2012 Triple Crown

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Anybody here watch the horse races? Anyone watch just the Triple Crown?

I'm pretty excited by this horse, I Want Another. He's a come from behind speed demon and he's baffled everyone.

I liked him during the Kentucky Derby while watching the post parade to the gate. He's calm, collected and level headed. He has a body built to run.

Bob Baffert was / is a bit peeved his horse didn't win. Oh well. Don't be so arrogant Bob, you can't always win even if you are famous and like to try getting away with doping on occasion.

I'm not sure this horse has it in him for the Belmont Stakes. It's a 1 1/2 mile race and that's very long. The Preakness is the shortest of the three and he didn't win as handily as he did the Derby.

Two weeks to the Belmont! I'd be nice to see another Triple Crown winner. It's been so long since there was one. Affirmed in '78. I won $75 on a $5 bet at OTB. I was legal age to gamble and that's the first thing I did at the first opportunity

Check out the Triple Crown HERE.

[John L]

0

'I'll Have Another' may well be the next one, even though the odds are against him.

I've watched the finish to the two previous races, and he appears to have a lot of stamina, squirting past the leaders, as they ran out of steam. This gives me the impression that Gutierrez knows just what he can get out of the horse. I haven't compared both races on video, but I still thought he was able to get by the leaders in good shape. Also, Gutierrez was pacing things, and may have either slightly misjudged when to go all out, or he may have been slightly blocked on the inside. I'd have to go back and look.

If the two can pace themselves during this longest race, he may well be able to overtake the field and bring home the Crown. I eyeballed the horse right after the race, and it looked like he had just finished a short jog. This guy looks like a long distance runner to me.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Yeah, he was hardly blowing after the race and he was as calm as I've ever seen post race. Most race horses need the full track to wind down too, this guy barely broke a sweat. Reminds me of Secretariat.

I'm still not sure about the Belmont. I can see both races replay in my head and in the Derby, he had to push his way up to the front. He had a good position for the Preakness but again, he didn't win as handily as the Derby. He seems to like the outside though, and that's where he can tire in a mile and a half.

[LKTraz]

0

If they pace the front third of the pack and move at the right time he should have enough finish sprint to take Belmont. This could be a triple crown winner!

In the last 50 years only 3 have claimed the crown.....Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978.

I really thought Smarty Jones was going to get the job done in 2004 but came up short to Birdstone at Belmont.

After doing a little curious research I find that from 1919 to present, only 11 horses have been able to capture the crown.

Some Triple Crown Facts

[John L]

0

Could you imagine how much each his sperm cells would be worth if he did win all three?

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Stud feed will start out high and will reduce or increase depending on what his get do.

You'd be surprised how many super horses produce crud.

[LKTraz]

0

1973 Kentucky Derby still standing record of 1:59.40


[yt]QyqllleV6WA[/yt]


1973 Preakness (The timer fouled up otherwise this would also be a record)

(Exerpted from Secretariat.com)
After breaking the Derby time record, sportswriters were keen to see if Secretariat could break Canonero II’s 1:54 for the 1 3/16th miles Preakness in 1971. A time of 1:55 glowed in the lights of the electronic timer in the infield.

That was far from the final “Official” time of the race.

Minutes after the race, the track’s clocker informed Pimlico officials that he had timed the race faster than the timer, with a clocking of 1:54 2/5. Also speaking up were two Daily Racing Form clockers, both veterans, who both had timed the event in 1:53 2/5 which would have broken the track record. In the days following the Preakness, CBS television entered the controversy and offered to allow officials to time the race on a video-tape replay. The network showed fans side-by-side replays of Secretariat’s Preakness and Canonero’s Preakness, and Secretariat got to the line first on TV.

Finally, the Maryland Jockey Club decided to toss out the electronically-recorded time, and go with the Pimlico’s clocker’s 1:54 2/5 as the official time. The Daily Racing Form felt so strongly about the discrepancies that it noted both the new official time and its own clocking: 1:53 2/5.

The race:

[yt]eV89InWOENc[/yt]



1973 Belmont still standing world record 2:24.00

[yt]xoFquax2F-k[/yt]


Although I'll Have Another's times (Derby 2:01.83 and Preakness 1:55.94) are quick, they aren't comparatively close to Secretariat's.

IHA does have a very strong finishing sprint and if ridden correctly by Mario Gutierrez there is a very good chance we will have the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Big Red was a freak. He's the only horse in history who ran each quarter faster than the one before.

I remember watching his Triple Crown races as if they were yesterday.
I don't think another horse will come close to his records in our lifetime if ever.

[LKTraz]

0

Big Red was a freak. He's the only horse in history who ran each quarter faster than the one before.

Since he was constantly accelerating you have to wonder then......at what distance would he have peaked and at what speed would that have been?

As it was he was clocked at 49 MPH.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

The average horse can sustain 35 MPH for a short distance. He was a freak. Medical exams of him proved his heart was larger than normal, thus giving him the extra power to carry more oxygen and "energy" throughout his body. If you look at his chest, it's wider than the average racehorse too. He's a gigantic barrel of muscle where the others are built narrow in the front and wide toward the back, like a cement mixer. Big lungs fill that gap and big lungs and wide nostrils take in more air = more oxygen to that big heart to pump all through his body.

I'm a firm believer that genetics play a much smaller role in the making of a winner than the horse's desire to run and win. There are so few records of great race horses who produce colt after colt (or filly) that follow in their footsteps. Most times it's a good line of broodmares that they produce which will only generate one or two successful get out of thousands of foals.