VIDEOS: The greatest racing performance you've witnessed IN PERSON

[thespaah]

I was present for the 1977 Hopeful.
Saw John Henry win the Ballantine Scotch Classic in a gutsy performance for and old warhorse.
Saw Seattle Slew lose to Dr Patches At Meadowlands.

[porchy44]

Arazi runs right by him, and he's pouring it on, just an incredible move. And here INDEED is a SUPERSTAR, Arazi, absolutely brilliant, he was taken under a hard hold to win here by 5, but he could have won by 10 perhaps, ABSOLUTELY SENSATIONAL!

Durkin acted quite surprised by the move as Arazi went by Bertrando.

I had a nice win bet on him and Black Tie affair that day. Very memorable for me.

[goatchaser]

As a Young Man watching this race and being there sent chills down my spine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ9G_dA5KcU

But it couldn't beat this day.You just have to Listen to the crowd down the stretch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWi0iwAL_M

[PhantomOnTour]

No contest at all for me:

2005 Preakness Stakes - Afleet Alex

[ultracapper]

Originally Posted by KirisClown

Here you go..

[YT="86 Longacres Mile"]VwixWXIAGyg[/YT]

Good to see you're still around. Haven't seen your handle in quite some time.

[ultracapper]

Originally Posted by KirisClown

Here you go..

[YT="86 Longacres Mile"]VwixWXIAGyg[/YT]

Obviously 29 years has clouded the memory a bit as I remembered Bedside Promise engaging Skywalker much earlier. Bedside Promise turned into a pretty nice horse also. That was one of the early Jawl Brothers horses. He broke his maiden at Longacres as a horse in a 14-1 field entry. I believe it was a 14 horse field with 12 betting interests. Bedside Promise was 1 of 3 in the "field" entry. Geez, comparing Longacres to Emerald Downs, what a difference. There were dozens of field entries every meet at Longacres. And a dozen races a week with full fields of 12 with 4 AEs. They ran very few Maidens for older horses. If your horse was a 4 year old maiden, the horse had to be shipped to Portland, Yakima, Spokane, or Vancouver BC. There just wasn't enough barn space to hold the older maidens. From 1982 until the announcement of the sale of Longacres to Boeing in 1991, that was as outstanding a "B" level track as could be. Very, very good racing, and I mean Wednesday through Sunday, 10 races a day with an average of 10 horses per race, all meet long.

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by Kash$

Secretariat Debut?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khpjhzld7nw

[Pine Tree Lane]

1. 1976 Belmont. Bold Forbes performance at 1 1/2 miles on 3 feet.
2. 2009 Breeders Cup Classic. Zenyatta running them down; you could feel the wall of noise...
3. El Pitirre wins the 1976 Tom Fool. I loved that chestnut son of Gallant Romeo.

[sandpit]

Had the great fortune to be standing at the finish line on the outside rail of the turf course at Hollywood Park when the first (and maybe still only) Grade 1 race was won by a Japanese-bred horse. Other than Lure for his first BC Mile win, I don't think I've ever seen a horse look as good as Cesario did that day.

[yt="American Oaks 2005"]DdtPoKt2H30[/yt]

[Redboard]

2012 Preakness Stakes

I'll Have Another tracks down Bodemeister in the last 100 yards. Bodemeister sure looked like he wasn’t going to be caught, what an amazing finish. Shame that I’ll Have Another never got to finish the triple crown.

[YT="2012 Preakness Stakes"]7a7A5XXoy0w[/YT]

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by ultracapper

Obviously 29 years has clouded the memory a bit as I remembered Bedside Promise engaging Skywalker much earlier. Bedside Promise turned into a pretty nice horse also. That was one of the early Jawl Brothers horses. He broke his maiden at Longacres as a horse in a 14-1 field entry. I believe it was a 14 horse field with 12 betting interests. Bedside Promise was 1 of 3 in the "field" entry. Geez, comparing Longacres to Emerald Downs, what a difference. There were dozens of field entries every meet at Longacres. And a dozen races a week with full fields of 12 with 4 AEs. They ran very few Maidens for older horses. If your horse was a 4 year old maiden, the horse had to be shipped to Portland, Yakima, Spokane, or Vancouver BC. There just wasn't enough barn space to hold the older maidens. From 1982 until the announcement of the sale of Longacres to Boeing in 1991, that was as outstanding a "B" level track as could be. Very, very good racing, and I mean Wednesday through Sunday, 10 races a day with an average of 10 horses per race, all meet long.

I saw the 1986 Mile too. (But I remembered it correctly.) At the time, I didn't know how good Bedside Promise was, so I figured Skywalker was slumming. In fact, they were both very good horses (Bedside Promise was third to Smile and beat (the concededly incredibly overrated and astoundingly ordinary New York sprinter) Groovy in the BC Sprint, and Skywalker, who had won the 1985 Santa Anita Derby, won the third Breeders' Cup Classic in 1986.)

[ultracapper]

Dilanesp, if you were around Longacres at that time, do you remember Hilco Scamper? All my old time buddies can't remember him, even though one of them remembers his nemesis, Zulu Whiz. Of course, I'm starting to question my memory now.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by ultracapper

Dilanesp, if you were around Longacres at that time, do you remember Hilco Scamper? All my old time buddies can't remember him, even though one of them remembers his nemesis, Zulu Whiz. Of course, I'm starting to question my memory now.

Hilco Scamper made it down to Southern California, and i saw him run down here (I went up to Renton to see the '86 Mile.)

I think he was in the Snow Chief-Ferdinand crop, not totally sure. He was definitely fast and won a bunch of races in Washington

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by ultracapper

Dilanesp, if you were around Longacres at that time, do you remember Hilco Scamper? All my old time buddies can't remember him, even though one of them remembers his nemesis, Zulu Whiz. Of course, I'm starting to question my memory now.

Ultra, here's a nice video clip of Hilco Scamper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t0C0RN1Lro

[ultracapper]

THANK YOU RR.
I had no idea he was so accomplished. I was there the day he broke his maiden. The horse that finished 2nd was a horse named Hot Rocks, who was making his 2nd start. I had bet Hot Rocks in his debut, and was waiting for his 2nd start. I went down with my soon to be father-in-law as I told him about Hot Rocks and he said, "Great, let's go". Gary Baze had ridden Hot Rocks in his debut, but he ended up on Hilco Scamper. My Father-in-law gave me my first lesson in jockey intentions that day. He just said, "What the hell is Baze doing?" I was all, "don't worry, blah, blah, blah" He said, "Mike Chambers, John Roche (the owner. Was the owner of the sire Knights Choice, a monster sire of precocious get), we're betting this one. I was heart broken, but did as I was told, and watched one of the most incredible races I'd ever seen. There was never a doubt. Hilco Scamper just blew up as they straightened for home, and Baze hardly moved a muscle.

I did not know he had hit the Cali circuits. I wasn't paying near as much attention at that time. First, there was my soon to be father-in-law's daughter who had me messed up three sheets to twisted nut sacks all the time (30 years later, my wife still spins my head), and there was a lot of snow in Seattle at that time, if you know what I mean. I was never shy about that stuff. A beautiful day at Longacres with a pretty girl and a fast buzz was really what I was doing at that time.

Anyhow, THANKS again. That really brought back a ton of memories.