*Official Triple Crown Thread*

[johnnya24]

So when is the St. Leger Stakes?

At the end of the summer I think. End of August? Around then.

[revo]

At the end of the summer I think. End of August? Around then.

Wow, really? It's that long a break between the races? No wonder why it's only been done once in almost 70 years -- these horses go off and do other things in between!

[johnnya24]

Wow, really? It's that long a break between the races? No wonder why it's only been done once in almost 70 years -- these horses go off and do other things in between!

St Ledger 15th September ... Camelot 1/4 on.

Could be an exciting end to the season.

Camelot is also 2/1 favorite for the Prix De LArc De Triomphe (7th Oct). Lot's of history could be made this year. Shame about I'll Have Another.

Ascot:

4 of the top 7 race horses in the world (top 10 if you include ties) are scheduled to run in the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday. Frankel 1/5 on.

Black Caviar runs in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes next Saturday, and is 1/3 on. But not as strong a field, although people are talking about French filly Moonlight Cloud as possibly upsetting the odds. It's a short sprint, so anything can happen ... although 22 wins a row might suggest otherwise.

5000 Aussie's Flying In to see Black Caviar at Ascot

[johnnya24]

Frankel destroys the field by 11 lengths ... and he was easy. Beating Excelebration, the 3rd ranked horse in the world into a distant second.

[revo]

He destroyed them.

I find European racing so peculiar: racing the opposite way; the long straightaway; and most importantly of all, the camera angles!

[johnnya24]

... and

http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=gallops/12/06/19/manual_172452.html&BID=

Timeform have given Frankel provisional rating of 147 following his win in the Queen Anne Stakes, making him the highest-rated Flat horse in the firm's history.

If the mark is confirmed he will be two pounds ahead of Sea Bird and three clear of Brigadier Gerard and Tudor Minstrel.

Context ... that would make him the second highest ranked race horse of all time ... behind Secretariat (who would have had a mind-boggling rating of 151 after his Belmont Stakes triple crown win). 147 is MILES ahead of any racehorse since Secretariat.

He didn't just beat Excelebration ... he had a lot lot more in the tank.

[revo]

23 years after his death, Secretariat landed a new race record: his Preakness Stakes time was officially lowered from 1:54 2/5 to 1:53 yesterday, breaking the Preakness Stakes record by 2/5ths of a second.

This timing has been a bone of contention for 39 years, as there were apparently malfunctions with the electronic timer, which recorded 1:55. Two Daily Racing Form clockers had it at 1:53 2/5 (which was a record at the time), and after much debate in the following weeks, his "official time" was lowered to 1:54 2/5ths, because that was what the Pimlico official clocker had timed.

But using modern technology, it was determined that Secretariat actually ran a 1:53 flat, and yesterday, the Maryland Racing Commission heard testimony and saw the technology, and voted 7-0 to officially change his time to 1:53.

So now Secretariat holds the official records in all three races of the Triple Crown.

[revo]

I'll Have Another was sold to Japanese interests and will enter stud at Big Red Farm on Hokkaido.

[johnnya24]

I'll Have Another was sold to Japanese interests and will enter stud at Big Red Farm on Hokkaido.

All about the money ... maybe there is no point letting a 4 year old go on in the States?

-------------------

Black Caviar runs tomorrow in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes. Right now it's at 2/9. That will come in even more when the money starts going on tomorrow.

This article doesn't fill me full of confidence ... aren't Aussie's supposed to be full of boisterous confidence?

I don't think that Black Caviar has ever been off the bridle in her career ... and she has just flown halfway around the world. The value is all with Moonlight Cloud @ 6/1 and Society Rock @ 10/1 ... probably better opposition that anything she has ever faced. It's unlikely they will go out any more even if Black Caviar comes in to 1/5 or more.

E/W terms are 1/4 the odds for top 3 places. I'll leave it to the last minute and maybe put on a bet for interest. But all the interest is can she/can't she.

[johnnya24]

Black Caviar JUST ... by a head. Another half a furlong and she is run down by 2 horses. Moonlight Cloud almost got there.

Brilliant race ...

Just saw the reply ... the jockey stopped riding her 1/2 a furlong out ... then he panicked when the others kept coming ... I guess they don't keep coming in Australia. Imagine if she loses because the jockey got complacent?

[revo]

So it appears Black Caviar suffered an injury in this race and will likely be retired:

The narrow victory by Black Caviar in front of Queen Elizabeth II at Royal Ascot June 23 may have been the unbeaten Australian mare's last race.
The 6-year-old Black Caviar's mere presence created a real buzz at Ascot, but the Australian horse tore back muscles during her Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Eng-I) victory Saturday. She is now 22-for-22.
Black Caviar's owners will make a decision on her future in the next three or four weeks and retirement is an option for the world's second-ranked flat racing horse, who gained a status akin to a national heroine in Australia after her Ascot triumph.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/70781/black-caviars-injury-may-end-her-career

[revo]

All about the money ... maybe there is no point letting a 4 year old go on in the States?

Turns out there was a lack of interest in I'll Have Another as a stud prospect in the US:

"Paul Reddam, owner of I'll Have Another, saw a lack of interest in his horse, even after he reeled off victories this spring in the Robert Lewis Stakes (gr. II), Santa Anita Derby (gr. I), Kentucky Derby, and Preakness. There was some sniffing around by Kentucky farms looking to pick up a buy in the bargain bin, but nothing nearly as substantial as the offer (undisclosed) from Big Red Farm's Shigeyuki Okada.
*
"The estimates of his value from Kentucky farms were so different from Japan that any rational human being, as much as they wanted the horse to stand in America, would have to take the Japanese deal," said Reddam. "There was a lack of interest here. It seems to me that if the goal in American racing is to win the Kentucky Derby, you should breed to horses that have enough stamina and are game enough to win the Derby, but I guess I'm in the minority."

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/70804/another-sunday-silence

[johnnya24]

So they are just looking for value? i.e. is the market depressed? Or are they trying to breed sprinters? You would think the big money is in the mid-longer-range sprints 1 mile - 1.4f

[revo]

So they are just looking for value? i.e. is the market depressed? Or are they trying to breed sprinters? You would think the big money is in the mid-longer-range sprints 1 mile - 1.4f

It usually depends more on the lineage of the horse than the races they won, but breeders definitely value top milers and distance runners, so the winners of the Belmont Stakes, Jerome Handicap and Met Mile usually are the most sought after. Derby winners as stallions have been hit and (largely) miss over the years.

[johnnya24]

It usually depends more on the lineage of the horse than the races they won, but breeders definitely value top milers and distance runners, so the winners of the Belmont Stakes, Jerome Handicap and Met Mile usually are the most sought after. Derby winners as stallions have been hit and (largely) miss over the years.

He "seems" well bred ... he has Northern Dancer on both sides of his tree ... like Frankel. Frankel is 4+3 inbred to Northern Dancer, I'll have another looks like he's 5+5 inbred.

EDIT: Black Caviar is 4+5 Northern Dancer.

Frankel probably has the best pedigree of them all ... Northern Dancer on both sides, and each side represents the best Sires:

4+4 Nearatic & Northern Dancer
3+3 Northern Dancer & Danzig
2+2 Sadler's Wells & Danehill
1+1 Galileo (who is keeping the trend going)

The inbreeding must be worrying as all the top horses seem to be from this fairly narrow line.