Triple Crown Awards

[W2G]

What a fun series we had this year. And the late summer/fall should continue to be very interesting as we follow this crop, esp. if QR comes back to the track in good order.

Contribute your Awards and Nominations...

Tough Luck Jockey Award
Has to go to Joe Talamo. Ready to set sail on the KD fav that afternoon only to be scratched in the morning. Gets the initial call on "sitting on a huge run" Summer Bird for the Belmont only to be taken off in favor of the more experienced Kent D.
Honorable Mention: Calvin Borel. He's taken a lot of heat for his Belmont ride. I watched the TV coverage and Bailey ripped into him without hesitation. Surely there is more to riding at Big Sandy than "just going left", in Borel's words, but his KD ride was a thing of beauty and he got the job done on RA. But I have a suspicion his future partnership with RA is not a sure thing.

Classic Sire Award
The voting is unanimous and the award goes to Birdstone. His get captured the Derby and the Belmont, and took second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont. Anyone have a tip on a good-looking Birdstone 2YO targeting a Saratoga debut? Not that we'll get any value.

[depalma113]

Classic Sire Award
The voting is unanimous and the award goes to Birdstone. His get captured the Derby and the Belmont, and took second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont. Anyone have a tip on a good-looking Birdstone 2YO targeting a Saratoga debut? Not that we'll get any value.

Unanimous, not so fast.

Medaglia d'Oro deserves a vote or two.

[ghostyapper]

Unanimous, not so fast.

Medaglia d'Oro deserves a vote or two.

Not really. 1 preakness win does not equal a derby and belmont win with 2 different runners.

Honorable mention maybe but the voting should be unanimous.

[OFFandRUNNING10]

Not really. 1 preakness win does not equal a derby and belmont win with 2 different runners.

Honorable mention maybe but the voting should be unanimous.

agreed! if you ranked the racest from hardest to easiest... the preakness would definitely be 3rd. so to win the top 2 harder races is by far better in my opinion...

[Greyfox]

The envelope please.

The winner of this year's "They'll know who I am now Award" is:

Ben "Chip" Woolley.

(The crowd politely applauds. The silence of "Boomer" on these New Mexicans is noted.)

[OFFandRUNNING10]

Awards:

Surprise Horse of the TC: No surprise answer here... got to give it to MTB... nobody saw him coming (not even Durkin! jk)

The TC No Show: Friesan Fire - though not a winner or favorite in everyones mind... you had to at least think he would be a contender. Injuries plagued him in both races finishing 18th and 10th in the derby and preakness

Boldest Move of the TC: Jess Jackson - purchasing ownership of RA just 9 days before the preakness, entering her and winning the 2nd leg of the TC

Full Of Heart: Musket Man - not the flashiest horse to enter the TC but always gave it his all and grinded it out all the way to the wire everytime... finished 3rd in the first 2 legs.

[Cratos]

Not really. 1 preakness win does not equal a derby and belmont win with 2 different runners.

Honorable mention maybe but the voting should be unanimous.


Ghost, I think that Medaglia d’Oro should be included on the promising young sire list along with Birdstone because he have not just Rachel Alexandra, but Payton d’Oro who won the Black-Eyed Susan.

However if awards are going to be given out then shouldn’t there be a “What Happened Too?” award. I say this because during his racing career, Smarty Jones received praise as if he was the “second coming” and I realize that horses who are very good on the racetrack are not necessary good in shedrow and I am willing to give Smarty more time, but as of now he is a “What Happened Too?”

[W2G]

Full Of Heart: Musket Man - not the flashiest horse to enter the TC but always gave it his all and grinded it out all the way to the wire everytime... finished 3rd in the first 2 legs.

Good one. As a rare candidate for the Mane Minister Award earned by finishing third in all three TC legs, this fighter did it with a sprinter's pedigree no less. Alas, the Mane Minister Award goes unclaimed as usual.

I'll nominate Flying Private for Honorable Mention. He ran his best, which was usually not very fast, in all three legs of the TC on the heels of an already long 2009 campaign. Flying Private is trained by D. Wayne Lukas, winner of this year's "If There's a Party I'll Be There" Award. Honorable Mention: Nick Zito.

[rastajenk]

Actually, I was thinking of either of those two for the 1-800-GOT-JUNK Award.

