Posted on 06/07/2014 4:14:03 PM PDT by kingattax
The longest wait in sports is not over.
California Chrome's bid to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978 fell short in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.
After winning both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes by a length and a half, the mile-and-a-half Belmont proved to be too much for Chrome, who finished fourth to winner Tonalist.
And with that, the longest drought in Triple Crown history continues.
Since Affirmed's sweep 36 years ago, 13 horses now have gone to Belmont Park with the Derby and Preakness in hand only to falter somehow, some way. Real Quiet was nipped at the wire in 1998; War Emblem stumbled out of the gate in 2002; Smarty Jones faltered down the stretch in '04; and I'll Have Another was scratched with an injury the day before the race in '12.
Now add Chrome's fade down the stretch to the list.
Still, it was an impressive run for Chrome, especially considering the horse's backstory: a modest pedigree, blue-collar owners, 77-year-old trainer who'd never sniffed a Triple Crown start until now and jockey who was believed to be past his prime.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
Agreed. Costas is an ass. Why bring up hard feelings at the winner’s presentaion?
The races are those distances, not the tracks. Just that Belmont runs one perfect circuit around for the stake.
In addition to the cup, the winner took home $800,000. I doubt the only motivation was to be a spoiler.
Sham and Alydar would have won this years TC, crushing the field.
Horses are different from humans. Horses don’t know there is anything coming up to work at, so they personally are not ready for races, the humans only try to make them so. And no one wants to hurt them, and cannot know really what is going on with them that might hurt them including “just not feeling perfect”. A human knows if he just cannot go on and can bow out, but he also knows if he wants to push himself to a set schedule that is required to get to regionals, nationals, etc. One just cannot do that with an animal.
Thus, there will never be requirements that horses go from one thing to the next. It is unfortunately one of the impediments to racing being popular these days.
The Triple Crown is a simple construct. Each race is its own entity and of its own importance. We artificially put importance on this “TC” being a string of events that just happened to become very important IN THEMSELVES. And that is why the TC exists at all - because people thought all of them were of high importance. It really did not exist until the ‘40s.
That is what I thought. Tonalist was racing most of the season. He was a known “closer”...although that really wasn’t an issue today. He wasn’t really rested with fresh legs.
Heck, it’s not like he was laying around the pasture, watching fillies and munching on oats, lol.
Of course I was disappointed that Chrome didn’t win. But the poor guy ran out of steam. You can see when it happened. It’s a very long track and he was clearly winded after the Preakness.
Although I understand the owners frustration...he should have paid heed to his wife and just said “Good race” and walked away. It’s not like he won’t get a boatload of money from stud fees and the previous two races.
Again, horses are not in charge of their own destiny and thus, comparing horse-centered events to human is completely pointless, ESPECIALLY team sports. And the TC is completely a construct, and each race is important in and of itself. They do not have to depend upon the others. It is the other way around.
Money and the horse’s health drive where they go. You will never make someone put their horse in jeopardy, or their budget, just to make races you wish they would attempt.
>> Why bring up hard feelings at the winner’s presentaion?
Cuz Costas is a pink-eyed ass?
That maybe why I prefer the Breeder’s Cup.
Thanks for mentioning the best.
He doesn’t keep coming up in these discussions and frequently winning polls and surveys for nothing.
When you think about what Secretariat did at the Belmont...it simply blows the mind. A little stroll.
>>> Secretariat - will always be the greatest and best race horse ever. <<<
I saw him run live (on TV regrettably) back in the day, and it was the most amazing race of man and horse I’ve ever seen,and probably ever will see.
That damn horse just loved to run. Brings a tear to the eye to watch the replays. FReepin awesome.
Although....didn’t they do something like add a bonus for entering all three races? Back in the 1980’s a winner of the Ky Derby entered the New Jersey Derby instead of the Preakness, and then the top 3 circled the wagons to protect their turf.
Secretariat - pure greatness. watch the movie if you havent seen it. youll really like it.
Do you know anything about horses at all????
May 2 May17 June 7 three races in 36 days for California Chrome... 15 days rest between first two races and then 20 between the last two...
May 10 June 7 two races in 27 days both at Tonalist home track that they won at on may10th 27 days rest
Races Horses need rest and recoup time plus Chrome was in the more pressure races trying fo the Triple Crown the other horse was just a spoiler running at the same track he was trained on.....
Thank you for making a more relevant analogy than team sports.
My question is how this horse got in this race without having to be in the other two... there was only three horses in all three races....out of the whole field, makes you go Hmmmmm doesn’t it...
I saw it live on tv, too (Secretariat). Everyone watching simply lost their minds, it was so exciting and absolutely inspiring...and he kept on running after crossing the line.
He’s got a valid point. It’s not like Belmont doesn’t hold other races to test their metal, but the quest for the crown should only be open to those who’ve gone the distance.
JMHO
Of course given that some $9m was bet on him to win; Belmont won’t be so quick to lose such largess to a fair playing field.
The last crown winner was in 78’; Have they been gaming the system since then to keep it down? Don’t know, but money compels a lot of behavior.
the point that I was making was the rest players and horses need to compete that is all, and if you do not understand my point then you missed it on purpose.....
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