Ranking horse racing's Triple Crown winners | Newsday

I would go 1. Secretariat 2. Citation 3. Affirmed 4. Seattle Slew, but I'm not the expert. Affirmed was just a winner. The others, and Citation for that matter, I never saw and there are some great horses that did not win a Triple Crown.

We'll see today if Justify can join the list of hose racing immortals.

P.S. Any chance I get to replay Secretariat's performance in the Belmont is a good one for me. That is still the greatest athletic performance I ever saw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCMtaNiMDM


from newsday.com
https://www.newsday.com/sports/horseracing/belmont-stakes/ranking-horse-racing-s-triple-crown-winners-1.10531875

Ranking horse racing's Triple Crown winners

By ED MCNAMARA ed.mcnamara@newsday.com Updated June 1, 2018 1:57 PM

Justify can become the 13th member of horse racing's exclusive Triple Crown club if he can win the Belmont Stakes on June 9. So, who among the 12 immortals is the best of all time? Newsday racing writer Ed McNamara ranks them.

12. SIR BARTON (1919)

Photo Credit: AP

Nobody knew he'd won the first Triple Crown because it would be almost 20 years before the term became common in America. This nasty critter disliked animals and all people but his groom.

11. ASSAULT (1946)

Photo Credit: AP

The only Texas-bred to sweep was called "The Club-Footed Comet" because his right front foot became deformed after he stepped on a sharp object when he was very young.

10. OMAHA (1935)

Photo Credit: AP

He was 1-for-9 at age 2 before winning the Derby by 1 1/2 lengths and the Preakness by six. At 4, he became the only Triple Crown champion to visit England, winning twice.

9. COUNT FLEET (1943)

Photo Credit: AP

The front-running Count Fleet excelled during World War II, offering a badly needed diversion. He led throughout the classics, capped by a 25-length romp at odds of 1-20 against two rivals.

8. AMERICAN PHAROAH (2015)

Photo Credit: Newsday/ J. Conrad Williams Jr.

American Pharoah battled in the Kentucky Derby before dominating the Preakness and Belmont Stakes on the lead. He's a magnificent 7-for-7 by 35 3/4 lengths since a troubled debut. Be wary of the mania of rating whatever just happened as the greatest achievement ever, but Pharoah's perfect stride and floating motion stamp him as one in a million.

7. GALLANT FOX (1930)

Photo Credit: AP

Gallant Fox is the only Triple Crown winner to sire one - Omaha. The Great Depression began the autumn before Gallant Fox's 9-for-10 campaign provided an escape for many Americans.

6. WAR ADMIRAL (1937)

Photo Credit: AP

This villain in "Seabiscuit" lost to "The People's Horse" in a famous 1938 match race. The year before, smallish War Admiral led all the way in Louisville, Baltimore and Elmont.

5. WHIRLAWAY (1941)

Photo Credit: AP

Trainer Ben Jones called him "The Half-Wit" because he ran ridiculously wide on turns until fitted with a blinker over his right eye. "Mr. Long Tail" dominated the Crown by 16 lengths.

4. AFFIRMED (1978)

Photo Credit: AP

Affirmed teased Alydar before breaking his heart, taking the Derby, Preakness and Belmont by gradually shrinking margins - 1 1/2 lengths, a neck, a head.

3. SEATTLE SLEW (1977)

Photo Credit: AP

Only the speedy Seattle Slew swept while undefeated, and his $17,500 yearling price made him the ultimate bargain. He went 14-for-17 and is the best stallion in the Triple Crown club.

2. CITATION (1948)

Photo Credit: AP

Citation could sprint and go long, and his sustained excellence was amazing. He was 14-for-16 (two second places) before ruling the classics by a combined 17 lengths under jockey Eddie Arcaro.

1. SECRETARIAT (1973)

Photo Credit: AP

Secretariat raised the bar for greatness impossibly high by setting track records in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. He moved "like a tremendous machine," acing "The Test of the Champion" by 31 lengths in 2:24. Records are made to be broken, but not those.

