[Turbulator]

I think I should clarify my statement about "fighting and failing."

Horses who fight tend to get extra credit. You might say to yourself, "he's running well, he matches up, and look--he's a fighter!"

If the horse does well fighting, then yes--he gets that extra credit. But when I see all those things, I tend to ignore the fighting part of the analysis if the horse "fights and fails."

I might say, "look, this horse is a fighter-that's great! But wait a minute--he doesn't do very well when he's fighting--so how can that be a good thing in this situation?"

If he doesn't need to fight, as in the example race, then so much the better. But if he needs to fight at all, it can be a very big negative. This is where I tend to downgrade "the fight in a horse" and look at other things instead.