2023 galloping Triple Crown thread

[maumann]

Show some respect. He did just lose a horse today.

It was pretty bad that he first said it was hurt, then euthanized. But he didn't actually remember its name. Especially since it was Havinameltdown.

 

[LanceyHoward]

There's a bigger problem.

This morning hurt my heart. Anyone who has talked with me or followed my writing knows how much I love the Alibi Breakfast, held Thursday each year before the Preakness Stakes (G1).

It is an age-old event for the racing community to gather in the Pimlico Race Course clubhouse dining room and welcome the visiting stars, pray for safe journeys, eat (and drink) well on nice white tablecloths, present the Old Hilltop Award for meritorious service to racing, the Jerry Frutkoff Award for best photograph from the prior year's Preakness, and the David F. Woods Award for best story.

It is traditional for the trainers and owners arriving from the Kentucky Derby (G1) to, one at a time, give their excuses—their alibis—for why their horses lost on the first Saturday in May and then explain how they can turn the table in the Preakness. It is a time for storytelling and silly jokes. It is a time for mingling. The breakfast renews ties to the past in the present for the future. It is full of hovering spirits.

Today, it was not.

The dining room was half-empty May 18 but full of murmurs of concern. None of the Kentucky Derby runners except the winner Mage are even in the Preakness, the first time since 1948 only one horse pressed forward to the second leg of racing's Triple Crown.

So, no developing rivalries to follow. Just some shiny and suspect new shooters from the second or even third divisions of the national racing armies of powerful trainers Brad Cox, Steve Asmussen, and Chad Brown.

Not a single representative from those three camps bothered to attend. This, not that you need me to remind you, is for one of the sport's most important races. These more important people couldn't be bothered.

They simply ignored the ceremonial breakfast that is part of what makes the Preakness so special. Back in the day, not that long ago, the trainers always talked about how they most looked forward to the Preakness among the Triple Crown races because of its relative intimacy and the personal care from management. I can't speak to the management today, at this moment, other than to say I'm not thrilled with it, but I found the absence of the connections disgraceful. You used to see the trainers banter and rib each other, surrounded by family and owners, putting away the bacon and hash browns, having a good old time. Now, they act like they have something to hide and nothing they owe.​

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-ra...alibi-for-not-supporting-preakness-traditions

I find columns by journalists complaining that the people they cover will not go to breakfast with them unprofessional. Why do subjects of a journalist's stories owe him a shared meal?

And I don't understand the part about upholding the "tradition" of the Preakness. The Preakness would have run today whether the breakfast had been held or not. The only people who would have cared if the breakfast had been canceled were evidently some sportswriters.

 

[Slacker]

If a track throws the horse people a breakfast party every year, the least they can do is show up and respect the tradition.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

You only cover us when we don't eat grits!

 

[Della9250]

11th and 12th horses dies at Churchill Downs

https://www.kentuckyderby.com/uploa...20230527_Churchill_Downs_Safety_Statement.pdf

 

[Inky_Wretch]

So they're moving the rest of the meet to another track. But not until after this weekend. WTF happens if another horse breaks down on the main track?

 

[UPChip]

Honest question from someone who is violently allergic to horses:

What can a track do to preserve the safety of horses? I thought the crux of the problem was shirtty breeding and unscrupulous trainers.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Honest question from someone who is violently allergic to horses:

What can a track do to preserve the safety of horses? I thought the crux of the problem was shirtty breeding and unscrupulous trainers.

What they are trying to do is hit the perfect balance of softness and firmness with the track. Too far either way and you get broken ankles which is a death sentence for a horse.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Two days before the race … if the air quality holds up. What a weird time to like horse racing.

 

[HanSenSE]

Belmont post positions. But given all the smoke, not expecting it to be run on Saturday.
Belmont Stakes post positions: Full draw & odds for the 2023 Triple Crown race | Sporting News

 

[Small Town Guy]

In NYC anyway right now I can see the sky and the air quality was in the 50s this morning so seems like things are really improving.

Dumb question from someone who knows nothing about horse racing. How does Secretariat still hold all the records in each Triple Crown? I'd have thought medicine/training/evolution would have led to improvements over the decades. I always get into it with a buddy about whether great athletes from the past could compete today and he's always talking about those things: today's athletes are so much better because of training/medicine/evolution. I always say greats from any era could compete in every other era so I jokingly told him proof of that comes with Secretariat still being the fastest horse even 50 years later (hey, if SportsCentury can put a horse on its greatest athletes list, I can use it when I need to). But it did make me wonder how those records have lasted so damn long. Was it just the giant heart or has there been something done with the breeding/training that makes it where horses can't go that fast these days? I'll hang up and listen.

 

[swingline]

It's the heart.