Sent from my iPhone

American Pharoah vs. Secretariat Who would Win? (Are you serious?)

http://on.wsj.com/1T803p2

http://www.wsj.com/video/american-pharoah-vs-secretariat-who-would-win/513B9634-15E8-4108-B3F7-DEB54AF09F4B.html

American Pharoah vs. Secretariat: Who Would Win?

6/8/2015 6:51PM     

The 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah ran the sixth-fastest Belmont Stakes ever, but if he were racing against Secretariat’s record time in 1973, he would have been a distant second. Watch the two races side-by-side.

I don't want to take anything away from Pharoah, he's the champ, but let's not suffer from "Recency Bias" here, OK? This isn't even close to the LBJ vs. Michael Jordan debate, where I could at least make a decent case for either one, (i.e. it's a toss-up). 

Don't compare ANY horse yet to the great Secretariat. It's no contest. 

Secretariat would have left Pharoah panting down the back stretch just like he did Sham, who was a great horse in HIS own right. Don't forget, Sham finished second in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, which means he might have been a Triple Crown winner himself except for having the bad timing of being born the same year as Secretariat. 

http://www.drf.com/slideshows/horse-racings-biggest-rivalries?photo=6-secretariat_vs._sham

This biographical sketch describes what happened when a great horse tried to go one-on-one with Secretariat. It wasn't pretty.

from Wikipedia.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sham_%28horse%29

The 105th running of the Belmont Stakes, June 9, 1973[edit]

Main article: 1973 Belmont Stakes

Under orders, Pincay was to keep Sham with Secretariat from the start. Sham was on the outside throughout, which cost an insignificant amount of endurance more than Secretariat on the rail. This strategy worked through the first turn and into the backstretch as Secretariat and Sham led the field and then pulled away by a half-dozen lengths with Sham taking a brief lead at several points. After about half a mile, a third of the way through the race, Secretariat increased his pace and pulled ahead rapidly as Sham began to tire, and fell back. With Pincay easing back to protect the exhausted horse, Sham ultimately finished last as Secretariat pulled away to a win recorded at 31 lengths. The time of 2:24 flat remains a world record for 1¹⁄₂ miles on a dirt track.

Anytime you can bring up the name Secretariat, it's a good day. Watching that Belmont race that day, my jaw just dropped to the floor. Alongside the "Miracle on Ice" easily the two greatest events I have EVER seen in sports. As many times as I've seen each one replayed, I still get emotional and awed at the brilliance that was on display. 

So of course, enjoy what American Pharoah did, but just don't embarrass him or yourself by making the comparison to Secretariat. He will come up short every time, just like Sham did. 

That might be a more apt comparison Pharoah vs. Sham, or if you want another Triple Crown winner, perhaps the last prior TC winner, Affirmed. Just not Secretariat, please.

I hear people parsing the stats and making the case based on "Well, Pharoah ran the last half of the race in a better time". Stop it, just stop it!!! Secretariat is not even being challenged by the 3/4 mark and is just breezing into the finish. He could have stopped for a cigarette and still won the race. Pharoah was being challenged. 

And do the math for me. He's down 3.61 seconds at the 3/4 mark and closes it down to 2.65 by the finish? So he needs maybe another 3 - 3/4 mile segments to catch him, maybe another 2 1/4 miles, another race and a half? And you want to base a comparison on that? PLEASE!!

from USA Today:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/secretariat-american-pharoah-side-by-side-race

American Pharoah became the first horse since Affirmed to win the Triple Crown last Saturday at the Belmont Stakes, but American Pharoah’s final time around the 1.5-mile track was a full two seconds behind the record set by Secretariat in 1973. The Wall Street Journal made this amazing side-by-side video to show Secretariat against American Pharoah, and the race was over by the 1/4-mile mark.

