All about speed for TC winners

[TheEdge07]

Year Early Pace (Finish) Winner (Mile) Favorite Field Margin Time
1978 Affirmed (1st) Affirmed (1st) Affirmed (1st, 3/5) 5 hd 2:26.80
1977 Seattle Slew (1st) Seattle Slew (1st) Seattle Slew (1st, 2/5) 8 4 2:29.60
1973 Secretariat (1st) Secretariat (1st) Secretariat (1st, 1/10) 5 31 2:24.00
1948 Citation (1st) Citation (1st) Citation (1st, 1/5) 8 8 2:28.20
1946 Hampden (4th) Assault (4th) Assault (1st, 7/5) 7 3 2:30.80
1943 Count Fleet (1st) Count Fleet (1st) Count Fleet (1st, 1/20) 3 25 2:28.20
1941 Whirlaway (1st) Whirlaway (1st) Whirlaway (1st, 1/5) 4 1 1/2 2:31.00
1937 War Admiral (1st) War Admiral (1st) War Admiral (1st, 4/5) 7 3 2:28.60
1935 Cold Shoulder (4th) Omaha (4th) Omaha (1st, 4/5) 5 1 1/2 2:30.60
1930 Gallant Fox (1st) Gallant Fox (1st) Gallant Fox (1st, 8/5) 4 3 2:31.60

All TC winners sat 1 or 2 EP except for 2.

[onefast99]

How abut a list of the horses that won on the front end in the Belmont over the past 15 years, got that?

[TheEdge07]

How abut a list of the horses that won on the front end in the Belmont over the past 15 years, got that?

Just thought it was interesting thats all..though i could name one Da Tara

Point Given sat 3-2
Commendable wire to wire
Da TAra wire to wire

[letswastemoney]

A lot of the horses on or near the lead have ran well. Palace Malice wasn't too far off the lead and Oxbow just kept going for second last year.

[BlueChip@DRF]

What was the number of entries when the crown was on the line and the TC horse lost?

[raybo]

I've been saying to my RS users, for a while now, that tracks like Bel, FG, etc., that have deep surfaces,with long stretch runs, the key is early speed/position. This flies in the face of general opinion, which is that the deeper surface takes too much out of early runners. The fact is that it takes energy out of all runners, early or not, and those who are at the front just have to hang on because the ones behind them are too tired to make much of a move at the end. Now, this does come with some qualifications, of course, condition of the track (wet, etc.) and actual early pace. If the early pace is too fast, then the early contenders will be punished more than the rest of the field. If the surface is wet, then it tends to be easier to run on, ie, less deep and tiring.

[ultracapper]

So a TC winner has never beat a field larger than 8 in the Belmont. And that only twice. Slew and Citation beat 7 others home, that's the most any TC candidate has been able to conquer at Belmont. What are they expecting Saturday? 12? 13? Great.