[depalma113]

agreed! if you ranked the racest from hardest to easiest... the preakness would definitely be 3rd. so to win the top 2 harder races is by far better in my opinion...

You think this year's Preakness was the easiest? It was clearly the toughest of the three.

[depalma113]

Not really. 1 preakness win does not equal a derby and belmont win with 2 different runners.

Honorable mention maybe but the voting should be unanimous.

Not MDO's fault Rachel Alexandra was denied the victory in the Derby or Belmont because of scared owners.

[ghostyapper]

Not MDO's fault Rachel Alexandra was denied the victory in the Derby or Belmont because of scared owners.

LOL so it works like that I see, lets just give her credit for winning all 3 when she only ran in 1.

I knew this would happen when I heard rachel was not running, her fan club would just claim she would have won the race even though she didn't show up. It was similiar to street sense not showing up in the belmont and after curlin's tough loss all the street sense fans saying he would have won easily and was the better horse.

Of course we know what happened later in the year ;)

[WinterTriangle]

Cratos,
Don't wanna hijack, but some Smarty babies done well, seem to be late bloomers. Go Smarty Go won maiden at BM, fractured canon bone getting 4/5th of a second off the track record last year.....There are unraced ones and yearlings in pipe. Many went overseas, like Smart Coco, winning in Ireland, and many in Japan doing well. Kiddari (won on Oaks day card), Chef, Rockland, Keefer, Keep Me in Mind, Artisan, Be Smart (Lukas has her), Dr. Smarty Jack, Run Smart One, Miracle Baby, Smarty Dance, Smart Management, Smart Woman, Smarty Kota, Ritzy JonesMaestro & Master, Antigone Jones, Georgiana, Pax, Dance Routine, Smart n' Snazzy, Hey Smarty, filly in Puerto Rico (La Equivocada) doing great. Keiai Gerbera (racing in Japan), Cosmo Pirate (racing in Japan), Zito had Belle Jour, not sure what he did with her. I read the breeder sites to keep track of unraced babies before they hit the track.. was doing Medaglia D'oro, Smarty, Lion Heart, Congaree, and Speightstown. Served me well.

[Cratos]

Cratos,
Don't wanna hijack, but some Smarty babies done well, seem to be late bloomers. Go Smarty Go won maiden at BM, fractured canon bone getting 4/5th of a second off the track record last year.....There are unraced ones and yearlings in pipe. Many went overseas, like Smart Coco, winning in Ireland, and many in Japan doing well. Kiddari (won on Oaks day card), Chef, Rockland, Keefer, Keep Me in Mind, Artisan, Be Smart (Lukas has her), Dr. Smarty Jack, Run Smart One, Miracle Baby, Smarty Dance, Smart Management, Smart Woman, Smarty Kota, Ritzy JonesMaestro & Master, Antigone Jones, Georgiana, Pax, Dance Routine, Smart n' Snazzy, Hey Smarty, filly in Puerto Rico (La Equivocada) doing great. Keiai Gerbera (racing in Japan), Cosmo Pirate (racing in Japan), Zito had Belle Jour, not sure what he did with her. I read the breeder sites to keep track of unraced babies before they hit the track.. was doing Medaglia D'oro, Smarty, Lion Heart, Congaree, and Speightstown. Served me well.

Thanks for the update on Smarty's progeny.

[depalma113]

LOL so it works like that I see, lets just give her credit for winning all 3 when she only ran in 1.

I knew this would happen when I heard rachel was not running, her fan club would just claim she would have won the race even though she didn't show up. It was similiar to street sense not showing up in the belmont and after curlin's tough loss all the street sense fans saying he would have won easily and was the better horse.

Of course we know what happened later in the year ;)

Hmmm. I said Curlin was the best of his generation before the Derby. I said the same thing about Rachel Alexandra. It's hardly a fan club. It's a simple evaluation of horses.

I told everyone exactly how the Preakness would unfold before the race. She was never going to lose against those horses. I'm sorry you bet against her. Keep it up, someday you might get lucky and beat her.

