JC / Railbird

Nice plug for the upcoming book, too!
I never saw any of your top three race, but it’s always been about Secretariat for me. His Belmont ranks among the greatest athletic achievements in the history of the universe, let alone the turf.

Posted by EJXD2 on June 2, 2008 @ 10:01 pm

Wow!!! Cooooool.

Posted by Ernie on June 2, 2008 @ 10:39 pm

Great stuff.

Posted by robert on June 2, 2008 @ 11:16 pm

Niiiice.

Posted by Clarice on June 2, 2008 @ 11:19 pm

I can’t understand why so many people have put Big Brown on the same level as the last 3 Triple Crown Champs, Affirmed, Seattle Slew and Secretariat. Big Brown is a good horse or even a very good horse but the toughest thing he has faced to date is a tough post position. These past champs won their Crowns and faced real challenges. So what are these ridiculous statements based on?

Posted by Nick Borg on June 2, 2008 @ 11:25 pm

Because it’s so easy to drink that Brown Kool-Aid.
The problem is, he could be great, but we’ll never really know for sure UNLESS he continues racing and faces actual competition. Which doesn’t seem likely to happen, therefore even if he wins the Triple Crown his relative “greatness” will always be disputed and ragged on.

Posted by Clarice on June 3, 2008 @ 12:34 am

Clarice is right.
For some horses, the Triple Crown defines them: Affirmed over Alydar, Secretariat’s record performances.
For others, their performances after the Triple Crown cement the type of horses they were: Seattle Slew defeating Affirmed during his four-year-old year, Citation’s win streak.

Posted by EJXD2 on June 3, 2008 @ 8:56 am

Thanks for the comments.
One thing I talked about with Jeansonne is that comparing any horse to Secretariat these days creates an inherently false debate, with outlandish claims on one side, vociferous denials on the other, obscuring the whole question of talent, ability, context. As Clarice points out, Big Brown could be great, but if he never races outside his division or as an older horse, we really can’t say that with any certainty, even if he wins the Triple Crown …

Posted by Jessica on June 3, 2008 @ 10:50 am

I agree we will never know exactly how good or great Big Brown really is even if he wins the Belmont. It’s a sad thing but the industry is based on money and that’s the bottom line.
Perhaps Seattle Slew’s defining moment as a champ came in a losing effort. He battled Affirmed through a 3/4’s fraction of 1:09 3/5ths before putting Affirmed away and then got passed by Exceller at the top of the stretch. However Slew came again and battled back to lose by a head! The race distance was 1 1/2 miles and the interior fractions of the race were just outstanding and he battled every step to lose only by a head. That was one of the greatest races and efforts I ever witnessed.
And when I look at past performances, to me, Slew is the only horse that I would say (from 1970 to today) that could beat Secretariat because he had that great early speed and heart of a tiger. And he proved he could go 1 1/2 miles at an astounding pace. Now I am not saying Slew was better than Secretariat but Slew was also great. And when Secretariat got beat he lost to horses with early speed – on the lead types.

Posted by Nick Borg on June 3, 2008 @ 2:56 pm