Why is at that a horse that only wins in CA is a CA horse, but a horse that only.....

[Skywalker]

Why is it that when a horse only wins in California it is a problem, but when a horse only wins in NY like a Stay Thirsty it is ok.

Stay Thirsty has not won outside of NY. He was trounced in KY by Animal Kingdom and FL by Dialed In by a combined 30 lengths.

Ask yourself this, if Stay Thirsty only had wins in CA but was trounced in KY and CA would people be saying he is a leader of the 3yr old division? NO.

[zilzal]

agreed as many a potential Breeder's Cup horse has failed in the West ............many of them mares

and old Fort Marcy got his head handed to him on several western sojourns.

I always liked Easy Goer but outside of New York he was not the same animal.

[dustino140]

Ask yourself this, if Stay Thirsty only had wins in CA but was trounced in KY and CA would people be saying he is a leader of the 3yr old division? NO.

Actually, it's not at all that simple and you know that. You're very right that he wouldn't be the divisional leader, but it has nothing to do with any bias or prejudice against the West Coast races. It's simply because if he only had wins in California the most important races he could have won would be the Santa Anita Derby and Swaps. However, since he is a "NY horse" (which I don't deny at this point), he's had the opportunity to win the Travers (bigger than any 3yo race in Cali), win the Jim Dandy (a race at this point that eclipses the Swaps, IMO), place in the Belmont (no 3yo race in CA compares), and win the Gotham (a race nobody cares about).

So it's not that he'd be hated-on for being a Cali horse, it's because if he were a Cali horse, he wouldn't have won and placed in races like the Travers and Belmont, two of the three performances that have skyrocketed him to the top of the divisional standings in the eyes of many.

[Slewfan2]

I'm not going to say this horse is only a NY horse because it's too early in his career. He ran in the BC Juvenile off a 2 month layoff off a 7 furlong race, an asinine move IMO. Ask Todd about his prep for the Derby - it was all about what was right for Uncle Mo. It's not like Belmont, Saratoga and Aqueduct are the same tracks - it's not like he's a one track horse. It's apparently not a bad thing, anyway - Slew O'Gold never won outside of NY and either did Sky Beauty. We'll see how ST stands at the end of his career........

[Bozo]

California is on an island and the same horses run against each other constantly. Lots more variation in NY. A horse might like the NY surface though he's not always facing the same NY competition, but runners from all over the area.