[OFFandRUNNING10]

You think this year's Preakness was the easiest? It was clearly the toughest of the three.

how was it the toughest? the derby has 19 horses... quite the challenge in its own...more competition...better horses..hard to run "your" race. its a little longer than the preakness. it was a swamp pit.

the belmont is just flat out grueling. you also had some new, competitive and refreshed horses (charitable man, dunkirk, summer bird) in it as well.

the preakness only took on one half decent "contender" in that race (outside of rachael) in big drama. you had tired and beat up derby horses.

you cant say Medaglia d'Oro deserves the award because it was the toughest race, when it was only tough because rachael was in it in the first place. its completely contradicting

[ghostyapper]

you cant say Medaglia d'Oro deserves the award because it was the toughest race, when it was only tough because rachael was in it in the first place. its completely contradicting

No don't you understand his point? He's saying since rachel won the preakness that means she obviously would have won the derby and belmont so we should give mdo credit for siring a TC winning filly even though he didn't. :D

[tucker6]

Hmmm. I said Curlin was the best of his generation before the Derby. I said the same thing about Rachel Alexandra. It's hardly a fan club. It's a simple evaluation of horses.

I told everyone exactly how the Preakness would unfold before the race. She was never going to lose against those horses. I'm sorry you bet against her. Keep it up, someday you might get lucky and beat her.
I may be the only one on here that thinks this, but I don't consider Curlin to be "one of the best of his generation". He had a 6-9 month period where he was at the top and a good horse, but was beatable both before and after that time span. He only won one TC race, and was on the downswing last summer/fall. Hardly a Top 100 horse of all time as was mentioned on PA the other day. A good horse no doubt, but was not at the top long enough, consistently enough, and dominating enough for that kind of label. Just my take on it.

[OFFandRUNNING10]

how was it the toughest? the derby has 19 horses... quite the challenge in its own...more competition...better horses..hard to run "your" race. its a little longer than the preakness. it was a swamp pit.

the belmont is just flat out grueling. you also had some new, competitive and refreshed horses (charitable man, dunkirk, summer bird) in it as well.

the preakness only took on one half decent "contender" in that race (outside of rachael) in big drama. you had tired and beat up derby horses.

you cant say Medaglia d'Oro deserves the award because it was the toughest race, when it was only tough because rachael was in it in the first place. its completely contradicting

i meant to say "took on one half decent NEW contender" ... just for the record

[joanied]

...Goes to Mr. Hot Stuff:ThmbUp:
Honorable mentions... MTB & Rachel :D

[depalma113]

how was it the toughest? the derby has 19 horses... quite the challenge in its own...more competition...better horses..hard to run "your" race. its a little longer than the preakness. it was a swamp pit.

the belmont is just flat out grueling. you also had some new, competitive and refreshed horses (charitable man, dunkirk, summer bird) in it as well.

the preakness only took on one half decent "contender" in that race (outside of rachael) in big drama. you had tired and beat up derby horses.

you cant say Medaglia d'Oro deserves the award because it was the toughest race, when it was only tough because rachael was in it in the first place. its completely contradicting


It was the only race to produce more than one horse with a triple digit Beyer number. So, no it does not mean just beacuse she was in it it made it tough. The fact that more than one horse actually ran a decent race is what made it tough.

I know though, Beyer numbers don't mean anything, so whatever.

[OFFandRUNNING10]

It was the only race to produce more than one horse with a triple digit Beyer number. So, no it does not mean just beacuse she was in it it made it tough. The fact that more than one horse actually ran a decent race is what made it tough.

I know though, Beyer numbers don't mean anything, so whatever.

which race were you looking for the higher beyers in? the slippery swamp pit with the herd running through it or the stamina race?

[joanied]

I think WG2 meant this to be a fun :jump: thread with the title he picked for it..."Triple Crown Awards', and they way he started it, like the "Full of Heart Award"...
:)

[OFFandRUNNING10]

I think WG2 meant this to be a fun :jump: thread with the title he picked for it..."Triple Crown Awards', and they way he started it, like the "Full of Heart Award"...
:)

hey...that was my award :p

[joanied]

hey...that was my award :p

It was already given...to Musket Man....how about we give you an 'Honorable Mention' ;)
:D

[strapper]

For what it's worth I thought the Belmont was the least impressive of this year's Triple Crown, to take nothing away from Summer Bird's big effort. Mine That Bird's miraculous inside run to glory will be a Derby for the ages and filly Rachel Alexandra put her name in the record books for a long, long time. Down the road I'm not sure what to expect from this year's sophomore colts - the championship could be a battle until the end of the calendar year. Summer Bird supposedly is no world beater on synthetics. I'm not sure if MTB will go as well on that surface, either.

