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California Chrome goes for the Triple Crown

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by trifectarich, Jun 7, 2014.

  1. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Well, that's a crock; Secretariat set race records which still stand in both the Derby and Preakness.

    And he needed it in the Derby; Sham was only 2 1/2 lengths (0.4 seconds) back.

    Depending how the race tapes are analyzed, Sham might STILL have the best Derby time for any horse other than Secretariat.

    His presence alone in the '73 Belmont field made it legit. He hung in for about a mile, and then it was over.

    It was like watching the Ascension live on camera.
     
  2. armageddon

    armageddon Active Member

    Ya got me. Not a journalist. Part owner of Tonalist and I'm here debating the topic because I'm upset my horse isn't getting its due. ::)

    Champ? Sorry, that's Tonalist.

    What bothers me is an asshat like Coburn not saying a word (perhaps he did and I missed it) about the alleged unfairness of said system until after his horse got its ass kicked at the Belmont.

    What bothers me is that his asshattery stole the spotlight from what should have been a wonderful moment for the owner of the winning horse.

    What bothers me is that when someone loses, rather than saluting the winner or evaluating what their team might have done better they first try to place the blame elsewhere. No one takes responsibility for their failures these days.

    If the owner of a particular horse doesn't believe that horse has a chance to win/place/show or perform well, there is nothing cowardly about not running the horse.

    Just because an asshat screams "COWARDICE" on national TV doesn't make it true.
     
  3. Amy

    Amy Well-Known Member

    Then there is California Chrome's trainer.

    http://bit.ly/1jdEvmt

     
  4. Hokie_pokie

    Hokie_pokie Well-Known Member

    Coburn talked about owners being chicken-shit after the Preakness, too.

    But that doesn't fit the "sore loser" narrative.
     
  5. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Interesting.
     
  6. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  7. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Well, here's the apology. Guess I'd missed the part where he invoked the image of playing basketball against kids in wheelchairs. So glad he spoke his mind about that.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/horseracing/2014/06/09/steve-coburn-california-chrome-triple-crown-apology-belmont-tonalist/10224725/
     
  8. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    Enjoy that almost as much as his Belmont race. Simply jaw-dropping to watch.

    And the comment above about 'only one race perpetuated his legendary status.' Please.

    Set record times in each of the Triple Crown races. Better than Citation, Kelso, Man O' War, War Admiral, etc. etc. etc. And better than anyone else since in 41 tries.

    Broke the Belmont record by an unreal 2 + seconds.

    Picking 'who's the greatest' over different eras in sports is generally a very subjective determination. Not so much with horse racing, where running times serve as a good measure of comparison, especially on same tracks and distances across eras.

    if you want to make the case that some of the earlier horse were better than Big Red, then something needs to explain why their times don't measure up. Perhaps training, diet, medicine, breeding got better as time passed. But, the fact no one over four decades has been able to better Secretariat's Triple Crown marks, despite advancements in all of the above, shoots holes through that premise.

    Secretariat is the greatest race horse of all time, and it's not even close, nor hardly arguable.
     
  9. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

  10. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    Californian here who was rooting big time for Chrome; the local paper, SF Chron, had a front pager on the Coburns on Friday and they seemed really fun and down to earth; but Coburn on Sat. was horrible; he failed to understand/comprehend that the Triple Crown journey, with these very potholes, is what makes a Triple Crown winner so great.

    If it was just horses who ran each race? Maybe not as exciting, certainly an easier opportunity to win the TC.

    In the 70's I got to see three horses win the TC and it seemed like nearly every year some horse was going to do it (Spectacular Bid and a couple others I think won the 1st 2); talk about getting spoiled.
     
  11. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    Factor in the 25 year drought before that, and we saw the only 3 Triple Crown winners over the last 70 years in the course of 6 summers.

    Probably a payoff for having to deal with the fashion atrocities of the time like leisure suits, bell bottoms, and plaid everything. And disco.
     
  12. NFL-Solomon

    NFL-Solomon New Member

    Isn't the point of the Belmont, to win the Belmont, not the Triple Crown?

    i just don't see why some idiots think the Belmont should be responsible or give a damn about the other 2 races.
     
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