Horse racing

I think we tried a thread over at SD-1 but no takers. Just curious as to who else is into it (other than one other poster on here) ;)

Come on, I know there are more fans out there! Even if you've just watched only one or two Triple Crown races, come on in and share your thoughts.
 
:lol: I believe we have an equestrian thread here. :P We talk about horse racing there too. :P Merging...
--Mandy :angelic:
 
Agent Verdi said:
Wow!  He's beautiful!!  So cute! :love:
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He is cute, I mean, he's not as beautiful as Smarty but he's pretty.

Hey, can we have two seperate threads? Equestrian and horse racing are really two different things and some of us really aren't into one or the other. Thanks.

Here's a cute pic


Guess who.. :D
 
Was Smarty Jones in the Breeder's cup?! I missed it! I was so angry and my dad was channel surfing and he's like uhhhh isn't this horse racing? and I'm like :jawdrop: ;)

--Mandy :angelic:
 
No he wasn't. Smarty was retired at the beginning of August. He now stands stud at Three Chimneys in Kentucky.

Mandy, how long have you been into horse racing?

Any predictions for the Eclipse Awards, I've got a few:

Horse of the Year: Ghostzapper
3 Year Old of the Year: Smarty Jones
2 Year Old of the Year: Proud Accolade
Jockey of the Year: I'm thinking either Edgar Prado, John Velasquaz or Stew Elliot
Trainer of the Year: Probably Bobby Frankel, he won last year and he won the BC Classic finally (as much as I dislike the man)
 
Mrs_Jack_Bristow said:
No he wasn't. Smarty was retired at the beginning of August. He now stands stud at Three Chimneys in Kentucky.

Mandy, how long have you been into horse racing?

Any predictions for the Eclipse Awards, I've got a few:

Horse of the Year: Ghostzapper
3 Year Old of the Year: Smarty Jones
2 Year Old of the Year: Proud Accolade
Jockey of the Year: I'm thinking either Edgar Prado, John Velasquaz or Stew Elliot
Trainer of the Year: Probably Bobby Frankel, he won last year and he won the BC Classic finally (as much as I dislike the man)
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Um not a whole long time. About 5 years? :blink: And I dont' get the chance to watch much because we just don't get sports channels but I don't ever go out on Triple Crown races days. :lol:

Ghostzapper won the BC right? :blink:

Wait Smarty Jones got retired. :blink: but... he's such a good horse. *sigh* And for the las three years I've watched 3 horses go down with only two legs of TC and it was disappointing. When War Emblem won I was actually rooting for Harlan's Holiday, I was actually rooting for Buddha until he got scratched and I was upset. ;) And then when uhh... ohhh braindeadness forgot his name but when OH! Funny Cide won... I didn't really like Funny Cide. nor did i start off liking Smarty either but he totally won me over. :lol:

:lol: Bobby Frankel will probably win the Eclipse award for Trainer of the year, I've got nothing on the others. ;)

--Mandy :angelic:
 
mystery_chick said:
Um not a whole long time. About 5 years? :blink: And I dont' get the chance to watch much because we just don't get sports channels but I don't ever go out on Triple Crown races days. :lol:

Ghostzapper won the BC right? :blink:

Wait Smarty Jones got retired. :blink: but... he's such a good horse. *sigh* And for the las three years I've watched 3 horses go down with only two legs of TC and it was disappointing. When War Emblem won I was actually rooting for Harlan's Holiday, I was actually rooting for Buddha until he got scratched and I was upset. ;) And then when uhh... ohhh braindeadness forgot his name but when OH! Funny Cide won... I didn't really like Funny Cide. nor did i start off liking Smarty either but he totally won me over. :lol:

:lol: Bobby Frankel will probably win the Eclipse award for Trainer of the year, I've got nothing on the others. ;)

--Mandy :angelic:
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That's really cool, Mandy. I've only been into it for 3-4 years, started watching the Triple Crown in 2001 and this year I went to all three races.

Yes, Smarty was retired because of bruises on his hooves. I remember Harlan's Holiday and Buddha. I was rooting for War Emblem and Funny Cide last year. I know what you mean about Smarty winning you over, he did that to a lot of people in this country. :smiley:
 
ooh, I stumbled into the right place :smiley:

Any of y'all keepin up with the situation at Churchill? A bunch of the banned jockeys went back yesterday to try to get their stuff back and exchanged words with the CD security and Louisville metro police, but eventually got their stuff back. It's sad that it's had to come to this, but I totally agree with what they're doing (I guess it kinda helps that I'm friends with three of them that are in the boycott).