1/4-mile

American Pharoah: 24.06

Secretariat: 23.6

1/2-mile

American Pharoah: 48.83

Secretariat: 46.2

3/4-mile

American Pharoah: 1:13.41

Secretariat: 1:09.8

1-mile

American Pharoah: 2:02.33

Secretariat: 1:59

Finish

American Pharoah: 2:26.65

Secretariat: 2:24

American Pharoah Ascends to Sports Immortality

As soon as I saw that I was scheduled to be on a ball field at the time the race was won, I knew he was going to do it. One of the coaches asked me if I wanted to know and I told him yes, of course, but I told him up front I felt certain that he was going to do it. He just walked past and said, "You were right, Pharoah did it".

Great for the sport of horse racing, it's been too long. Much like it's a good day for baseball whenever Willie Mays is honored, it's a great time for horse racing when there is a Triple Crown winner at the helm.

I got a little frustrated after Big Brown failed to come through and it is unfair to compare any of these horses to the great Secretariat. We should be able to enjoy the accomplishments of each horse independently before making a snap judgement on their overall place in history.


from Bleacher Report:

American Pharoah Ascends to Sports Immortality

Three races in five weeks, run in three different states. The 1 ½-mile final jewel of the Triple Crown, a distance so daunting that most thoroughbreds don't race it. And the him-against-the-world factor, facing fresh opponents who skipped other Triple Crown races.

American Pharoah won't supplant Secretariat as the animal who's generally considered the greatest thoroughbred of all time. But by winning the Triple Crown in 2015, he stakes out new territory—as this century's first superhorse.

American Pharoah stands apart from the others in that he wasn't really bred for this Herculean task the way the other Triple Crown winners were.

The other Triple Crown winners competed in eras when horses were trained to run far more often. It's kind of like what has happened with pitchers in baseball. Four-man rotations, complete games and 300-inning seasons once were commonplace, but now hardly any starter ever throws on fewer than four days rest.

Found via Team Stream by Bleacher Report.

THE PREAKNESS & RACHEL ALEXANDRA

Well, here goes the second leg of the Triple Crown and up steps the filly, Rachel Alexandra.

With all her prior dominance, the inevitable comparisons to Ruffian and Secretariat have been put on the table. No pressure at all--comparison to arguably the best filly and the best colt of all time. Good thing the horse can't read the papers.

I just pray that if she does compare favorably it ends up being to Secretariat.

She is clearly superior to anything the distaff side can throw at her as illustrated by her 20-length demolition of the Kentucky Oaks field. Jockey Calvin Borel has stated that he hasn't had to go to the whip to motivate her to win. Against a field of colts, that may no longer be the case.

Racing aficionados still debate whether fillies should even run against colts. That they are not strong enough or capable enough. When this racing mind-set has opportunity to manifest itself, inevitably human emotions run high. It's easy to pit feminist against neanderthal-man in an effort to promote the race or match.

I remember the quote of Foolish Pleasure's handlers after their horse emerged victorious against Ruffian. As Ruffian was carted off in the veterinarian's wagon, FP's handlers gloated in the winners circle.

FROM THE BOOK Ruffian : Burning From the Start by Jane Schwartz

"His father, however, was exultant. Two years ago Moody Jolley had picked out this son of What a Pleasure for $20,000 up at Saratoga, and now he could not refrain from gloating. When asked what he thought of the turn of events, the senior Jolley grinned. Away from the television microphones, but loud enough for those around him to hear, he exclaimed, "First time they threw some speed at her, and the bitch comes unbuckled!" Reporters who thought they had heard everything were shocked. A great racehorse had just broken down. They didn't expect Moody to be gracious, but they didn't expect such ugliness either."

One of the most classless, insensitive quotes in the history of sports. But this was the way of the world in 1975. A woman dared not ply her trade in a man's world. It was unthinkable. Title IX was law, but it really hadn't taken hold the way we see it today. Billie Jean King beat Bobbie Riggs in a "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match, but that was dismissed as a joke.

The times they are a changin', right man? Maybe not as much as we think sometimes. Interestingly enough some of the pre-race drama centered around "the boys" and their handlers conspiring to keep "the girl" out of the race entirely. As if they were afraid of her. Now that's CHANGE.

