Will The Real Dunkirk Stand Up!!
DUNCO
Banned
The Daily Racing Form each day publishes a list of the fastest performances of the year by 3-year-olds. Twenty horses were on the list a week ago. Conspicuously absent: Dunkirk.
The Form also lists the 20 fastest horses at a mile or more. Conspicuously absent: Dunkirk.
So why the fuss? How could a horse with such inferior speed figures as Dunkirk be hailed a top contender for the Kentucky Derby?
That question must have occurred to someone else because last weekend, Dunkirk, miraculously, was transformed from one of the slowest horses in the country to one of the fastest.
He suddenly emerged as the third fastest horse in the country with a Beyer speed figure of 108.
What happened? The Form quietly announced that the Beyer speed boys had gone back to the drawing board to study their figs for the Florida Derby on March 28, when Quality Road earned a low 103 while beating Dunkirk.
Somehow, they got it wrong. "The figure for the Florida Derby looked low," Andy Beyer told the Form. So, with a stroke of the pen, they rewrote the figs, zooming Quality Road up to 111 and Dunkirk to 108.
Suddenly, overnight, Dunkirk's speed fig matched his hype. The Form concluded, "Dunkirk . . . earned a figure of 108, which would make him a viable [Derby] contender, too." So he became a Derby contender without moving out of his stall.
The Form also lists the 20 fastest horses at a mile or more. Conspicuously absent: Dunkirk.
So why the fuss? How could a horse with such inferior speed figures as Dunkirk be hailed a top contender for the Kentucky Derby?
That question must have occurred to someone else because last weekend, Dunkirk, miraculously, was transformed from one of the slowest horses in the country to one of the fastest.
He suddenly emerged as the third fastest horse in the country with a Beyer speed figure of 108.
What happened? The Form quietly announced that the Beyer speed boys had gone back to the drawing board to study their figs for the Florida Derby on March 28, when Quality Road earned a low 103 while beating Dunkirk.
Somehow, they got it wrong. "The figure for the Florida Derby looked low," Andy Beyer told the Form. So, with a stroke of the pen, they rewrote the figs, zooming Quality Road up to 111 and Dunkirk to 108.
Suddenly, overnight, Dunkirk's speed fig matched his hype. The Form concluded, "Dunkirk . . . earned a figure of 108, which would make him a viable [Derby] contender, too." So he became a Derby contender without moving out of his stall.
Comments