2015 Preakness Stakes (LIVE 6:18pm ET on NBC)

DownTheStretchs.com, Preakness.com, Brisnet.com | self

[ETL]

	1./	American Pharoah	3/C	L	Victor Espinoza	126	Bob Baffert	4/5
	2./	Dortmund	3/C	L	Martin Garcia	126	Bob Baffert	7/2
	3./	Mr Z.	3/C	L	Corey Nakatani	126	D. Wayne Lukas	20/1
	4./	Danzig Moon	3/C	L	Julien Leparoux	126	Mark Casse	15/1
	5./	Tale of Verve	3/C	L	Joel Rosario	126	Dallas Stewart	30/1
	6./	Bodhisattva	3/C	L	Trevor McCarthy	126	Jose Corrales	20/1
	7./	Divining Rod	3/C	L	Javier Castellano	126	Arnaud Delacour	12/1
	8./	Firing Line	3/C	L	Gary Stevens	126	Simon Callaghan	4/1

[lwd]

Rain plays a factor in those time differences.

I hope AP can pull it off...he's got the best shot at it since...well...cali chrome!

[Impy]

Do you think the vets effed up?

[the OlLine Rebel]

This is the same broadcast view always shown.

I never heard that Sec’s groom was called Shorty. Are you talking about his stud groom? His racing groom was Eddie Sweat.

[the OlLine Rebel]

No, not the Belmont. His quarters improved in the Derby.

None of his TC runs was on wet track.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Just a note on a common error. Ruffian only ever equalled 2 TRs, early as a 2yo at short sprints commonly run only by 2yos.

She only set sake records for her other races - which were all female races.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Yes indeed.

And it was unsealed. That could make a bigger difference.

I am still skeptical of Pharoah, though.

[Mears]

Yep-—it was all about money.

Cruel.

[ETL]

I never heard that Sec’s groom was called Shorty. Are you talking about his stud groom? His racing groom was Eddie Sweat.

Yes, they called him "Shorty". The first time he saw me come in the barn with my friend who worked for (Secretariat's trainer) Lucien Lauren's son, trainer Roger Laurin, he said to me "son, you walk like an old farmer". I was 17 at the time.

From the NY Times...

“Scanlan fares better with Edward (Shorty) Sweat, Secretariat’s devoted groom, a flashy dresser who liked vodka, danced the boogaloo and fathered four children by three different women. Powerfully built, with massive forearms, Sweat joined the exodus of Southern black men who hired on as grooms because the job paid a halfway-decent wage and beat picking cotton. The son of a poor sharecropper, he was working steadily with horses at 14 and eventually landed at Laurin’s Holly Hill Farm, the ticket that led him to the big time in New York. “

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/review/Barich-t.html
______________________________________

Edward “Eddie” Sweat

Birth: Aug. 29, 1939
Holly Hill
Orangeburg County
South Carolina, USA

Death: Apr. 17, 1998
Elmont
Nassau County
New York, USA

“Born in Holly Hill, South Carolina, Eddie Sweat was one of nine children of an African American sharecropper. Mary Sweat was his morther. Holly Hill was where future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer Lucien Laurin maintained a Thoroughbred horse farm and he offered Sweat a job after he saw the wide-eyed teen frequently peeking at the horses through a fence to the property as well as sometimes skipping school just to watch the horses. In 1957, the then eighteen-year-old Sweat accepted the offer of full-time work as groom for the Laurin stable of racehorses with a small fixed salary plus 1% of the horse’s earnings.”

“There, on April 24, a group primarily of relatives — no one from Secretariat’s inner circle was present — gathered at Rock Hill A.M.E. Church in Vance, S.C., to bid farewell to Edward “Shorty” Sweat.

A son of tenant farmers who picked cotton as a boy, Sweat dedicated his life to horses. He cared for Secretariat, who 25 years ago delivered one of the greatest performances in the history of sport. Completing a sweep of the Triple Crown, Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by a staggering 31 lengths.

Yet Sweat, perhaps the most essential member of the Secretariat team, died a pauper’s death.

