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Post by Cruisey on Aug 10, 2017 19:15:34 GMT -6
Barely SmokinOk my dudes, Harley seems to keep getting worse and worse so far this season. After a HUGE season of not placing out of the money once, he's never done this badly before not since he started racing. Is there anything I'm doing wrong or do judges think he's losing his competitive drive? He's one of my best older horses and I hate to see him failing :(
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Post by Rendezvous on Aug 10, 2017 19:41:00 GMT -6
hey cruisey Seeing as I was the one who just judged Barely Smokin's recent race and two of his other non-placings, I'll offer my opinion if that's kosher :3 He's a phenomenal horse, truly, but I think it may have something to do with the horses he goes up against. First I'll list his late placings and any judge commentary:
Spring Dawn Treader Cup
Judge: Me/Rendezvous 1st Sun King 2nd Coincidence (neck) 3rd Incognito 4th Barely Smokin 5th Call of Duty (nose) The Native Flame stallion, Sun King came back with a vengeance for Coincidence after coming in third in the Dubai World Sprint. Sun King came into this race in full form, ready and willing to set the pace for the first Dawn Treader Cup race of the year. It's almost a reflect on his past visit to the Spring Dawn Treader Cup back in Y16. Coincidence fought with Sun King for the majority of the race and time and time again he tried to outsmart Sun King on the track, but Sun King would counter and come back at him twice as fast. The battle between ended up with Coincidence a mere neck away from overtaking Sun King. Incognito came into this race calm and collected as is the norm for him, but he was just a little too at ease during this race and it seemed as though he didn't expect just how hard the two leaders of this race were going to duke it out. Call of Duty, although the least experienced and youngest of the field actually was able to keep up with the pack and even stay ahead of Incognito for a good bit of the race. It wasn't until the final stretch that he began to fall behind. So, Call of Duty is an INCREDIBLY strong horse to be able to keep pace with these older, more experienced horses. Like I said, he was only a nose behind Barely Smoking, a G1 level horse and that's truly something. So long as you keep him away from the top two contenders of this race, I think he has a fighting chance among the elites once he gets a few more races under his belt. JETAIME DERBY* - 9F - G1
ENDER WIN Fleet Street PLACE Incognito SHOW Uno Momento [nose] FOURTH Barely Smokin' Cruisey, I love Barely Smokin'. I hated putting him where he was at, but I saw Uno Momento edging him out in a competitive outburt at the very end, seeing that he had prior competition that ended with defeats with Harley. Barely Smokin' will bounce back from this quick  . PIMLICO SPECIAL* - G1 - 10f - D
Judge: Me/Rendezvous 1st Coincidence 2nd Incognito 3rd Baciami 4th Uno Momento 5th Barely Smokin An extremely good looking field of maturing gentleman. All of these colts have probably seen each other field at least once in their racing career and they were familiar with each other on the track today. It was a hard race to judge as all of these horses possess the same quality as the next horse and there was no horse left behind in this track. Even with Barely Smokin in fifth place he wasn't far behind from Uno Momento and so on.
I've stated numerous times that Barely Smokin is an amazing horse, but the company he keeps in his races are just as amazing, if not more so. Normally he ends up so close to placing, but he ends up being nosed out at the wrong moment. Firstly, I think you should steer him away from Incognito, Coincidence and Sun King. Those three give him a run for his money each and every time and if a judge feels like Barely Smokin would be having an 'off' day, it's just not going to end well for him on the track. I think you should alter his 'racing information' to mention the use of a riding crop to help him through his occasional laziness and also mention further influence from the jockey when he breaks badly from the gate. There is absolutely nothing wrong with him and I imagine him racing until he's five years old if you let him. I'm sure some of his hardcore rivals would probably retire this year, leaving the fields open for Barely Smokin to return to his former glory. He's a G1 horse after all, he's as classy as a horse can possibly get in terms of experience. If it takes running him in races on a different track primarily to get him back into his a-game, I'd go for it. I have a certain fondness for those open races because they give a more-experienced horse chance to go up against horses he's more qualified than. I hope I helped at least a little bit (All in all, KEEP HIM AWAY FROM SUN KING, COINCIDENCE AND INCOGNITO) |
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Post by Cruisey on Aug 10, 2017 19:46:28 GMT -6
The thing is, he raced against all those horses last year and kicked butt xD That's why i'm confused with him. But thank you for your input Ren, i'll see if altering his profile will make a difference.
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Post by Isabelle on Aug 10, 2017 21:35:33 GMT -6
This is exactly what happened to Impress the Moonlight. I ended up putting her in undercards and she still couldn't win. Attempt to try some smaller HOTY fields perhaps at BSD or the cups at GHF, and you could consider undercards. I know he's still young but you consider retirement, as he's done amazing in his career, if he continues to struggle. I dragged out Moonlight much longer than I should have and I regret it. For whatever reason she lost favor with the judges and after a few bad placements that seemed to be that, once a horse accrues enough out of money placements he or she can tank. I always got the same story too, she's fantastic but her competitors are too. Well, she beat them previously as well, and why didn't they have 'off' days? Just the nature of the game unfortunately, favorites come and go. I hope you can turn him around, good luck.
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