JC / Railbird

Perfect Fleetheart

– The SoCal filly remains unbeaten after wiring Hollywood’s Wednesday opener as the 3-2 favorite. Fleetheart could start next in a Del Mar stakes race. Considering how well she’s handled everything asked of her so far (up in class, surface change, stretching out, etc.), it’s exciting to contemplate how she might perform at the stakes level …

Trainer Steve Asmussen is the subject of a lengthy and sympathetic profile that gets right into the doping rumors: “People who say I’m a cheater? Well, that’s the dumbest thing I ever heard,” he says. “On average, mine cost a 100 [thousand], yours cost 10 [thousand], and you’re wondering why I’m beating you? It ain’t any kind of drugs or anything else. The horses are just faster.” Well, that clears things up.

– Paul Moran is right: “[Invasor] may be the most under-appreciated superstar thoroughbred of the modern era.” Invasor was a star on the verge of true greatness in the very classical sense of sheer class dominance. We don’t see much of that anymore.


2 Comments

Jess, Moran’s headline is actually “Invasor one of the best thoroughbreds ever.” Really, I don’t know how you can say that about a horse that started all of five times in this country, never gave away significant weight, etc., And if he was under-appreciated, it’s probably because he ran so few times; and also just because of the unfortunate decline in coverage and popularity of the sport. In my humble opinion, of course!

Posted by alan on June 28, 2007 @ 2:58 pm

I can’t believe Moran wrote that headline — I’m sure it was a clueless copyeditor unaware that he or she was making the claim that Invasor was the equal of Secretariat or Man O’War with that phrasing. As for never giving away significant weight — we almost have to drop that as a requirement for greatness at this point since hardly anyone ever gives more than five pounds these days.

Posted by Jessica on June 28, 2007 @ 10:04 pm