ITMQ is no doubt a sensational horse, but it amazes me a bit how well he goes with no Smoken Up in the race (or takes little/no part) compared to how he goes when Smoken Up is in the race and is doing his thing.
For whatever reason, and don't jump down my throat, there is a marked difference, that is all I am saying.
Last edited by little fish; 03-05-2013 at 05:37 PM.
I made the comment with the following races in mind,
2012 Victoria Cup
2011 Victoria Cup
2011 Miracle Mile
2011 Inter Dominion
Smoken Up, when contesting races against ITMQ and racing somewhere near his best, has had a significant impact on ITMQ's performance in said races.
What have I said that is wrong?
That's a bit like saying Mr Feelgood has a big impact on how Blacks a Fake raced and basing it on only the 2009 ID while ignoring a handful of other races.
Rather strange comment indeed.
ITMQs performances in 2012 Vic Cup (still run of the race) and Miracle Mile were down a shade due to being burnt out of the gate. Not because of Smoken Up. 2011 ID ITMQ won. 2011 Vic Cup ITMQ was crook.
All of ITMQ's wins have been pretty amazing, but to me his three stand out wins have been the 2012 I.D.Final, as we know the horse was on the verge of being scratched because of an elevated temperature, and the way he won, Brian Hancock stated, "No horse should be able to do that." The 2013 I.D. heat win in an amazing 1:54:7 over 2536 metres on an 800 metre track;by far the most impressive of all the heat wins, and of course his 2013 win. I think ITMQ has raced a few times with a few issues that may have affected him but the horse has thickened out with age, has become a lot stronger and mentally on cue. Having said all of that, if he maintains this sort of racing level then with all due respect to Smoken Up or any other horse for that matter, as Newt said in my favourite Sci - Fi horror movie 'Aliens'......."it wont make any difference".
Understand where your coming from Barry, SU up front running them along and IMQ finishing all over them if good enough with the faster speed.
Just for the record and I think this is Barry's point....3009m run in a mile rate of 1.58.1 ...track records show only one other race over 3009m, a TROT STAND run in a mile rate of 2.01.2..........They may have gone a lot quicker if SU had been there.
Just a thought......Well done IMQ
ITMQ and SU have clashed 8 times.
ITMQ finished (officially) ahead of SU 6 of the 8 times.
In these 8 clashes, ITMQ has finished out of the top three places only once.
In these 8 clashes SU has finished out of of the top three places 4 times.
Hardly an argument to say that SU actually made a marked difference to ITMQ, I'd say. So, in half of those clashes SU was unplaced.
SU is a great champion. He is the fastest miler in Australasia and as tough as any horse that has ever raced. He rightly and deservedly has his place in the list of our greatest champions. However, he has not been shown to be superior to ITMQ.
Posted something here a while back:
http://www.harnessracingforum.com/sh...ntle-Cup/page3
Look in that attachment (its not very clear sorry but hard to get formatting right on here).
At top. Ignore the later comments as was having some fun with Brendan.
The horse would appear to be driven differently when Smoken Up is in the race. He runs the gate when he can so he can be up closer.
That's not his caper imo.
His caper is what he did on Sunday. I made comment to someone on here before the race that I thought he would win with the proviso "Don't run the gate Gary". When he didn't, race was over at winning post first time imo.
They 2 great horses but very hard to compare them to each other given their different racing styles.
Could Smoken Up do what ITMQ did Sunday? No way imo. Not his caper.
Could ITMQ sit outside Blacks A Fake and win a Miracle Mile? No way imo. Not his caper. Could he do what Smoken Up did in the Len Smith? No way imo.
The discussion will go on forever! We should just count ourselves lucky we have them both going around and promoting the discussion.
Exactly right. Two different horses. It's like trying to compare Black Caviar and Makybe Diva, Usain Bolt and Stephen Kiprotich. They have different abilities which win them races. Smoken Up shouldn't be lambasted because he doesn't have electrifying high speed and ITMQ shouldnt be lambasted because he isn't as tough as old boots.
Happy Im Themightyquinn day gents! 5 years to the day since one of the greatest performances we've ever seen. Still gives me shivers.