“I’m surprised Bill didn’t do a story for Sports Illustrated called ‘The Case of the Forgotten Groom,’ “ said Jim Gaffney, one of Secretariat’s exercise riders.

“Bill” is William Nack, a writer for Sports Illustrated and author of “Secretariat: The Making of a Champion.” He didn’t write about Sweat’s death, but several years ago he wrote a story for Sports Illustrated about grooms. It was titled, “Nobody Knows Their Names.”

He highlighted this from Sweat:

“Only way that horses win is if you sit there and spend time with ‘em. Show ‘em that you’re tryin’ to help ‘em. Love ‘em. Talk to ‘em. Get to know ‘em. That’s what you gotta do. You love ‘em and they’ll love you, too.

“People might call me crazy, but that’s the way it is. I been on the racetrack 34 years, and I ain’t never gonna give up. I think they’ll take me to my grave with a pitchfork in my hand and a rub rag in my back pocket.”

Coming up empty

Sweat died April 17 of leukemia in a hospital not far from Belmont Park, where Real Quiet will attempt Saturday to become the 12th Triple Crown winner — and third since Secretariat.

Sweat had endured numerous ailments, including a heart attack, open-heart surgery, asthma, leukemia and cancer of the stomach. Health insurance through his wife, Linda, a kindergarten teacher, paid his medical bills. But Sweat, on his own, possessed little.

He lost most of his cherished Secretariat memorabilia in a 1991 fire that gutted the Sweats’ home in Queens. How he died virtually penniless is not clear. Friends, relatives and the two trainers for whom Sweat worked, Lucien and Roger Laurin, offered varying ideas.

“It really doesn’t matter what happened to his money,” said Danny Vogt, a longtime friend. “Whatever happened, Eddie came up empty.”

Burial:
Gerizim United Methodist Church Cemetery
Vance
Orangeburg County
South Carolina, USA

Created by: SPRICENanc...
Record added: Jul 29, 2011
Find A Grave Memorial# 74160719

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=74160719

[ETL]

Ruffian's Complete Race Record

---

2 Year Old Season, 1974
Date	#/Track	Cond/Length	Split 1	2	3	4	Race Name	Jockey	Weight	W/P/S	Comments
5/22	3/Bel	fst/5 1/2f	22.1	45	57	1:03	Md Sp Wt(F)	Vasquez J	116	Ruffian(15), Suzest, Garden Quad	Ridden Out
6/12	8/Bel	fst/5 1/2F	22.2	45.1	57	1:03	(F)Fashion-G3	Vasquez J	117	Ruffian(6 3/4), Corpernica, Jan Verzal	Ridden Out
7/10	8/Aqu	fst/5 1/2F	21.4	44.2	56.2	1:02.4	(F)Astoria-G3	Bracciale V Jr	118	Ruffian(9), Laughin Bridge, Our Dancing Girl	Speed to spare
7/27	8/Mth	fst/6F	21.3	44.1	-	1:09.0	(F)Sorority-G3	Vasquez J	119	Ruffian(2 1/4), Hot n Nasty, Stream Across	Driving
8/23	8/Sar	fst/6F	:22.1	:44.4	-	1:08.3	(F)Spinaway-G1	Bracciale V Jr	120	Ruffian(12 3/4), Laughing Bridge, Scottish Melody	Easily

3 Year Old Season, 1975
Date	#/Track	Cond/Length	Split 1	2	3	4	Race Name	Jockey	Weight	W/P/S	Comments
4/14	8/Aqu	fst/6f	23.0	45.4	-	1:09.2	(F)Alw 20000	Vasquez J	122	Ruffian(4 3/4), Sir Ivor's Sorrow, Channelette	Easily
4/30	8/Aqu	fst/7f	22.4	45.0	1:08.4	1:21.1	(F)Comely-G3	Vasquez J	113	Ruffian(7 3/4), Aunt Jin, Point in Time	Slow Start, handily
5/10	8/Aqu	fst/1m	23.2	45.3	1:09.3	1:34.2	(F)Acorn-G1	Vasquez J	121	Ruffian(8 1/4), Somethingregal, Gallant Trial	In hand
5/31	8/Aqu	fst/1 1/8m	47.3	1:11.3	1:35.3	1:47.4	(F)Mother Goose-G1	Vasquez J	121	Ruffian(13 1/2), Sweet Old Girl, SunandSnow	Easy score
6/21	8/Bel	fst/1 1/2m	49.0	1:13.2	2:03.1	2:27.4	(F)C C A Oaks-G1	Bracciale V Jr	121	Ruffian(2 3/4), Equal Change, LtMLngr	Confidently Ridden
7/6	8/Bel	fst/1 1/4m	44.3	1:08.3	1:35.2	2:02.4	Match Race 350k	Vasquez J	121	Foolish Pleasure(126)	Broke Down

