Game On Dude is too Good for These
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Come on people! You cannot really be this fickle, can you? With the risk of looking absolutely foolish later this afternoon, I will go on record as saying that Game On Dude is simply too good for his Native Diver Handicap competition. Just watch as he gives good horses like Richard’s Kid and Nonios five pounds each and then steamrolls them in an easy front running score. The same kind of front running romp that he has completed so many times before … but wait a minute, he lost his last race … The sky must be falling! A defeat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and people are jumping off his bandwagon faster than Joan Rivers sets up her next facelift appointment. Take a look at a sampling at some of the comments I received this morning on social media outlets, followed by my response to each.
“Dude is out of game. [He is] headed towards retirement.”
As a gelding with four graded stakes wins this year, don’t hold your breath on that retirement.
“I wonder why they haven't considered putting Game On Dude in a couple of allowance races to get him back into the "winning" mode? He has lost enough times recently that I just wonder if he might benefit from something like that.”
Probably because he is still the best horse in California, and you only have to go back one more race than his last, to find an easy grade 1 victory.
“[I am] totally going against G.O.D on my site. [I] went Nonios, Richards Kid, Kettle Corn. [I] just didn't like the way he ran last time.”
Good luck with that. In that aforementioned grade 1 victory two starts back, who was that he absolutely dominated? Oh yeah, none other than Nonios and Richard’s Kid.
The Breeders’ Cup Classic was a bad race for Game On Dude. After steadying at the start, he was shuffled back and never had the chance to run his race. A wide move on the turn was the best he could do, and not persevered with; he faded back to the middle of the pack. So now it seems that fickle fans are more than ready to write-off all of the excellent races he has run in the past few years.
It’s kind of sad really. The seven-time stakes winner and 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up, is one of the best horses we have, and is a horse that we have enjoyed for years. One bad race, and we are ready to cast him aside. Maybe many would have preferred to see him retire prematurely like so many a high-priced stallion.
Not me, I am looking forward to many more Game On Dude races … and many more stakes wins, like the one we are just hours away from seeing today at Betfair Hollywood Park.
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