Tiago out of the Pacific Classic
From the bloodhorse.com
Trainer John Shirreffs
After watching my colt, Gentle Romeo, run on Wednesday, I decided I didn’t want to subject a 3-year-old to this kind of track. They went a mile and a sixteenth in 1:48 2/5, and although he had worked well over the track, it’s a totally different track in the afternoon, and he came back so tired after running up the track we thought he had tied up. But he was just muscle sore from struggling over that track. The mornings are fine, but later on, the temperature plays havoc with the track. When I saw the track hadn't changed through Friday's races, I decided to scratch. I don’t mind if the track is slow, but the races aren’t evenly paced. I know he comes from off the pace, which would work to his advantage, but there are too many unknown factors to take a chance with a 3-year-old. There is just too much we don’t know about the track. They did everything with the best of intentions, but it hasn’t played out too well. He’s run every month, so there’s no reason why we can’t miss one race. I have no definite plans. The Travers (nominations) is closed, so we’ll look for something else.
No Travers? Why not ship into to NY a week later for the Woodward? There are no monsters in the handicap division.
Trainer John Shirreffs
After watching my colt, Gentle Romeo, run on Wednesday, I decided I didn’t want to subject a 3-year-old to this kind of track. They went a mile and a sixteenth in 1:48 2/5, and although he had worked well over the track, it’s a totally different track in the afternoon, and he came back so tired after running up the track we thought he had tied up. But he was just muscle sore from struggling over that track. The mornings are fine, but later on, the temperature plays havoc with the track. When I saw the track hadn't changed through Friday's races, I decided to scratch. I don’t mind if the track is slow, but the races aren’t evenly paced. I know he comes from off the pace, which would work to his advantage, but there are too many unknown factors to take a chance with a 3-year-old. There is just too much we don’t know about the track. They did everything with the best of intentions, but it hasn’t played out too well. He’s run every month, so there’s no reason why we can’t miss one race. I have no definite plans. The Travers (nominations) is closed, so we’ll look for something else.
No Travers? Why not ship into to NY a week later for the Woodward? There are no monsters in the handicap division.
When it was just Baffert, it just sounded like the rantings of one crazy man. Shirreffs making a similar point in a far more detailed and eloquent manner adds serious credibility to the the track sucks camp. If this continues and the track cannot address the growing number of trainers' demands, we could see all hell break loose.
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