 

Report photo

[ETL]

Rain plays a factor in those time differences.

The difference was nearly 4 seconds. That's a lot. Also, sloppy and muddy are two very different things. Sloppy is loose and actually quite fast. Muddy is thick like cement. Put your foot in, it's hard to get out. I've walked on both and know first hand.

[ETL]

Eddie "Shorty" Sweat with the late great Secretariat

[ETL]

Belmont Track Records

MAIN TRACK
Distance	Horse	Weight	Time	Date
5F	Kelly Kip	114	:55.75	6/21/1996
5 1/2F	Mike's Classic	119	1:02.26	6/20/2004
6F	Artax	120	1:07.66	10/16/1999
6 1/2F	Super Shape (ARG)	120	1:14.46	10/21/2009
6 1/2F	Bear Fan	121	1:14.46	6/5/2004
7F	Clearly Now	116	1:19.96	7/5/2014
7 1/2F	Commentator	119	1:27.44	9/24/2004
1M	Najran	113	1:32.24	5/7/2003
1 1/16M	Transparent	119	1:39.22	9/18/2014
1 1/8M	Secretariat	124	1:45.40	9/15/1973
1 3/16M	Lueders	111	1:56.00	6/24/1982
1 1/4M	In Excess (IRE)	119	1:58.33	7/4/1991
1 3/8M	Victoriously	118	2:14.72	10/16/1997
1 1/2M	Secretariat	126	2:24.00	6/9/1973
1 5/8M	Man o' War	126	2:40.80	9/4/1920
WIDENER TURF COURSE
Distance	Horse	Weight	Time	Date
6F	Keep The Faith (AUS)	120	1:06.82	7/24/2005
7F	Officialpermission	112	1:19.88	7/23/2000
1M	Elusive Quality	117	1:31.63	7/4/1998
1 1/16M	Fortitude	112	1:38.53	9/6/1997
1 1/4M	Honey Dear	112	2:03.80	10/10/1962
1 3/8M	Influent	120	2:11.06	7/13/1997
1 1/2M	Fantastic Light	126	2:24.36	10/27/2001
2M	King's General (GB)	112	3:20.40	7/4/1983
INNER TURF COURSE
Distance	Horse	Weight	Time	Date
6F	Gantry	121	1:06.87	6/23/2011
1 1/16M	Roman Envoy	117	1:39.38	5/23/1992
1 1/8M	Shakespeare	114	1:45.06	9/11/2005
1 1/4M	Paradise Creek	124	1:57.79	6/11/1994
1 3/8M	With Approval	118	2:10.26	6/17/1990

 

https://www.nyra.com/belmont/records/

[ETL]

"Ruffian won her maiden by 15 lengths and
returned to the winner's circle looking as fresh
as if she'd just left the barn."

[ETL]

"Ruffian was undefeated in her first ten races, covering distances from 5.5 furlongs (1.1 km) to 1.5 miles (2.4 km), with an average winning margin of 81⁄3 lengths. She won her maiden race in record time by 15 lengths. She was on the lead at every point of call in every race she ever ran. She set a new stakes record in each of the eight stakes races she won. She also equaled two track records."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffian_%28horse%29#Career

[ETL]

“As God is my witness, she (Ruffian) may even be better than Secretariat.”—Lucien Laurin, trainer of Secretariat

[the OlLine Rebel]

You proved my point. ;-)

[ETL]

Yeah, but don’t forget the incredible ease in which she won her races. Imagine if she had been pushed. I’m sure she would have set a bunch more track records.