The “Prove it to Me” Factor
Curlin, “proving it to me” again, in the Jockey Gold Cup (Sarah K. Andrew)
Swifty’s comment on my bandwagon post brought up another, somewhat related topic.
Oh how quickly they forget… I can’t believe that I so conveniently blanked out all of the Derby hype around Curlin last year, albeit, not quite this early.
It was everywhere, and my natural aversion to hype was fully intact as well…
The things that I don’t like about Curlin are that he hasn’t raced against tough competition and we have no idea if he’s got the heart for a fight. Could he hold his own against Street Sense in the stretch?
So, as I suspected, Curlin wasn’t quite ready to take on the big boys, but clearly he’s a very good horse.
It dawned on me last night that Curlin was such a media darling because Americans are completely invested in the idea of the easy payoff.
But then the tide started to change…
05/19/2007 - 1:
I also think the Derby was probably good for Curlin. I’m looking for him to sit closer to the pace and have a better shot this time.
05/19/2007 - 2:
Curlin may have won by a nose but he kicked Street Sense’s ass in my opinion. He came 3 wide to Street Sense’s inside trip and the really poured it on at the end. Fucking Fantastic! He galloped out nicely too. The one thing I did get right was that the Derby was good for him! He really has the killer instinct.
And then, he had proved it to me…
I was re-reading a few of my posts because I was thinking about things I wanted to see about a few of the horses before I became a believer.
From my Derby Futures Wagers post:
“The things that I don’t like about Curlin are that he hasn’t raced against tough competition and we have no idea if he’s got the heart for a fight. Could he hold his own against Street Sense in the stretch?”
Answered: Yes!
Not only is the this story of how one woman overcame her abhorrence of hype, it illustrates something I’m sure every horseplayer does to some extent. We all have our “yeah, but how will they handle X” or “but they had the perfect trip”.
As a matter of fact, to me Street Sense never lived up to “the hype” because he never “proved it to me” about having to go around horses. How would he have faired in this year’s Risen Star as a closer?
We all do it, and we all have our own criteria. For example in the aforementioned TBA Facebook discussion of Pyro, Teresa at Brooklyn Backstretch still has Pyro on her “Prove it to me” list because the pace was so slow (could he do it if he had had to run faster?) but to me it was more impressive because the pace was slow. To each their own “Prove it to me”… and that’s what makes discussing the races so damn fun!
Posted by dana on Feb 12 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Prove it to Me, Pyro, Sarah K. Andrew, Street Sense, Curlin, Racing
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After Curlin lost the Belmont to Rags (TONS the best, no less), I sounded like Michael Jackson for two weeks.
Actually,my manhood may never be quite the same. Curlin was worn down from the TC grind but (wo) man, that hurt.
Me want rematch!!!
Too late. Only uno Belmonto
I agree entirely with your assessment of Pyro. I abhor hype and really couldn’t get into Curlin last year until the Belmont, actually. It took him fighting his way down the stretch, head and head with a true equal to make me believe. I’m reading a lot of people complaining about the Risen Star’s pace, and I just don’t get their point. If the pace was slow, then it should be HARDER for a closer to catch up the stalkers and front runners with a final dash. I felt his win was highly impressive. Sure, it’s still early in the season. But I liked him last year, and I like him now, and it stands to reason I’ll still like him in May.
Ernie - LOL
Becky - thanks! The Preakness sold it for me that he was “for real”. And yeah, I think Pyro is super talented… I know I’ll like him in May too, and am interested to see who else I’ll like as well.