*Official Triple Crown Thread*

[johnnya24]

Camelot takes the Two Thousand Guineas today.

Another of Northern Dancer's sprogs ... the seed was strong in that one

Almost odds on for the Derby now ... 2nd favorite is 12-1. 3 races, 3 wins, 2 group 1's ... apparently they made him favorite for the 2012 Derby after his maiden race in a minor meet in Ireland. Possibly another good example of the racing business coming before the racing... if he wins the Derby, and another major like the Prix ... he could be put out to stud before anyone has ever even heard of him.

[johnnya24]

How about the balls on the guy who bet the $100,000 on 20-1 shot Alpha?

He didn't look like he was short of a few bob ... a regular person sticks it on one of the favorites.

[revo]

I also wish I took I'll Have Another more seriously. 15-1 for a good horse...

How about the balls on the guy who bet the $100,000 on 20-1 shot Alpha?

Yeah, I was pretty surprised at his cojones as well as his confidence. Didn't one of those $100k winners hit it in the last couple of years?

[ManCalledFoot]

Yeah, I was pretty surprised at his cojones as well as his confidence. Didn't one of those $100k winners hit it in the last couple of years?

This lucky slob, two years ago. Of course, having a DOUBLE-'S' HORSE available made it easy for him

Super Saver wins the guy $900,000:

[revo]

Another of Northern Dancer's sprogs ... the seed was strong in that one

Almost odds on for the Derby now ... 2nd favorite is 12-1. 3 races, 3 wins, 2 group 1's ... apparently they made him favorite for the 2012 Derby after his maiden race in a minor meet in Ireland. Possibly another good example of the racing business coming before the racing... if he wins the Derby, and another major like the Prix ... he could be put out to stud before anyone has ever even heard of him.

This is the problem with horse racing, where stud and syndication fees now far outweigh the purse dollars. Unless the horse is a gelding, the 3-year old champ is likely to be retired before his 4-year old season, so you're right -- just as the horse has hit his popularity peak, he's gone.

This is a trend that started in the early 1980s, as yearlings began to go for astronomical sums. Even now, five of the 10 most expensive yearling purchases were bought in 1983-1985 (this despite almost 30 years of inflation).

But what would you do if you were the owner? I'll Have Another was an $11,000 purchase, and he's now won $2.2 million. Perhaps he can go on and win another million or two after the Triple Crown races, if he's lucky. Or he can be syndicated for $30-50 million. So it's a simple ROI -- why chance up to $50m to win $1 or $2m?

[SeaDogStat]

You did NOT go there.

Yep..

[revo]

Some intrigue:


Deadspin:
Murder At The Kentucky Derby
Unfortunately that is not the name of the next Sue Grafton novel. Word out of Lexington is that a man's body was found in a barn behind Churchill Downs after the running of the first leg of the Triple Crown last night. A spokeswoman for the Louisville police, Alicia Smiley, confirmed that the death has been ruled a homicide and occurred shortly after the race.

Authorities received a call at about 5 a.m. on Sunday reporting a body found in a barn not far from where I'll Have Another, the horse that won Saturday's race, was stabled.
There was no identification on the body, but Smiley said the victim is a Hispanic man.

We will update as information becomes available.

[johnnya24]

I love it when the bookies get hammered ... the is "Fred", owner of BetFred one of the UK's biggest bookmakers ... and Manchester Utd fan. When Man Utd took the lead in the championship race 1 month ago, he decided to close the book and pay out on all Man Utd bets.

"Your money's waiting for you ... it's your money ... you won it, you deserve it ... get in for your doe"



Today Manchester City (Man Utd's big rivals) basically won the league ... oooooops! LOL

[revo]

It amazes me that while horse racing as a sport is a 3rd class citizen in the US, people still loooove the Kentucky Derby. TV ratings for the race came in at a 9.0 rating, crushing the Knicks/Heat game and the NASCAR race at the same time, and the rating easily beat the ratings for the final round of The Masters and the Final Four games.

51% of the race's viewers were women, making it the only US sporting event to attract more female viewers than male viewers.

The 14.8 million viewers was the third most since 1989.

In Louisville, of course, one third of TV sets were tuned to the Derby.

Since NBC took over the race in 2001, they're averaging about 2m more viewers than ABC did.

[johnnya24]

Black Caviar won a world record 21st yesterday ... and she strolled it.



Frankel runs at Newbury next Saturday ... Frankel moving to mile and a quarter ... I see no reason these horses couldn't meet over a mile. But will they risk it? Hard to say ... they are both running in Europe now, Black Caviar is a mare, and Frankel is being raced into his fourth year, when he could be studded now ... so it's being done for racing reasons, not monetary reasons.

Both horses are getting a lot of press ... so if they keep winning through the summer there will be huge pressure to get some kind of match race.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/may/12/frankel-newbury-timeform

FYI ... Secretariat has the highest "unofficial" Timeform ranking of 151-3. To put that in perspective, Frankel (143 rating = 3rd all-time "official" rating) would have to do something VERY special in 2012 this season to eclipse Brigadier Gerard's 144 or Sea Bird's 145 ... so he'd have to crush a horse like Black Caviar by 6/7 lengths to get anywhere near 150.

[johnnya24]

Here are the Global rankings

http://www.timeform.com/display_articles.asp?page=Global_Rankings.asp

Frankel (2/5) races the 4th place horse Excelebration (7/1) at the Lockinge Stakes Saturday ... as well as two joint 7th place horses - So You Think (6/1) & Strong Suit (8/1). So it's a super stacked race. If he wins it easily, with such high class opposition, his rating could spike big time ... but he is coming back from injury ... so no-one is really sure.

I seem to remember reading that he'll race the 3rd place horse (Cirris Des Aigles) at some point ... I can't find confirmation of that.

[Erik]

It amazes me that while horse racing as a sport is a 3rd class citizen in the US, people still loooove the Kentucky Derby.

The Triple Crown races are a big draw. Everything else, not so much.

[revo]

The Triple Crown races are a big draw. Everything else, not so much.

thank you, lol.

[johnnya24]

The Triple Crown races are a big draw. Everything else, not so much.

It's the same everywhere ... still a rich person's playground in most respects.

[revo]

It's the same everywhere ... still a rich person's playground in most respects.

Horse racing has apparently become a women's sport in the US, as evidenced by the TV ratings.

It also used to be hugely popular when it was the only game in town to legally gamble on, but since the increase of casinos (from just Vegas & AC), less and less people play the ponies.