Fame in 1973...Carrera RS and Secretariat

[Jim Garfield]

Interesting side-by-side comparison:

http://www.wsj.com/video/american-ph...54AF09F4B.html

[letsrollbabe]

The big bay horse American Pharoah won the Haskell Invitational on Sunday in an easy trip, allowed to coast in the stretch to a 2 length win by jockey Victor Espinoza. AP paced with the field in second position until just past the 3rd turn, and then Espinoza asked him to move out...and WOW, it reminded me of how it feels when an early S engine hits 5k rpm...he just seemed to leap out ahead, and as he made the 4th turn heading into the stretch he was pulling away with ease...and then just coasting to the wire for the victory. The win earned over $1 million for the horse,

This win guarantees a start for AP in the Breeder's Cup Classic race, the richest race of the year...with a $5 million purse. AP will be the 'horse to beat' in this the biggest test in his short racing career, as he will compete with the best horses of all ages. AP may race one more time before the Classic to keep him sharp, but right now he is undefeated as a 3 yr old, something that Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed failed to accomplish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng_vTUl5Gis

[mvboy]

I'm afraid it looks like they went to the well a little too soon and maybe too often. This time 3 weeks was indeed too much for AP. I've been to nine Breeders' Cups and have seen a lot of crazy upsets and results over the years. One thing about the Classic is it's big money with strong competition from all over the world. Hopefully A/P will rebound. Baffert is great at Santa Anita but this year at Keeneland will certainly be a different game. This may equalize out any personal insights and advantages he would bring to Santa Anita. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[letsrollbabe]

Well, American Pharoah did it...again...the first 'Grand Slam' in horse racing history. Triple Crown and now the Breeders Cup Classic..a race open to all age horses...the best of the best. He won it wire to wire by 6 1/2 lengths, setting a track record at Keeneland (Lexington, KY) for the 1 1/4 mi race. His time: 2:00.07. He vindicated his loss to Keen Ice (who also ran in this race) in the Travers Stakes in Saratoga. It was an exciting end to an outstanding racing career, and one that will long be remembered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPACACzYbJc

[letsrollbabe]

A followup to an historic thoroughbred racing season....

(from Wikipedia)
At the conclusion of the 2015 season, American Pharoah's accomplishments were named the top sports story of the year by the Associated Press. He or his connections also swept most of the year-end achievement awards of the horse racing world. At the 2015 Eclipse Awards, he was the unanimous choice for American Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse. His win marked only the second time that an American Horse of the Year had been unanimously selected, the first being John Henry in 1981. He was named the winner of the Secretariat Vox Populi Award, and his Belmont win was declared the NTRA Moment of the Year. His connections were given the Big Sport of Turfdom Award, an honor for people who "enhance coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and racing publicists." In addition, Baffert won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and Zayat Stables took home the Eclipse awards for Outstanding Owner and Outstanding Breeder.

Retirement
On May 20, 2015, The New York Times reported that Zayat had sold breeding rights to the colt to the Ashford Stud, a division of Ireland's Coolmore Stud, but retained control over the colt and his racing career. Before the announcement, offers for American Pharoah's breeding rights reportedly exceeded $20 million. After the Belmont, Forbes magazine reported that Zayat had actually sold the breeding rights to Ashford in late 2014, long before he began his Triple Crown run, and that Zayat retained 100% of the racing rights. Forbes went on to estimate that if American Pharoah stood for a $100,000 stud fee, he could be worth $50 million. More conservative estimates placed his potential stud fee at $75,000 and his potential value at about $25 to $36 million. The New York Times said that breeding rights had been sold for $13.8 million: $9.8 million with an additional $4 million incentive if American Pharoah won the Belmont Stakes. Zayat retained an undisclosed percentage in the colt's breeding career, and explained that American Pharoah would retire from racing at the end of 2015.

American Pharoah shipped to Ashford Stud on November 2, 2015, where he was housed in the stall once occupied by Grand Slam and pastured each morning next to Thunder Gulch, who, at 23 years old, was chosen as a neighbor due to his calming influence on the young, energetic stallion. American Pharoah officially began breeding mares in the spring of 2016, and was first bred to Untouched Talent, an 11-year-old mare owned by Coolmore and the dam of Zayat's Bodemeister. Ashford Stud set his initial stud fee for 2016 at $200,000, the second-highest stud fee in the United States, behind that of the $300,000 fee for Tapit.

Forty-two years separated the racing careers and fame of Secretariat and American Pharoah, and much has changed in the world in those years. Retaining a place in the public consciousness today is more difficult with so much instant awareness of everything around the world. It will take at least 3 more years to find out whether American Pharoah can produce Triple Crown race or Stakes Grade winners, an accomplishment in which Secretariat did not succeed to the level expected. Thoroughbred Racing, and many of us who follow it will be watching closely in 2019 and onward to see if American Pharoah will succeed in being as great a sire as he was a racing competitor.

[letsrollbabe]

Do we have another serious Triple Crown contender? Nyquist won the 2016 Kentucky Derby bringing his brief record to 8-0, remaining undefeated, and winning $4.6 million to date. Nyquist's winning time was 2 min, 1.31 sec, which is not close to Secretariat's 1 min, 59.4 sec record time. Watching the race one gets the impression that Nyquist was running just fast enough to win...not trying to run all out...we'll see in 2 weeks if he really has the stuff to pull off a second consecutive Triple Crown. The jockey did a wonderful job of positioning Nyquist throughout the race. But Secretariat's Derby time compared to Nyquist's would mean that Nyquist would have trailed Secretariat by 13 lengths or approximately 104 feet. Secretariat's average pace was 55.3 ft/sec vs. 54.4 ft/sec for Nyquist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZstnjDJjP0g

[CurtEgerer]

Where's Gib? Only a few hours to post time. I'm thinking Irish War Cry myself.

Was at Churchill a couple of weeks ago. That place is dripping with history.

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And one from the Maker's 46 Mile at Keeneland over in Lexington:

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[CurtEgerer]

Crap. Forgot the best pic of all. That horse is revered at Churchill. A true legend.

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[letsrollbabe]

Curt,

Thanks for posting those pics of Churchill Downs...I have never seen it so these shots are inspirational for me. This years races seem to be shaping up to be a real yawner....no 'big horse' to get excited about. But who knows, maybe one of them will step up and make some history. But never again like Secretariat did...

[CurtEgerer]

We took a tour and our guide was an absolute Secretariat fanatic. I'm pretty jaded with most everything these days, but Churchill was something else. Could've spent all day there. The museum is fantastic.

Yeah, not much buzz about this year's entries. Chance of rain. Maybe the mud will make it a race. Who knows?

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