Trouncing a tiring Nayef Road over 2m4f isn't quite the same as winning an Arc over a mile shorter. On everything he has shown over shorter distances he is much too short.
By the way don't you think Aidan would have run Love if he thought she was going to act on the ground? I think we found out the answer to Sunday's question today.
He is too short, for sure.
But he has also done far more in his career than beat Nayef Road. The versatility and consistency is hard to knock, and if he was ever to win an arc, then this renewal and the likely conditions, and pace. Then this is it.
As regards Love. It sounded to me like he thought asking her to race on that ground would probably finish her for the season, and they have other options, financially better ones at that. Which makes some sense, especially if they have the US and then Asia on their minds. It seemed like they will likely run her 2 or 3 more times. Ideally.
So it was not so much in their minds that she'd definitely be beat.
He also made a point of saying she did very well on what he thought was as near to soft ground at York.
We 100% did not find the answer to Sundays question today.
But if you want to clasp at something. Hold tight.
I've always conceded that extremes of ground carries risks. So Heavy would naturally have been a concern.
But the difference between Soft and good ground would not have worried me for a minute, in this case in particular.