As for the Eclipse Awards, my thoughts:
Horse of the Year: Ghostzapper
Older Male: Ghostzapper
Older Female: Azeri
3 Year Old Colt of the Year: Smarty Jones (and it pains me for this to happen, but this was a lousy crop of three year olds)
3 Year Old Filly: Ashado or Halfbridled
2 Year Old Colt: Roman Ruler
2 Year Old Filly: Sweet Catomine or Balletto
Turf: Kitten's Joy
Sprinter: Pico Central or Speightstown
Jockey: Javier Castellano or Rafael Bejarano, possibly Johnny Velasquez
Owner: Frank Stronach
Breeder: not a clue


And Mandy, Ghostzapper won the BC Classic, there are actually 8 Breeders Cup races.
 
3 Year Old Colt of the Year: Smarty Jones (and it pains me for this to happen, but this was a lousy crop of three year olds)

Don't worry, Laur, the world's not going to end if Smarty gets 3 year old of the year ;)

I forgot to list my other choices.

Older Female: Azeri
Sprinter: Pico Central
Turf: Kitten's Joy
 
Hey Kristen, check this out, what do you think is going on here? LOL

Breeders' Cup had local flair
(Fri, Nov/12/2004)


Some final thoughts on this year's Breeders' Cup races:

For the second time in the last three years, a horse that ran at Philadelphia Park has gone on to win the Distaff.

In 2001, Unbridled Elaine ran third against the boys in the Pennsylvania Derby. She went on to win the Distaff later that year at Belmont Park.

Ashado was an easy winner of this year's Cotillion Handicap at Philadelphia Park on Oct. 2. She parlayed that into a Distaff win four weeks later.

It speaks volumes for the quality of horses showing up to run in Philadelphia Park stakes these days.

The locally-owned Afleet Alex probably did enough to nail down the Eclipse for top 2-year-old male. He finished second behind European long shot Wilko. The only other contender for that Eclipse, Roman Ruler, finished behind Afleet Alex.

Part of Afleet Alex's ownership group, known as Cash Is King Stable, is composed of 1979 Neshaminy graduate Bob Brittingham and Langhorne resident Joe Learro.

Just about the entire world sided with the Lone Star Park stewards over their decision to not disqualify Turf winner Better Talk Now during a very bumpy stretch duel.

Here's a minority opinion. Kitten's Joy would have won the race if Better Talk Now hadn't shut him off. It appeared Magistretti would not have fared better than his fourth-place finish even with the cleanest of trips, but Kitten's Joy was about to step around and blow past leader Powerscourt when Better Talk Now took him out.

Finally, Ghostzapper was phenomenal winning the Classic in a race record time of 1:59. He may have been the beneficiary of somewhat comfortable early fractions, but any horse that's running the last quarter mile of a 1¼-mile race in the 22-second range is special.

There has been a lot of argument about which horse deserves to be Horse of the Year, Ghostzapper or Smarty Jones.

In this column the day before the Breeders' Cup, I said Ghostzapper should win Horse of the Year if he won the Classic, and I'm not going to back off that opinion.

But here's the point: Either one of those horses would be a deserving winner. No one should cry foul if either wins. The best older male horse normally wins Horse of the Year, unless that horse isn't anything to write home about.

Ghostzapper is something to write home about, but so is Smarty Jones and that's why the argument isn't clear-cut one way or the other.

Anyone voting for this award must be facing a dilemma if they're looking strictly at on-track performance. Any voter looking at this honestly will be barely voting one over another.

Some Smarty Jones proponents argue his contribution to the sport dwarfs that of any horse in recent memory, and that should be a factor as well.

Not really. Smarty's impact will be rewarded with a place in American history and a permanent place in the hearts of his diehard fans.

Remsen for Rockport Harbor

One published report earlier this week has trainer John Servis sending undefeated 2-year-old Rockport Harbor to the Grade II Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 27.

That was one of the races Servis said he was pondering in last week's column, but he wasn't crazy about sending a 2-year-old 1 1/8 miles.

But it now it appears Servis doesn't believe he has any other viable alternative.
 
Don't worry, Laur, the world's not going to end if Smarty gets 3 year old of the year ;)

It pains me that there's no other 3 year olds out there that are really that good. I'm hoping that maybe this might be a slow group to mature. Some of the best horses didn't peak til later. Cigar was 4 when he started winning. John Henry continued kicking booty til he was 9. I hear RHT is doing better in his training... maybe he'll eventually turn into something worthwhile.
 
I sincerely hope so. Something needs to be done. For me, it's a no brainer. The tracks should carry the insurance. I mean, if something happens to me here at work, say... I fall down the stairs and seriously injure myself, or something, the hospital can't just say "Well, we'll pay your medical bills up to a certain amount, then you gotta deal with it." Not hardly, where you work should pay your bills in the event something happens.
 
I totally agree with you.

The Pennsylvania Museum in Harrisburg is having a Smarty exhibit with the Derby and Preakness trophies. It's just too bad Harrisburg is really far away :(
 
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