Rachel v Zen Again

[richiebee]

In Wednesday\'s New York Daily News:

AP Female Athlete of the Year:

ATHLETE (Votes)

Serena Williams (66)
Zenyatta (18)
Kim Clijsters (16)
Lindsey Vonn (15)
Diana Taurasi (14)
Maya Moore (13)
Rachel Alexandra (10)
Bridget Sloan (3)
Jiyai Shin (2)
Erin Hamlin (1)

[P-Dub]

See, told you Zenyatta was more deserving of HOY. This settles that.

[richiebee]

P-Dub:

Stop starting trouble and begin to get yourself mentally prepared for the big Raiders/Browns game on Sunday.

[nyc1347]

zenyatta swings a tennis racket better than rachel AND kim clijsters  =)  all joking aside rachel does not deserve HOY simply cause she didnt show up at the championships!  i agree completely with what the trainers and owners did with rachel cause the horse probably wouldnt have run well at all on the polytrack. they took the safe way and smart way out, but with that being said zenyatta is the bc champion this year and money leader.. those 2 things catapult her to HOY in my eyes without a doubt.

[P-Dub]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> P-Dub:
>
> Stop starting trouble and begin to get yourself
> mentally prepared for the big Raiders/Browns game
> on Sunday.


3rd QTR

Carolina 31
NY Giants 0

[richiebee]

P-Dub:

Actually, I am a fan of NY\'s other underachieving overhyped team, the Jets. In
any case neither Giants nor Jets played well enough in the regular season to
deserve a playoff berth though each team at this moment has slim playoff chances.
(The Cowboys can put the Giants out of their misery with a win against the
Deadskins tonight).

As a Jet fan, I am not a fan of Eric Mangini (the highlight of his career will
arguably be his cameo on The Sopranos) and was rooting for the Raiders today.
Gotta go check the scores and see how that one ended up.

Richiebee

[P-Dub]

We lost to your favorite coach today. And despite your team underachieving, you have to like the defense and the direction they are going.....as opposed to my favorite team. No direction, no QB, no clue. Surprised the Giants went out like that today, especially in the home all-time finale. I take a lot of crap at work and from my SF buddies, its not hard to take shots at a crappy team, so thats why I responded with the score. Been a long year(s). Win next week and you\'re in, good luck with that.

As for racing, sad to see Lava Man struggle home last in the SA feature today. Say what you (not you specifically Richie, but in a general sense) want about his trainer, lack of success outside of California...but I was there to witness him at his best, capturing races such as the Big Cap, Gold Cup, Whittingham, and others. He is an all time California favorite, and to see him go out there today on a 1 1/2 year layoff and finish DFL (Dead Friggin Last) was sad. We really enjoyed watching him at his best.

Perhaps he wants to race, I don\'t know, but if this is what we can expect out of him, then these guys need to retire him permanently. I don\'t need to see any more of that.

[covelj70]

P-Dub,

What was their thinking bringing him back at 1 1/8th?  Why not something like a flat mile first back?

That was alot to ask of him, especially against some nice horses.  He ran a good race for a mile which is about all I think anyone should have expected of him coming off the layoff.

I think its great that they are trying to bring him back but I wish they were setting some realistic goals for him.

[miff]

Seems like they are just flirting with a disaster that the animal loons will jump on.Lava Man is finished and should not run anymore, period! Crawled on the front end and finished last,reportedly returned cut up.

Mike

[P-Dub]

Agreed Covel, too much to ask from this guy. Can\'t disagree with anything you say.

Came back cut up as Mike pointed out, whether it was during the running or in the starting gate, doesn\'t matter. LIke I said earlier, unless is heart is really into it, why not let this guy have the retirement he deserves?

I don\'t need to see champions running up the track. Ali/Holmes was bad enough. But at least he had a say in it. Horses don\'t.

[Cartman]

IMO he was never as good on turf (and subsequently synthetic) as he was on dirt. His reputation as a bad shipper is also somewhat suspect.

Look at some of the ships they tried after he got good.

He got vanned off at the end of the Pacific Classic after a grueling race and spectacular series of races, but they shipped him to NY and then subsequently to Japan anyway. That was preposterous handling.

They sent him to the BC Classic at CD where he got caught outside chasing a very contentious pace against horses that were a step better than him at that stage anyway. They had to take a shot, but the performance wasn\'t nearly as bad as it looks.

Keep in mind, he also couldn\'t run with Bute in any of those races.  

Since then he\'s been running on turf and sythetic.

If he was my horse he\'d be retired. But if I was making the racing decisions over the last few years I would have taken him out of CA as soon as they went sythetic. I would have stabled him somewhere he could point to a series of Grade 2/Grade 3 events on dirt where he could still be competitive, run on Bute etc... and perhaps keep one second string Grade 1 or big purse event in mind as a longer term goal.

To me, he is overrated based on his accomplishments when he was going well. But right now he\'s simultaneously wildly underrated by most figure handicappers. When he was at his best during that short peak during 2005-2006 period, he was damn good.