Quote:
Originally Posted by GMB@BP
if you even trust the timing mechanisms of the 40's.
Secretariet lost 5 times, he wasnt unbeatable. I am sure Citation was better than those 5 other horses. 12/1 versus 1/2.
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At the bottom are Count Fleet and Gallant Fox.
Count Fleet worked 6f in 1:08+ as a 2yo and set a world record when he won the Champagne which wasn't topped until a quarter of a century later. Even after that, only such greats as Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, Easy Goer, and Sea Hero have won the Champagne anywhere near his final time (1:34 4/5). Monster horse, set a stakes record in the Belmont too, which he won by 25 lengths.
Gallant Fox would have been the only Quintuple Crown winner if he wasn't the victim of the second most famous upset in racing in the Travers (Jim Dandy beat him). Coincidentally, he got caught in a speed duel just like American Pharoah by the runner-up in the Belmont, setting up for an late-running upstart. Gallant Fox also took the Lawrence Realization in NY which was created as an American answer to England's Triple Crown race, the St. Leger. He won that in record time. Gallant Fox also came back to beat older horses in both the Saratoga Cup and Jockey Club Gold Cup for good measure. He also sired another Triple Crown winner, Omaha, in his first crop as a stallion, which numbered just 18 foals.
Omaha, himself another longshot on the board, had only one real hiccup during his 3yo campaign when browbeat by the great Discovery in the Brooklyn (a race Discovery won 3 consecutive times) setting a world record in the process. Omaha buried fellow 3yos the rest of the year. He was sent to England as a 4yo and was just beat in the 20 furlong Ascot Gold Cup, one of the most important races in Europe.
