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Giant’s Causeway’s sire and dam were both dirt performers, while Auguste Rodin’s parents were turf runners. Okay, AR’s grandsire was a BC Classic winner in Sunday Silence, but it’s still much more of a leap to get him to switch surfaces than it was for the Iron Horse.
Giant’s Causeway was a totally different kettle of fish to AR, he thrived in (almosted needed) a battle and a war of attrition battle was tailor made for him and as Moody Man stated his pedigree lended itself to him handling the dirt.
Lets face it had Kinane not got in such a two and eight with his whip and the reins inside the final furlong, there is a good chance GC would have actually won the race as we all know how he would find more the more vigorous a ride he was given.
AR has more natural brilliance than GC for sure but is no where near as battle hardened/tested as GC was to be able to cope with the kind of demand that a BC Classic would present.
He went most places with So You Think in 2011 and still got decent run out of him in Classic and I haven’t looked but a NZ bred will normally have zero dirt pedigree .
So You Think was also a much more battle tested horse well before O’Brien got him from Australia (where he was already a 5 time G1 winner and in one season he won over 7F on soft ground and finished 3rd in the Melbourne Cup over 2m on soft ground) yet he still only managed 6 of 12 in the Classic.
The winner that year was a horse that only won 3 of his 11 career starts and started at 20-1 with the second and third both at 14-1 (So You Think was one of only 4 of the 12 strong field that started at single digit odds). So not exactly a classic Classic….pardon the pun.
Not saying it can’t be done but having a specific type of horse that will be adaptable to the grueling conditions and has somewhat of a dirt pedigree can only be a massive help – but this is a horse that has some questionable performances (without explanation) and to me isn’t a horse to be putting your trust in when facing very alien conditions to any he has known previously for the first time.
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