Horses that never panned out..

[tzipi]

I dont mean horses like Sham who was a champ but ran into Secretariat. Not big horses that were already big winners and proven and then just lost races. I mean horses that you probably just know that you saw from their first race and first couple who took off and you expected big things and then just dropped off the face of the earth. Just your memories and stories. Little horses maybe you just remember. Not the really big name ones. We know them.

I loved a horse called GALLOPING GROCER,who took off whipping NY fields by open lengths and looked unbelievable and I was thinking maybe Derby,maybe more! Well he went head to head with Rockport Harbor in the Remsen,losing a photo finish and just got killed every race after. He ran in the Preakness,only to run up track,then I think he was running in allowances and then *boom* was gone from racing. On a farm somewhere now,breeding or whatever.
Just went from a steep rise in NY to a sharp drop and into oblivion.

[toussaud]

I remember 2 years ago I was hook line and sinker for a horse called Air Commander for Baffert out in socal. I just would not let it die.

[johnhannibalsmith]

Discreet Treasure? Is that the name of the gray El Prado (I think) colt that broke his maiden a year or so ago in NY in the slop by about nine after falling about fifteen off the lead going seven-eighths in his debut?

I watched that SOB win that day and said - this is going to be one running fool when he gets to distance and surface that he wants to be on.

I chased this thing for about four tedious starts before I relented and realized he was utterly average and consistently overbet.

[TiznowfaninNY]

Shah Jehan
Rockport Harbor (in terms of expectations)
Toccet was very nice, and then ruined
Lawrence the Roman
Unbridled Roman


Plenty more, those are the ones that come to mind.

[toussaud]

Originally Posted by johnhannibalsmith

Discreet Treasure? Is that the name of the gray El Prado (I think) colt that broke his maiden a year or so ago in NY in the slop by about nine after falling about fifteen off the lead going seven-eighths in his debut?

I watched that SOB win that day and said - this is going to be one running fool when he gets to distance and surface that he wants to be on.

I chased this thing for about four tedious starts before I relented and realized he was utterly average and consistently overbet.

discreet treasure won a couple of allowence mile races this year. not his brother or anything but not a bad horse.

air commander on the other hand, won 1 freaking allowence race, and struggled to do tat, but I let baffet talk me into the potential arguement when he did the post race interview. he got his butt handed to him on a silver platter the next race by cobalt blue (talk about a horse that belongs in this discussion) and I still bet him , and he got beat in an allowence race and didn't hit the board (in retrospect well armed won that race).

he did beat tiago in a grade 2 last year but finished up the track in the big cap never to be heard from again. he was pretty though.

[toussaud]

oh shoot i can't beleve I forgot the ovbious answer, MAGNIFICIENCE .

never in the history of horse racing has a horse lived that long off an impressive maiden victory. i firmly believed she was better than rags to riches at least up to maybe a mile.

I have major issues with that way she was handled. she was an utter freak of nature on dirt. she was probably effected moreso than any west coast horse by the surface switch. Becuase she became an instant non factor as soon as the surface changed.

if socal stayed to dirt, god knows what she was capable of doing. wish she would have shipped east.

actually bruce headly had it bad that year becuase he had Arson Squad and surf cat, both of whch were pure dirt horses who struggled on synethics, yet he never sent any of them east.

my gosh this thread is bringing back memories,. at one point surf cat was virtually unbeatable in southern california. ran straight though his condiitions. MSW, allowence, grade 3, grade 2, was an utter terror out there in socal, and the surface switch, instant non factor, and never gets shipped outside of socal, though he was classy enough to still win a few races, but the dirt surf cat was a monster.

[tucker6]

five replies and no one mentioned Green Monkey yet?

[Valuist]

Did the Green Rat ever break his maiden?

[DanG]

This doesn’t really qualify as ‘never panned out’; but it is a good excuse to discuss a quality animal many aren’t aware of.

1985 a Willard Proctor / Claiborne colt named “Swear”. My brother worked for Proctor at the time and Swear was so revered Wayne Lukas would go out of his way back from the kitchen to walk by the barn just to check him out. This was always noticed of course because Proctor and the old Kentucky guard couldn’t stand Wayne and that’s putting it mildly.

Swear died very suddenly of (colic I believe) and the barn went into shock. A serious losing streak came after his death and for those who think a barn can’t turn (both good and / or bad) from one isolated event…they can / and did in this case.

Wish I had a happier holiday story, but by most experienced accounts Swear was the goods and I’m guessing most outside of California most never heard of him.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by toussaud

air commander on the other hand, won 1 freaking allowence race, and struggled to do tat, but I let baffet talk me into the potential arguement when he did the post race interview. he got his butt handed to him on a silver platter the next race by cobalt blue (talk about a horse that belongs in this discussion) and I still bet him , and he got beat in an allowence race and didn't hit the board (in retrospect well armed won that race).

i remember him from a race , i think at SA with the old synth they had before pro-ride. The track was jacked up and all the speed was running around together for a few days without anyone making a move all race. Can't remember if he won or finished ITM, but he was one of the 4 or 5 speeds and they came in for the trifecta. I think he was 45-1. Wasn't crazy about the horse but that day I liked him.

[Tom]

Dollar Bill
Pyro

[illinoisbred]

Meadowlake-soundness issues

[sandpit]

Originally Posted by Tom

Dollar Bill
Pyro

if there was ever a jockey that didn't fit a horse, it was Pat Day on Dollar Bill

[tzipi]

Originally Posted by tucker6

five replies and no one mentioned Green Monkey yet?

The Green Monkey didn't even win a maiden race.
I forgot about Lawrence the Roman. He looked great early. Thought he'd turn into something great. But nothing.

[andymays]

Just follow John White (Horse Racings Mr. Rogers) on HRTV.

He'll give out a quite a few that will never pan out.