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[the little guy]

Originally Posted by Spalding No!

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Top level winter racing wasn't a substantial entity during the early years that saw the majority of Triple Crown winners. And yet there still was a long drought of Triple Crown winners between Citation (1948) and Secretariat (1973).

I don't think NY was open for racing in the winter until even after Secretariat, and the major 2yo race that would keep a 2yo in training into December, the $1 million Hollywood Futurity, didn't originate until 1981.

So we are really only talking about 4 Triple Crown winners in the relevant time frame.

And yet, Real Quiet, who ran in both December and January, lost the TC by a whisker because of an ill-timed ride not because of the presumed baggage of those earlier starts.

Beyond that, Sunday Silence probably lost the 1989 TC because he had to deal with Easy Goer, not because he ran in December in a sprint allowance. California Chrome got stepped on coming out of the gate in the Belmont. War Emblem went to his knees at the start. Point Given was too close to a hot pace in the Derby. Tabasco Cat had to deal with the Derby slop and a loose on the lead Go For Gin. Thunder Gulch couldn't hold off his much preferred stablemate (or Oliver's Twist) in the Preakness. Alysheba didn't get Lasix and was roughed up in the Belmont. Risen Star took the overland route in the Derby. Funny Cide had to deal with the slop and a poorly executed :57+ 5-furlong workout right on top of the 12f Belmont. Smarty Jones got gang-banged in the early stages of the Belmont.

Meanwhile, the 2 most recent winners, American Pharoah and Justify, didn't race in those months because of physical issues. Had he been sound at the time and the declining Los Al Futurity still sported a $1 million purse, it's conceivable that the former would have started in both the BC Juvenile and the Los Al race. Would that have impacted his cakewalk in a short Belmont field 6 months later? Would Justify not have been able to do what he did if his debut came in late January instead of early February?

I hold you to a higher standard than making long winded responses to dopey posts. Leave that to the less talented posters:-)