And so, with the pre-race melodrama and the memories of Ruffian, Barbaro and Eight Belles as an unfortunate backdrop, Rachel Alexandra attempts to run her way into history.

My hope is she runs with the champions heart of Ruffian and the strength and determination of Secretariat. And that she finishes. On four healthy legs. VICTORIOUS.

As race fans, we can only bear to see records broken here, not our hearts. Not again.

Godspeed Rachel Alexandra. GODSPEED!!

RUFFIAN AT THE ACORN STAKES:


"She had done what no horse had ever done and was buried where no horse was ever buried. The great wings were folded about her and Pegasus flew no more" - Gene Smith

TRIPLE CROWN POST-MORTEM

This picture of Secretariat now seems like it epitomizes not only his superiority over his competition, but also the amount of time that has lapsed between Triple Crown winners. In the initial disappointment over Big Brown's defeat yesterday, I fear it may also be a metaphor for how long a wait it may be before we see another one.

Maybe we were spoiled that not only Secretariat, but Affirmed and Seattle Slew, all were Triple Crown winners from the 70's. We also saw quality horses in the "hidden Triple Crown" winners. Sham finished second to Secretariat in all three legs of the Triple Crown and Alydar managed to challenge Affirmed and finish second in all three races as well. In another year, perhaps we'd also be talking about those two horses.

In hindsight, it's obviously a greater challenge to win all three legs than the number of winners from each era would have you believe. A horse has to almost win the equivalent of a sprint, a middle distance race and a distance race in five weeks. He also has to stay healthy and injury-free in order to train for the disparate courses while competitor barns can sit back and train challengers who are geared to each individual race distance. They can virtually tag-team the Triple Crown challenger, while that horse has to run, ready or not.

Imagine a track star trying to win the 100 meter dash, the 880 meters, and the mile in five weeks. Perhaps not an equivalent analogy, but it's the best I can come up with. Or a Triple Crown winner in baseball. There's a reason why we haven't seen one of those in a long time as well.

It did appear yesterday as if the grind, or maybe the injury, or getting jostled in traffic, finally caught up to Big Red. He didn't seem to want to run when his jockey asked, for whatever reason. He fought him a bit for the first time.

Unfortunately, you can't ask the horse "WTF happened?". Also, unfortunate that prior to the race you couldn't get the trainer Dutrow to STFU. Maybe I'm old school, but I got a sick feeling whenever this gas bag "guaranteed" victory. It's one thing to have confidence in your undefeated horse. It's another thing to seemingly rub your opponents face in it.

The other "Oh No!!" moment was when the ABC commentator mentioned during the post parade that Big Red seemed so cool that he hadn't even broken a sweat. It was 90+ heat combined with near 90 humidity, your gas bag trainer looked like someone turned a fire-hose on him he was sweating so much and the horse that needed to be ready to go hadn't broken a sweat? Maybe I don't know enough about getting race horses warmed up, but that seemed to be a red-flag that the horse was not ready to run.

Know I know how the old Brooklyn Dodger fans and Chicago Cubs fans feel.

"Wait 'til next year."

WILL BIG BROWN BE THIS GENERATIONS BIG RED?

We'll soon find out, in one respect he is now one step closer with the news that his most worthy challenger, Casino Drive, has been scratched.

Big Red is now in a Belmont field that seemingly has only one remaining threat to win in Dennis of Cork. When Secretariat blistered through the 1973 Belmont field, only Sham was considered worthy enough to upset the Triple Crown express.

What Secretariat did as far as winning the Triple Crown in and of itself was not so surprising, it was the way he did it. Winning the Derby over Sham, with the phenomenal performance of successfully faster quarter times and and the under 2 minute total race time, whetted people's appetite.

In the Preakness, he goes from fourth to first in the blink of an eye, while rounding a turn, an astounding feat of acceleration past his peers.

In the weeks leading up to the Belmont Stakes, Secretariat appears on the cover of Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated, achieving rock star status and setting the stage for the Belmont Stakes.

