ComplyOrDie
Fat Jockey Patron (est. Jan 2021) & Moderator
Thanks COD (and Archie) for highlighting the previous conversations on this. I take what you are saying COD but you seem to be making the same point Lobos is which is that you do not think fragility runs in the family. As I say I’m not sure how true it is but I would be willing to consider it a factor when placing an antespost bet based on evidence provided specific to Bob’s relations.
As with all factors to be considered it has to be price related. It was less of an issue last season at 33/1 than this season at 4/1. I might be fortunate in that I am on Bob at a fancy price for the Marsh placed before this year’s Festival and have been topping up over the summer with free bets only. I would not be against a real money top up before his seasonal reappearance if target is reasonably clear but what I’m saying is if I do this I will likely reduce my stake based on this factor, unless anyone can make a case that fragility does not run in the family, and the evidence provided for Bob O’s family injury woes is likely largely coincidental.
I understand that I basically said the same as Lobos, but that's because I don't believe in the 'family fragility' line. I'll take each horse as an individual, that includes performances, which was a good job really, because if I judged Bob Olinger on what his dam had produced (138 highest RPR) before him I probably wouldn't have backed him last season. In turn I mostly use breeding on the dams side to gauge an optimum distance for each horse, and quality produced on the sires side of things. As for injuries I've never, and never will judge a horse for potential to get injured or have problems, based on breeding.
Zenaide has produced three geldings (Bob being one) and three mares. One gelding suffered a fatal injury during a race (something I believe can happen to any horse), and the other gelding has possibly had his issues given the lack of racing and is most probably retired now. Bob on the other hand has already won 5 out of his 6 starts, had no issues, but here we are worried about his fragility still.
I'm not saying he won't get injured, history tells me you're going to be correct at some point in his career, but I think it's a worry that needn't exist at this stage, because, besides some guessing on the breeding side, he's shown absolutely nothing to suggest he can't be sound to race when the time comes.