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The Triple Crown dream is on again – love it.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Long road to ho since Affirmed in 1978. A lot of good horses who won first two legs just couldn’t cut it over a mile and a half. Will this year be any different? AP has showed that he is far and away the best 3YO. But we said the same thing for horses like Smarty Jones, California Chrome, Big Brown, etc. Problem with US racing today is the pedigree has no stamina. Would love to see him win it. Hope he does, but watch out for horses entered that have not run in Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Cheers.
Agreed – and watch out for owners moaning about it.
They don’t give away The Triple Crown.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It’s ten years since the Belmont was won by a horse that had even run in the Preakness. That was Afleet Alex in 2005, who was 3rd in the Derby, then won at Pimlico.
Since then the winners are about evenly split between those that ran in the Derby, but missed the Preakness, and those that ran in neither and arrived here from minor stakes races over shorter trips.
Overall it’s like trying to win over 10F at Kempton, then 9F+ at Wolverhampton before going on to a 12F race at Southwell, such are the differences in the surfaces at the three Triple Crown tracks.
I wonder if the differences in the surfaces have become wider over the years – or are they broadly the same as they would have been 40/50 years ago?
It’s ten years since the Belmont was won by a horse that had even run in the Preakness. That was Afleet Alex in 2005, who was 3rd in the Derby, then won at Pimlico.
Since then the winners are about evenly split between those that ran in the Derby, but missed the Preakness, and those that ran in neither and arrived here from minor stakes races over shorter trips.
Overall it’s like trying to win over 10F at Kempton, then 9F+ at Wolverhampton before going on to a 12F race at Southwell, such are the differences in the surfaces at the three Triple Crown tracks.
Ah Afleet Alex, the Triple Crown winner the US should have got. Attention is naturally drawn to those who fail in leg 3 at Belmont but in my view Alex was the best Triple Crown contender for 20 years. Just about knocked down in the Preakness, picked himself up to win in style and streeted the field at Belmont. Unfortunately he ran in the biggest circus of a race Churchill Downs has ever seen in the Derby.
Barged at the start, baulked on the back straight and crammed down on the rail up the stretch with every bit of Kentucky dirt kicked in his face, he still managed a creditable placed effort…2005 was the weirdest, pace collapsing, last man standing heat seen for a long time. All it needed, to complete the scene, was 4 clowns in a car to pass the wire alongside Giacomo, firing streamers and whistling Dixie.Nice horse was Alex.
To those who say he was gifted a soft field and the opposition was weak – you miss the point.
He held his form, and each Classic win was more impressive than the previous one.
Brilliant horse – not only a Triple Crown winner but probably one of the better ones.
Some will call for the UK equivalent to be modernised now so prospects of one over here are enhanced.
Not so sure about that, tbh.
The 2,000 Guineas, Dante, Derby Triple Crown idea is not entirely without merit, but the UK TC has always been a different beast – much harder to achieve (and especially so now winning the St Leger REDUCES stallion value!) and probably only going to be your target if you want to….err….swerve meeting Frankel. =D
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"YES! I was starting to think this wouldn’t happen in my lifetime.
He surely shut up those who said that today’s Thoroughbreds are too fragile to win the Crown and who wanted to make it easier by spacing out the races or shortening the Belmont. No, American Pharoah did it the old fashioned way, winning in a sparkling time of 2:26.65, fastest since A.P. Indy in 1992. Victor Espinoza gave him a perfect trip and when Materiality and Frosted came running at him at the top of the stretch he took off like a rocket.
I don’t think you in England should change your TC, but you do need to provide incentives so that horses will actually RUN in all three races! Here it would be almost unthinkable to not run a (healthy) Derby winner back in the Preakness and then if they win those two they almost have to run in the Belmont because the American Triple Crown is such a huge deal. Looking from the outside in Golden Horn seems like a great racehorse and he should run in the Guineas and St. Leger. There should be pressure from the racing community on his owners to run him (if healthy fit and sound of course) in those races.
A bit late for the 2000 Guineas.
Pleased that American Pharoah did it and he looks a very good horse. Not sure I’m quite as pleased for the jockey. Had those three races been over here he probably wouldn’t have been the jockey today as he would be likely serving a long ban after his apalling use of the whip in the first leg.
The 2,000 Guineas, Dante, Derby Triple Crown idea is not entirely without merit…
I’m afraid it is entirely without merit.
Why not a Triple Crown over 5,6 and 7 furlongs? You could have one every month throughout the season!
More seriously, why doesn’t someone invent an All Age Triple Crown. You could start with a 2 1/2 mile event (let’s call it The Gold Cup and hold it at Ascot), then a two mile affair at say, Goodwood, finishing up with a 2 1/4 race, perhaps at Doncaster.
To those who say he was gifted a soft field and the opposition was weak – you miss the point.
He held his form, and each Classic win was more impressive than the previous one.
Brilliant horse – not only a Triple Crown winner but probably one of the better ones.
Some will call for the UK equivalent to be modernised now so prospects of one over here are enhanced.
Not so sure about that, tbh.
The 2,000 Guineas, Dante, Derby Triple Crown idea is not entirely without merit, but the UK TC has always been a different beast – much harder to achieve (and especially so now winning the St Leger REDUCES stallion value!) and probably only going to be your target if you want to….err….swerve meeting Frankel. =D
Yes it is it’s absurd. Our triple crown is just as it should be – very, very, very difficult to achieve. That is the whole point.
Americans have it their way, we have it our way. I’d rather have British racing than American racing any day of the week.
It takes a really special horse to win our Triple Crown. In a way, it’s like the racing equivalent of a soldier awarded a Victoria Cross for bravery and heroism.
Pity Sea The Stars didn’t go for the TC. I really think he had the right attitude and battling qualities to lift it.
I’d forgotten about the race till the last minute; thankfully, although I can’t watch racing live on the internet I hastily tuned into Radio Sport 927 in the hope that they’d have it on and they did. It was great listening to it.
As those who actually read my post will know, I too favour keeping the English Triple Crown as it is.
However, racing has changed since the time when a full Classic campaign was the prelude to the ultimate – trying to win the Gold Cup at four.
1m 2f is the global Classic distance nowadays and we don’t even have a Classic at that distance.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Regarding which is most difficult to win…the trip difference in Britain is hugely significant, but against that, a TC aspirant has 5 months of growing, rest and preparation. The U.S. version takes place over the space of 5 weeks.
I suspect there are quite a few UK trainers who wouldn’t run a handicapper three times inside five weeks.
Even money was a good offer. There was something about AP that set him a little above the previous 2 out of 3 horses.
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