Triple Crown thoughts

[luisbe]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

I'm going to take a wild guess and say we may not have seen the best 3yo of this crop yet. I'm not particularly impressed with anyone. I don't think it's impossible for a new face to jump up and take over the division by the end of August. Arrogate wasn't on the radar at this point last year and this crop may not even be as good as last year's crop.

Is Mastery being trained to return?

[jocko699]

Originally Posted by luisbe

Is Mastery being trained to return?

Not yet but that is the plan.

[CincyHorseplayer]

The Belmont isn't the end of the line for the 3yo crop. I look forward to the chase every year and start tracing pedigrees with the winners of the Saratoga and Del Mar stakes. There is no letdown for me after the Belmont because we are already in the midst of the best racing of the year. With the best yet to come. Don't get the borderline suicide watch mentality when the TC is over.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by CincyHorseplayer

The Belmont isn't the end of the line for the 3yo crop. I look forward to the chase every year and start tracing pedigrees with the winners of the Saratoga and Del Mar stakes. There is no letdown for me after the Belmont because we are already in the midst of the best racing of the year. With the best yet to come. Don't get the borderline suicide watch mentality when the TC is over.

Agreed.



Classic Empire, Always Dreaming, Cloud Computing, Timeline, all opted to skip the Belmont, - so that they can run big in the upcoming races this summer, and fall.

Those are some of the cream of this crop.

Obviously more racing ahead.


Makes no sense that some whine about top horses skipping the belmont, and then declare the season over!

Unless some of these rested colts, or some new face, becomes a champion, this will not be among the greatest 3yo crops of all time.

Even if Timeline were to become the next Arrogate(as some fans wildly predict), we'd probably grade the crop similar to last season.

However, we do have a crop. It has character. It still has some exciting potential. This crop is very much 'alive'. The cream of the crop has more good racing ahead.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by burnsy

Good (physically and mentally strong) horses are becoming harder to come by. Only one horse made all three legs, Looking At Lee. Different horses hit the board in all three races, 9 different horses hit the board. Making races 2 and 3 weeks apart is seeming more and more like a problem. There have been exceptions in recent years but they are rare.

The weekend offered some really great racing, Belmont is on to something with the festival but the Triple Crown itself is kind of hype of hype now, when there are results like this and the lack of participation pretty much guarantees these results. The horses are actually showing the physical signs of not making it. American Pharoah is looking more and more like a freak or an Iron Horse compared to the modern 3 yo. I'm not a horse expert, I've been around them and know them, I'm more of a math, statistics and social science type person..............they have to take a look at the logistics of the Triple Crown in the near future. Don't ask Burnsy, ask a few of these trainers. I just look at the stats and sociology.

One other thing about American Pharoah-- and his crop.

AP ran the second half of his Belmont just as fast as the first half (1:13 and change, plus 1:13 and change, for a 2:26 and change Belmont). We are seeing a lot of 2:29 and 2:30 Belmonts as the horses get dead tired (look at the gallop out on Saturday, those horses are POOPED!). AP was a rare modern horse with plenty of stamina.

And his crop looks better too. He won the Belmont by 6 lengths, so the second place horse ran 2:27 and change. Frosted and Keen Ice were both nice horses running behind him. Dortmund was pretty good too.

AP is going to look better and better as the years go by (something I also say about Zenyatta and all the hate against her-- we are going to go decades before a filly or mare so much as runs second in the BC Classic once).

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

Every year, certain negative horseplayers whine about the proverbial 'bad' or below-average crop.

Remember, at this time last year, Arrogate was an allowance horse that nobody had heard of.

EDIT: I see class got there first.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by VigorsTheGrey

Class, have you read anywhere WHEN (What Decade?) racehorses began to race fairly regularly as 2 yr olds...? I don't know, but it seem a tad young for them to start in so early with heavy training....maybe the division lately is the result of racing thoroughbreds too early...

I have no idea when it started, it's actually the opposite. For decades horses used to race heavily at 2. It wasn't until recent years that the schedule started getting lighter and lighter.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

I have no idea when it started, it's actually the opposite. For decades horses used to race heavily at 2. It wasn't until recent years that the schedule started getting lighter and lighter.

I have racing forms from the 1980's with horses entered in the Derby with 20 starts.

Indeed, one of the now-discarded handicapping angles of the Derby was that you needed a certain number of starts, and a certain number of starts as a 3 year old, to win it. When Seattle Slew won it in his 7th career start in 1977, that was considered a major anomaly, for instance.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by luisbe

Is Mastery being trained to return?

As far as I know he hasn't been retired. Last I heard he was recovering from surgery and they were going to see how he was doing before making a decision.

I did forget about one other prospect. Pletcher had One Liner.

[reckless]

Originally Posted by luisbe

Is Mastery being trained to return?

It's hard to have a sympathetic moment pertaining to anything Bob Baffert, but now that the Triple Crown series is over, in my not-so-humble opinion... Mastery would have been racing's and Baffert's second Triple Crown winner in three years!

Mastery would have made all three TC races a 'joke' by the ease he would have won them. Again, just my opinion.

[Redboard]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

I have no idea when it started, it's actually the opposite. For decades horses used to race heavily at 2. It wasn't until recent years that the schedule started getting lighter and lighter.

Two of the all-time greats, Man O War and Secretariat has stellar 2-year-old campaigns.

[Afleet]

Think Practical Joke will turn out to be a good one

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Redboard

Two of the all-time greats, Man O War and Secretariat has stellar 2-year-old campaigns.

Affirmed had an amazing 2 year old campaign, including 4 wins in 6 races against Alydar and wins in big 2 year old races on both coasts (Hollywood Juvenile, Laurel Futurity), as recently in 1977.

Spectacular Bid set two track records as a 2 year old the following year, including one in a route race (and 2 year olds NEVER do that), and won several big stakes.

[cj]

Favorite Trick wasn't too shabby at 2 either, though 3yo season has to be considered a disappointment.

[elhelmete]

Originally Posted by jocko699

Not yet but that is the plan.

Retired.