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 ...
I just view the screen where they give the odds, colors and horses names. They name them again as they get in the gate.
Upon his death, Secretariat’s heart was measured to be twice the size of a normal horses heart.
(2) Since the Triple Crown existed it has been two weeks between the Preakness and the Derby and three weeks between the Preakness and the Belmont. That is sufficient time to rest between races for a healthy animal. Men, who are weaker animals than horses, win multiple grueling track events within days at the Olympics and other world class meets. Often one competitor's third event is another's first event. The "fresh competitors are cheating" argument is a pathetic argument for sore losers.
(3) The rules of Belmont were bent to allow CC's special breathe-right strip and he still lost. The horse simply was not good enough, period.
(4) If the essential elements of the race are altered - timing, distance, qualifying - then no future TC winner is comparable to the past. If they are changed to pacify a crybaby like Coburn, it would be a real shame: destroying a tradition to curry favor with a whiner.
It has been quite a while.
Secretariat was one of the two best horses of the twentieth century. It’s interesting, however, to compare his times and performances to the other star of the century, Man O’ War, who raced without many of the advantages in training, veterinary care, and farriery the other Big Red had in modern times.
Don’t forget that Thoroughbred racing has gone on for more than 300 years. How do we compare a Secretariat to, say, Eclipse?
Three weeks is more than enough time for a horse to recover from a hard race.
That is a ridiculous argument for him to have made. Chromie came in as fresh as the any of the others but the distance killed him as it has so many others.
Nice link
Wonder if he got “paid” anything for that tactical mistake. That was the conversation at my house. Lots of money bet on CC. Follow the $, always.
There’s always lots of money bet on the horse that won the first two. But the vast majority of it is “souvenir betting” (people place the bet to have the slip and intend to keep the slip if the horse wins rather than cash it in). Remember it’s para-mutual betting the payouts are structured specifically to make sure no matter who wins the house wins. Smart money was never on Chrome, he showed no ability to make the distance, the field was catching up to him at both previous races, he’d never won at Belmont before. For the people who paid attention this was one of the least anticipated “almost” Crowns ever because they all knew he really didn’t have a chance.
You summed up the whole situation perfectly. Costas continues his quest to enrage all sports fans.
Hah! And the guy next to her trying to keep a straight face as he watched an idiot betray his true colors on national TV.
California Chrome's part-owner Steve Coburn takes shot at Churchill Downs
Gotcha. Thanks for the enlightenment. Don’t know much about high profile horse racing.
There where only three horses that all three races, Cali Chrome, Ride on Curlin. and General A Rod, as for the winner of this race the last time it ran a race and won was at this very track and that was on May 10th... So yeah the “sore loser” as some call him has a point it is cowardly to pick and choose your races only to be the spoiler...
If the NBA was like this and the Heat and the Spurs had to play 20 games in the playoffs and all of a sudden the NBA put in a fresh team and let them play all of the games at their home court playing the tired team and surprise the spurs or the Heat lose well all heck would break loose.....
The Sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home, it’s summer, the people are Gay.....
Not that there’s anything wrong with that
It would have been nice for the industry to have another Triple Crown winner. However, in races such as these, the handicapper looks for gifts and a Castellano/Pletcher horse going off at 28-to-1 was a gimme.
And if that happens, we’ll end up with 3 horses at the Belmont and an easier win for the TC.
So then Tonalist chose to race on May 10th and California Chrome chose to race on May 17th
Why is that a problem?
Then nobody will care about the TC.
Yup, gotta love it.
He said “I don’t care”.
He was right about Pimlico vs. Churchill, and it needed to be said. But even back then he was complaining about horses not exclusive to the crown events. That struck me as poor sportsmanship even then.
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