With the entire horse racing world and most of the rest of the sports viewing public now engaged, Secretariat stands ready to make his immortal run to history.

Now understand that, normally the phrase "and down the stretch they come", with any number of horses thundering down the homestretch vying for victory, is about as spine-tingling, hair on the back of your neck standing, awe-inspiring phrase as we have in sports.

But literally no sports call, short of the call of Bobby Thompson's home-run to culminate the "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff", can makes me to this day stand steadfastly still--a body-trembling, jaw-dropping paralysis--filled with a combination of emotion and inspiration, quite like the following track announcers call that brings Secretariat down the back stretch and into horse racing immortality:

“Secretariat is widening now, he is moving like a tremendous machine! Secretariat by twelve. Secretariat by fourteen lengths on the turn....Secretariat is all alone, he’s out there almost a sixteenth of a mile in front of the other horses.....He is into the stretch, he leads the field by eighteen lengths....Secretariat has opened to a twenty-two length lead. He is going to be the next Triple Crown winner! Here comes Secretariat to the wire! An unbelievable, an amazing performance! He hits the finish, twenty-five lengths!”



Secretariat gave us a chance to turn away somewhat from some of the "more important" events of the day.

We had virtually wrapped up our involvement in Vietnam and some of the emotional scars that divided our involvement in that war were still open and raw.

We had President Nixon in office and the Watergate scandal was developing as a daily distraction.

We had what would later form the so-called misery index of high unemployment, high inflation and high interest rates combined with low self esteem, low national pride and lower expectations for the future. Our leaders seemed clueless to find solutions to our nations problems.

Sound familiar? Sound like history repeating?

But for a couple of weeks at least--in a way that sports does as well as any past time in this country can do in a positive way--Secretariat provided an uplifting backdrop to temporarily escape from some of the madness going on in our lives.

And he gave us a chance to hope and dream again, when for a time it seemed like we had forgotten how to nestle into dreams without waking up to our real-life nightmare.

Well maybe today, Big Brown has his chance to be this generations "Big Red"--to do for this country's sports viewing public what Secretariat did for our generation 35 years ago--provide hope and inspiration. It's a tall order, but we really didn't expect Secretariat to do that for us.

But that's one of the reasons why they run the races and play the games...and it's one of the reasons why we watch...because you never really know in advance when you're going to witness history in the making.

Go Big Brown, rise up and make history.....

BIG BROWN - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

If there was any doubt before that the thirty year drought between Triple Crown winners is about to end in three weeks at Belmont Park, Big Brown laid them to rest today at Pimlico Race Track.

Once again, this horse turned it up a notch as the horses came down the back stretch, just as he finished twenty opponents in the Kentucky Derby.

That makes it two straight races that this beautiful horse evoked images of Secretariat, barreling down the back stretch and Belmont Park and obliterating the assembled field.

BIG BROWN - PREAKNESS:

THE AERIAL VIEW OF HIS STRETCH RUN BLOWOUT IS AWESOME - HE JUST HAS ANOTHER GEAR THE OTHER HORSES DO NOT


Folks, these are not horses recruited from outside the glue factory that Big Blue is passing like they are standing still. These are quality, stakes winners from all over the world.

So unless there is some horse bred and trained to run the distance the Belmont offers, or there is some sort of jockey error that costs them the race, this horse seems poised to take his place alongside "Big Red" Secretariat, as one of the all-time great horses.

This horse Big Brown is a beauty, in that he is a classically beautiful thoroughbred and he is a beast to his opponents. Nobody has yet figured out how to handle him. Like the greats before him, he apears to have a remarkable will to win, to run up front and in the lead.

His jockey's only problem to date seems to be to keep from spending himself too early.
That will be an even more important skill to have come the third leg of the Triple Crown in New York.

Stay tuned, it might be thirty years before we see another Triple Crown winner after this one. Go Big Brown, bring it home.
------------------------------------
SECRETARIAT KENTUCKY DERBY FACTS:
On his way to a still-standing track record (1:59 2/5), he ran each quarter-mile (approximately 400 m) segment faster than the one before it.

