End of Year Stakes

On Monday night Somebeachsomewhere goes into his last elimination of the year - The Matron stakes.

Walkover? Probably. But at this time of the year horses are getting bigger and stronger and are closing the gap, so I can not believe we will see a six or seven length win.

Get ready to hear about the four year old curse next year. The one where if a 4 year old loses to older it was not because he was an inferior horse, it was because he was facing older. I believe the fact is that since almost every good three year old retires at 3, the second stringers are sent against some of the fastest horses, thus of course they fail. As evidence I would use Real Desire, Art Major, Artsplace and so many other stars that did not retire at 3, but dominated the FFA'ers at 4.

I believe that at this moment horses like the Beach, Blueridge Western and Shadow Play are for all intents and purposes, Free For Allers.

Check this video out; this is the Beach in the Meadowlands Pace elimination. He won in 148.3, by an easy five, against Art Official and Badlands Nitro.



Obviously dominant. Paul Mac was a statue and the others are hacking and slashing, just trying to make the final.

But flip over to Saturday, the Breeders Crown Final. Beach won easily, and I know the track was loose, and I know that it was the fastest Crown mile ever. But it was not a complete blowout. Those two horses, both of whom are nice horses, were there at the finish. In July, if Beach raced both of those horses, he would have beaten them much more easily. Now not so much.

I guess it is testament of how great this horse is - his two rivals that he dusted in the video are not even racing now and he has to withstand wave 'two'; but I do not think we respect the changes in three year old colts at the end of the year, when they are capable of beating older rivals. They are complete racehorses now and we just have to put them behind the gate and try.