Events we may never see again in racing..

[lamboguy]

the days when there was only a daily double and 3 perfecta's for every race card along with all the cigar smokers walking around the track with trench coats and top hat's on

[TimesTheyRAChangin]

Originally Posted by tucker6

you do realize that didn't actually happen, right? He may have been caught flat footed at the start, but he wasn't facing backwards.

I had always understood that the wire was raised before he was facing completely forward,and found himself about 2 lengths behind from the start.
But what about the finish?
Apparently Upset hit the wire a half length in front of Man O' War,but Big Red was rolling so fast that he completely crossed the finish line before Upset did!!
(Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration?)

P.S.Secretariat must have felt so honoured that Penny Tweety called him by the same nickname as the great legend himself!!!

[RacingFan1992]

In the 60 minutes Sports edition Penny said she always called him Secretariat the public were the ones who came up with the name "Big Red." She said that in her mind he was not a nickname horse he was SECRETARIAT.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by TimesTheyRAChangin

I had always understood that the wire was raised before he was facing completely forward,and found himself about 2 lengths behind from the start.
But what about the finish?
Apparently Upset hit the wire a half length in front of Man O' War,but Big Red was rolling so fast that he completely crossed the finish line before Upset did!!
(Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration?)

P.S.Secretariat must have felt so honoured that Penny Tweety called him by the same nickname as the great legend himself!!!

There are a ton of tall tales about great horses. You should be very skeptical of many of the stories about MOW and Secretariat.

[BlueShoe]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

the days when there was only a daily double and 3 perfecta's for every race card along with all the cigar smokers walking around the track with trench coats and top hat's on

The days when there were no exotic wagers offered whatsoever, only win, place, and show. This is how Santa Anita was prior to 1960, when they finally offered the daily double. Exactas, the Pick-6, the Triple, which was what the Pick-3 was then called (still is by a few old timers) were still a few years away, with the trifecta and superfecta wagers relatively recent in California.

[TimesTheyRAChangin]

Originally Posted by RacingFan1992

In the 60 minutes Sports edition Penny said she always called him Secretariat the public were the ones who came up with the name "Big Red." She said that in her mind he was not a nickname horse he was SECRETARIAT.

Well,if that's the truth behind it,I'm sorry for all the years I silently cursed her for having the audacity to think he could run in Man O' War's horseshoes!
I should have known better from a horse person.But it just infuriated me whenever I heard it.
Wanna know what I really think?(LOL)

[TimesTheyRAChangin]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

There are a ton of tall tales about great horses. You should be very skeptical of many of the stories about MOW and Secretariat.

Are you telling me that MOW never won that stakes race by over 100 lengths either?
Is it my old age & failing memory?
Was it only 100 feet?
I remember a lot of this stuff from oldtimers in the 50's & 60's.
Are you saying the track is full of people just telling horsetales?
They told me they were there.
Just like the 500,000 people at the track for Secretariat's Belmont!
Why would they lie?

[RacingFan1992]

The easiest thing to use is discretion. An event might happen and it not be recorded but it does not mean that it didn't happen.

[Tribettor]

Signs of a different time, but....

A maiden winning the Kentucky derby and then on to win the triple crown (of course, impossible with the point system in place now).

A horse winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and the Belmont Stakes but in between the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, runs in the Withers....and wins that.

Sir Barton accomplished both feats.

A two year old racing 35 times.

Seabiscuit, and probably many others, did this.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by RacingFan1992

The easiest thing to use is discretion. An event might happen and it not be recorded but it does not mean that it didn't happen.

The thing is, even in MOW's era and certainly in Secretariat's, there were tons of reporters covering horse racing. Which means the stuff that was true tended to get contemporaneously recorded.

Which means that stories that were not reported at the time and appeared later, especially in books written by people who needed to fill 150 pages, are much less likely to be fully true.

[RacingFan1992]

A horse winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and the Belmont Stakes but in between the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, runs in the Withers....and wins that.

Count Fleet was the only other horse who won the Withers. I see that there is a lot of triple crown failures that won it. Zev in 1923, Johnstown in 1939, and Native Dancer in 1953.

[BlueShoe]

A colt that races in the Derby Trial and comes back 7 days later and wins the Derby.

[TimesTheyRAChangin]

I bet I can name something that will never be seen again!!!

Remember taking those thick pieces of cardboard to the matching cashiers' windows.They were usually found back to back with the sellers.Your ticket had to be printed with the matching wager type,& dollar amount.
$2 w,p,s at it's own window.
$5 w,p,s ditto
$2 ex ditto
$6 combine ditto
This was at least in the late 50's,early 60's,and I remember you couldn't even bet $1000 on a horse w/o the seller having the tote pound out 20 $50 tickets at it's own boxed in area.The sound carried through the track anyways,and people would just wait to see which idiot came walking out into the open after making such a large wager.I never really cared who knew,but I always cashed early the next racing day,not when the place was full of people just waiting to see who came back to the $50 cashier!
Anyways,it's when you went to cash,and had to wait for the mechanical arm,holding that nicely sharpened pencil,to print out the payoffs on the roll of adding machine tape???,and have the clerk tear it off before she would give you your $$$!
Those will never be seen again!

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by TimesTheyRAChangin

I bet I can name something that will never be seen again!!!

Remember taking those thick pieces of cardboard to the matching cashiers' windows.They were usually found back to back with the sellers.Your ticket had to be printed with the matching wager type,& dollar amount.
$2 w,p,s at it's own window.
$5 w,p,s ditto
$2 ex ditto
$6 combine ditto
This was at least in the late 50's,early 60's,and I remember you couldn't even bet $1000 on a horse w/o the seller having the tote pound out 20 $50 tickets at it's own boxed in area.The sound carried through the track anyways,and people would just wait to see which idiot came walking out into the open after making such a large wager.I never really cared who knew,but I always cashed early the next racing day,not when the place was full of people just waiting to see who came back to the $50 cashier!
Anyways,it's when you went to cash,and had to wait for the mechanical arm,holding that nicely sharpened pencil,to print out the payoffs on the roll of adding machine tape???,and have the clerk tear it off before she would give you your $$$!
Those will never be seen again!

When I started going to the track in the late 70's most had the tote system machines. As you stated there were 2,5,10,20 and $50 sellers. And around the other side, the cashiers windows.
I was just a kid when I started. So what did I do? I kept some of these old tote tickets as souvenirs. Still have them today.

[RacingFan1992]

How bout a trainer who trained a father son team in five years and had the potenial to win two more in 1939 and 1955 for the same breeder owner.