The successive quarter-mile times were: 25 1/5, 24, 23 4/5, 23 2/5 and 23.

This means he was still accelerating as of the final quarter-mile of the race.

It would be 28 years before any other horse would run the Derby in less than 2 minutes (Monarchos in 2001).
------------------------------
SECRETARIAT v. BIG BROWN - TALE OF THE TAPE

Kentucky Derby:
Year Time Purse Field
1973 Secretariat 1:59.40 $155,050 13
2008 Big Brown 2:01.82 $1,451,800 20

Preakness:
1973 Secretariat 1:54.40 $129,900 6
2008 Big Brown 1:54.72 $600,000 12

Kentucky Derby:
1973 Secretariat 2:24 $90,120 5
2008 Big Brown ???? ????? ??
---------------------------
NBC did a good job with their round table discussion of some of the problems the industry faces as a result of the Eight Belles tragedy. They brought up genetics and training as issues, but really seemed to zero in on the use of "permissible medications" such as Lasix, anti-inflammatories and steroids.

To the panelists, steroids were not considered a "performance enhancer" so much as a tool to enhance recovery. Very interesting and here you have a pool of athletes, some who use and some who do not, legally by the way, since most states allow the use of steroids for race horses. It doesn't seem as if that during the 20-30 years that this pool of athletes have been using steroids, that the winning times (performance) have been declining dramatically (enhancement), if at all.

Veteran analysts Randy Moss said pointedly that you could draw a clear link to the increased use steroids and anti-inflammatories and the increased numbers of break downs on the track. Very interesting and provocative points indeed.

It was also rather humorous to see Bob "The Midget" Costas in the jockeys room conducting interviews with subjects that he literally towered over. Now he knows what Shaq feels like.
-------------------------------
SECRETARIAT'S IMMORTAL BELMONT RUN:



http://www.secretariat.com/legacy.htm

New York Post columnist Larry Merchant (now better known as HBO's sharp-tongued boxing analyst) clicked off his words in Broadway staccato:

"Secretariat," said Merchant, "is the kind of Big Horse that makes grown men weep, even when they are flint-hearted bettors, even when he goes off at 1-10. He is the apparently unflawed hunk of beauty and beast they search for doggedly in the racing charts every day, and never seemed to find. His supporters rhapsodize over him as though he is a four-legged Nureyev, extolling virtues of his musculature, his grace, his urine specimens." If he were to lose the Belmont, Merchant warned, "the country may turn sullen and mutinous."

The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports

Truly one of the greatest sporting events takes place this Saturday with the 133rd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The Sport of Kings.

A generation of sports fans have missed the amazing beauty and pageantry of this event, maybe due to the proliferation of Off Track Betting and the lottery. My Dad and Grandfather used to go with my Uncle Charlie to Aqueduct racetrack in New York and I used to love reading the program and hearing the stories of the great horses they used to see up there, like the great Kelso and my favorite, the aesthetically perfect, Buckpasser.

It was fascinating to hear them discuss some of the strategies they used to decide on which horse to place their $2 bets. It's been called the "poor mans stock market" and certainly the challenge of wagering a few dollars is part of the charm, but if you appreciate the beauty and power of these great thoroughbreds, these great athletic animals, there's a lot more to love outside the allure of gambling.

The charm and pageantry of the event and the great pride that Kentuckians have in putting on this annual event is so evident when the horses are called to the gate, during the post parade, when the state song, "My Old Kentucky Home" is sung by the crowd, accompanied by the University of Louisville Band. If you don't at least get goose bumps, well, you just may not have what most human beings refer to as feelings.

The Kentucky Derby begins with the rendition of this song. I don't know if there is any sporting event that allows an entire state to display it's pride more than this one, you can feel it when this song is played.

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY - MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME

My Old Kentucky Home
Words and Music by: Stephen C. Foster

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home
'Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day;
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy, and bright,
By'n by hard times comes a-knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Chorus

Weep no more, my lady,
Oh weep no more today!
We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,
For the old Kentucky home far away.

