Quote from: BlindLucky on November 15, 2013, 09:32:06 AM
Quote from: Ballerina on November 14, 2013, 12:03:02 PM
Quote from: Dave in TJ Mex on November 14, 2013, 11:30:35 AM
In one of the comments below the DRF story on this breakdown, a fan noted that the horse had purportedly been non-competitive in 8 of his last 9 races (the only exception being an optional allowance), and wondered out loud why the horse was still being run at his age.
A gelding of 6 years? Perhaps the qustion was rhetorical? He was never what one would call a predictable horse - feast or famine. I doubt Lo Presti would ever race an unsound horse.
He was actually still a stallion. And I agree, I don't see Lopresti racing an unsound horse. He gave him time off last year for bone bruising, and maybe this year he wasn't as competitive at the top level as he used to be, but I bet they were going to retire him soon. I don't think they would have dropped him too far down the ranks.
It was just a terrible accident. And about the comment on DRF, it kills me how people complain that horses are run too young (Turallure didn't start until he was 3, by the way), that they run them too old (Turallure was only 6), or they retire them too young to stud (they kept Turallure in training through age 6). The argument is adjusted using hindsight to suit each particular situation.
The comment in the DRF wasn't addressing the horse's age so much, but instead, focused on the fact that by running so poorly in 8 of his last 9, he was "trying to tell his connections something," i.e., that he had lost interest in racing, or was hurting, and the connections ignored those "signals."
I agree with you that a lot of this is 20/20 hindsight. After Barbaro's Preakness Stakes breakdown, there were a lot of folks on the Thoro-graph board commenting that there must have been soundness issues with the horse, given the long breaks Michael Matz had given him between races. Some of those comments were made before Barbaro's breakdown (some Thoro-graph handicappers were highly skeptical about how well the horse would run on only two weeks rest after the Derby, given the long breaks he had between races during his racing career prior to that), but some of the comments there were 20/20 hindsight.
I guess what can truthfully be said about this horse is that (1) he had some physical problems before the caused some lengthy layoffs, (2) he was getting up there in age (for a top notch horse, few of whom are still racing late in their sixth year), and (3) his recent poor performances suggested he was well past his prime.
I really liked this guy... he won me a fair amount of money when he was on his game. RIP Turallure.
