO CLIPS: I especially enjoyed the Espn clips of the the horses galloping and breezing pre-race. The commentators were impressed with Tiago's breeze. Otherwise for me. Strictly a Grade II animal.

What I really noted from the clips were the differences between the Curlin and Street Sense breezes. This blog, after all, is trying to figure out how to win races. You'll note that Curlin despite the slow time of :50 and change has his speed from the get go and holds it steady to the wire. Additionally, it looks as if he's already well into 2 minute clipping way before the breeze.

SS on the other hand performs slow early fractions and comes home at speed, which is the sort of "acceleration" type of breeze that I've always disliked. This exaggerates SS's breeze, but, what good is it to supposedly breeze 5f when the first 3f are near a 2 minute clip? The tape shows Curlin doing the more effective breezing and galloping. Which brings me to:

STEVE ASMUSSEN TRAINING: Around Triple Crown Time I was complaining about Asmussen's powder puff breezing and simultaneously noting this may be something new. We know he's training a good horse, but, this may be a trainer to watch!