[Bruddah]

This should come as no revelation to anyone. Trainers attempt to spot their horse's in conditions which give the best chance of winning. Whether that is weight for age, distance, surface, turning left or right etc.. Usually if the horse performs well at certain conditions the horse is trained continually at that level to maximize earnings. Hence, if a horse performs well on dirt or plastic, the Trainer tends to condition/train the horse for those type of races. The horse then becomes accustomed to running at those conditions and Prefers those conditions.

Preferences make the World go around. Some say pah tay toe and some same pah tah toe. Some like Thoroughbred Racing and some like Dog Racing. Some folks prefer certain golf courses over another.

Why then dosome think a horse has to be great at every level? I think most of the good ones (not great) can perform at Grade I levels at one set of race conditions or surfaces and maybe a lower levels at other conditions or surfaces. Einstein may be the first to win Grade I's on all three surfaces, but even he couldn't beat Curlin on dirt and Curlin couldn't excel at the Grade I level on plastic.

I think it takes more than a few workouts or races on a new surface, to get a good horse to perform at the top levels.

[OFFandRUNNING10]

It was already given...to Musket Man....how about we give you an 'Honorable Mention' ;)
:D

no i was saying that was the award i made up... i wasnt trying to give the award to me... im not the one that said it should go to musket man

[joanied]

no i was saying that was the award i made up... i wasnt trying to give the award to me... im not the one that said it should go to musket man

:confused: :) :confused: ...I was using that particular award as an example...I knew you posted Musket Man's 'Heart' award...it was to highlight that fact that this started out as an 'awards' thread...a fun :jump: thread.

Maybe we both need an award..."Most Confused" award:lol:

[WinterTriangle]

Thanks for the update on Smarty's progeny.

Smarty was 2 for 2 this weekend!

Kiddari won at CH R2...Bill Mott's got him. Paid $10.00 to win.

I'll Show Them won Hol R7---If you can pull up the race, he really had to work hard, split horses, etc. Paid $10.00 to win.

[OFFandRUNNING10]

:confused: :) :confused: ...I was using that particular award as an example...I knew you posted Musket Man's 'Heart' award...it was to highlight that fact that this started out as an 'awards' thread...a fun :jump: thread.

Maybe we both need an award..."Most Confused" award:lol:

WINNER!!!

[WinterTriangle]

...Goes to Mr. Hot Stuff:ThmbUp:
Honorable mentions... MTB & Rachel :D

Mr. Hot Stuff won the beauty pageant award, hands down. ;) What a looker.

[WinterTriangle]

Smarty was 2 for 2 this weekend!

Kiddari won at CH R2...Bill Mott's got him. Paid $10.00 to win.

I'll Show Them won Hol R7---If you can pull up the race, he really had to work hard, split horses, etc. Paid $10.00 to win.

I'll Show Them won HOL again today Race 7. Not sure what this horse has to do to get backers. Won last, but went off at 6-1 odds. :jump: The Smarty Jones babies are starting to kick it.

I guess nobody loves the smarties :confused:

[joanied]

I'll Show Them won HOL again today Race 7. Not sure what this horse has to do to get backers. Won last, but went off at 6-1 odds. :jump: The Smarty Jones babies are starting to kick it.

I guess nobody loves the smarties :confused:

WinterT....I do, I do:jump: I don't have the time to follow them they way you are...I saw some photos of some Smarty babies in the Bloodhorse and think
they are (mostly) outstanding as foals...all he needs is the 'big' horse...and he'll get it before too long.
It's great his runners are starting to 'kick it'...nothin' like a smarty party for the youngin's:ThmbUp:

[FenceBored]

WinterT....I do, I do:jump: I don't have the time to follow them they way you are...I saw some photos of some Smarty babies in the Bloodhorse and think
they are (mostly) outstanding as foals...all he needs is the 'big' horse...and he'll get it before too long.
It's great his runners are starting to 'kick it'...nothin' like a smarty party for the youngin's:ThmbUp:

Um, (looks both ways) this is off topic, but Backtalk (Smarty Jones -- Apassionata Sonata) just won the G3 Bashford Manor at CD. He's a half-bro to Bsharpsonata.