They hunt no more for the 'possum and the coon,
On meadow, the hill and the shore,
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
On the bench by that old cabin door;
The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,
With sorrow where all was delight;
The time has come when the people have to part,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Chorus

The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the people may go;
A few more days and the trouble all will end
In the field where sugar-canes may grow;
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter, 'twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Chorus



If you've not witnessed this event in the past, I recommend it highly. It is on my list of events to witness live at least once before I die, a must see event.

Below I've added videos of a couple of past races that are high on my list of all-time favorite horse races:

1973 Kentucky Derby - Secretariat beats Sham (both set Derby records, Secretariat's
record still stands today)

1973 Belmont Stakes - Secretariat completes THE MOST AWESOME PERFORMANCE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN AN ATHLETIC EVENT. EVER!!! BY ANY ATHLETE. COMPLETE AND UTTER DOMINATION OF THE FIELD.

1978 Kentucky Derby - Affirmed and Alydar duel it out,as they would in the Preakness and again in a classic Belmont Stakes race.

1978 Belmont Stakes - Affirmed completes the last leg of the Triple Crown. Still the last horse to win it.

1975 Belmont Park - Ruffian vs. Foolish Pleasure: The Great Match Race
Have to include Ruffian in any discussion of great all-time horses. One of the greatest tragedies in sports history.


SECRETARIAT - 1973 KENTUCKY DERBY

SECRETARIAT - 1973 BELMONT STAKES

AFFIRMED - 1978 KENTUCKY DERBY

AFFIRMED 1978 BELMONT STAKES

RUFFIAN BREAKS DOWN - JULY 6,1975 BELMONT PARK

To this day, it's hard for me to watch this and not break down myself.

The buildup for this race was monumental. A filly racing a colt, Are you kidding me?
But Ruffian appeared to be taking an early lead as the tragedy unfolded.

From the book RUFFIAN: BURNING FROM THE START by Jane Schwartz

Ruffian was half a length in front and everyone was on their feet, screaming. The noise in the stands was deafening, but it reached the riders only a distant hum. What they heard was the thundering of hooves, the sharp and steady intake of breath, the ancient and unchanging rhythm of the running horse.

Then both riders heard something else. A quick, bright sound, like the snapping of a twig. Suddenly Foolish Pleasure was a length in front, then two-three-four!- and Dave Johnson was crying out into the microphone, his own voice tinged with disbelief: "Ruffian has broken down! Ruffian has broken down!"

Fifty thousand people stopped screaming. On the television broadcast, Chic Anderson had called out the same words, in the same stricken voice, to eighteen million more people sitting in homes all across the country. Stunned, they watched the nightmare unfolding on their screens.

Ruffian kept on running.
Jacinto knew instantly what had happened, he had heard the crack of bone, he tried to pull the filly up as quickly as possible but the filly was having none of it. She wanted to run. She was in the race of her life; she was pulling away from the colt and she couldn't understand the sudden pain, the way her balance shifted as she went from four legs to three. She did not want the other horse in front, she would not let this happen, she was determined to regain the lead. Let me run! she shrieked at Jacinto,as silent, as unmistakable as ever, her only demand, fighting the bit, clearer than words, Let me run! And Jacinto pulled with all his might, tears stinging the back of his eyes, desperate to hold her up because, at least, oh God, there was a chance if she did not go down! But she was so strong and so determined that she kept on running, and Jacinto had to beg her, beg her to stop, stop! Because if she kept on running on three legs she would go down on the track, and then he knew she would never get back up.
But the filly wouldn't stop. She ignored Vasquez, ignored the bit tearing at her mouth, ignored the pain. She went on running, pulverizing the sesamoids, ripping the skin of her fetlock as the bones burst through, driving open the wound into the stinging sand of the Belmont track, tearing her ligaments, until her hoof was flopping uselessly, bent up like the tip of a ski, as she pounded down the track on the exposed bone, running on and on-it seemed to Jacinto like forever-until finally he managed to pull the valiant, mutilated filly to a halt.


TRIBUTE TO RUFFIAN:

A beautiful tribute to a wonderful champion, Ruffian.

The greatest filly of alltime. Unbeaten in her ten starts up to the Match Race with Foolish Pleasure. Never anywhere other than the lead at any time in any of her races. She amazed race fans with her beauty and speed. In my mind, the filly equivalent of Secretariat. A brilliant champion.

And finally, a tribute to another streaking comet, who teased the imagination of horse racing fans that we might possibly witness another Triple Crown winner with his blistering run through the Kentucky Derby. Another sad tragic ending. But what a champion. Almost a sad, surreal blending of the stories of Secretariat and Ruffian.

BARBARO MEMORIAL VIDEO

Song: Iris
Artist: Goo Goo Dolls

For the 133rd running hopefully we will see nothing but the beauty and magnificence of these horses on display. With mint julep in hand, I like, in no particular order (come on, if I could do that, I wouldn't be writing a blog, I'd be cashing TRIFECTAS baby ):

Street Sense
Scat Daddy
Great Hunter

Godspeed Barbaro: NPR's Scott Simon's Tribute

You might find this final tribute to a champion a poignant eulogy, very eloquently stating why many of us DID place significant importance on the trials and triumphs this beautiful champion.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7146854

Then again, judging by some of the complaints I've heard of the coverage, a significant number of sports fans feel that too much is being made of and "too much being done for a mere horse".

If the media coverage of this sports tragedy is somewhat overdone, I think in part at least, it may be due to the fact that many sports reporters, at least the ones that are around my age, remember vividly the match race between Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure in 1976. That race resulted in Ruffian having to be put down after a night or two of hoping for a vetinary miracle that would save her. This was the famous "battle of the sexes" race between the best colt and the best filly of the day.

This was an era where women were just making there way into the workplace in significant numbers (imagine that). Billie Jean-King had just vanquished Bobbie Riggs in the tennis version of the "battle of the sexes" that seemed designed to send women back to their rightful place (the kitchen, I presume).

Ruffian not only was unbeaten, but at the time, had never been anywhere but in the lead at any significant, measured point in any of her races. A true champion and a true tragedy when she broke down. I'm not sure the popularity of horseracing as a spectator sport has ever recovered. As Scott Simon says about Barbaro "something precious burst in front of us". I agree, and we all hoped and prayed that the vets could work some sort of equine magic and put her back together, just as we hoped for the same for Babrbaro. Maybe the greatest victory Babrbaro can give us is that the advances and knowledge of what works and what doesn't work when these powerful yet fragile athletes do break down will ultimately save horses in the future.

As Simon says, "it's useless to complain about what makes us..fall in love" and beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose, but the essence of what makes us grieve in these cases is what makes all of us love sports in the first place and that is that "champions carry the hopes of others". We dream that someday, in some way we can all achieve the greatness of champions.

The paradox is that we know too well that "greatness walks hand in hand with grief...greatness by it's nature is ephemeral. Part of the experience of witnessing it is ultimately watching it come to an end. It's this fleeting nature that makes it so wonderful to find and so difficult to lose".

Part of the initial attraction of Barbaro is that he may have been the fastest racehorse since the great Secretariat. Secretariat's 31 length victory in the Belmont Stakes to secure the Triple Crown is truly one of the most jaw-droppingly awesome feats I have ever witnessed in sports in my lifetime, so when comparisons are made to him, it is bound to get those who witnessed Secretariat to hope that maybe, just maybe, we might witness a second coming of sorts and be lifted as high as Secretariat lifted us all with his performance.

A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE AND A WORTHWHILE LISTEN!!! I agree with Mr. Simon that it seems impossible for any feeling person to watch this champion face his physical struggles with the same grace and grit and determination he displayed on the racetrack.
I feel for those who don't have that type of compassion in their heart. I wonder if they will ever experience the heights reached by true champions.