If Animal Kingdom wins..

[Casino]

Then goes on to win the Belmont is it diminish because of the quality of this years crop?IMO a triple crown winner regardless of the competition gets my respect,does he get yours?

[Grits]

Yes. Given it has been achieved so few times.

[Smarty Cide]

hate to admit it but it will always be like yeah he won the triple crown but it was a terrible crop.

[rastajenk]

Depends. If he earns Beyers close to par, he earns some respect. If he wins out with numbers in the nineties, the naysayers will deserve to be heard.

[lamboguy]

i honestly think that ANIMAL KINGDOM will run better in the PREAKNESS than in KENTUCKY. he seems like a horse that is putting it all together right now. i highly doubt that those people are going to make any mistakes with him, so i that being said, i have no clue how he or anyone else for that matter is training for this race unlike the KENTUCKY race where i knew that a few in it were training real bad. so if DIALED IN scratches you won't get 2-1 on him and you are only guessing that he is doing good. what we do know is that MUCHO MACHO MAN is training good, that much i do know pretty much first hand. i think 2-1 is a good bet for the KINGDOM in this race.

[GaryG]

As we have learned you can judge a crop accurately only in retrospect. This does look like a weak crop, but AK is a fine animal and would be a deserving TC winner. And no, he will not carry an *.

[Bruddah]

Originally Posted by rastajenk

Depends. If he earns Beyers close to par, he earns some respect. If he wins out with numbers in the nineties, the naysayers will deserve to be heard.

Amen Bruddah! His Derby numbers have failed to make a case for him thus far. His competition has failed to make a case for him. He's and his competition are going to need and step it up several notches.

If he does do it, it simply will have been against the worst crop of 3yo's in the last 25 years. However, after Saturday, I don't think we will be having this conversation. The point will be moot.

P.S. I have never cheered for a horse to lose, but I am with Animal Kingdom. He's not worthy.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by Casino

Then goes on to win the Belmont is it diminish because of the quality of this years crop?IMO a triple crown winner regardless of the competition gets my respect,does he get yours?

Maybe the story will go along those lines, but it is false. This is an "average" crop with some depth in terms of solid allowance horses.

[Grits]

Originally Posted by rastajenk

Depends. If he earns Beyers close to par, he earns some respect. If he wins out with numbers in the nineties, the naysayers will deserve to be heard.

Rasta, I don't agree with you on this one, bud. These three races--we know as the Triple Crown, have been around how many decades longer than Beyer speed figures have been printed in the DRF? And who outside of handicappers of this game know what a Beyer figure is?

If you are addressing the masses, what is the hallmark of this sport? There's only one answer . . . the Triple Crown. Breeders' Cup still runs way back.

If AK were to go on to win it, do you believe every media outlet, print, audio, or visual, every news channel, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, etc is going to lament that his Beyer's weren't triple digit? That this was a poor crop? I don't think so, darlin'.

The naysayers, if he wins the Triple Crown, need to be grateful. Their game may gather new fans interested in wagering, therefore, enabling them to keep their churn going.

[rastajenk]

If he is truly getting very good right now, which, after all, is what it's all about during the Triple Crown series, one would have to be pretty stubborn and/or stupid to not give him his due.

But he was in an optional claimer two back before the Derb. Is that where you want your TC drought-ender to come from? I'm as egalitarian as they come, but I think that would be cause for some serious head-scratchin' and chin-pullin'. It's very possible there's not a halfway decent stayer out there and this one can win all three with efforts that wouldn't win one in a normal year.

The best thing for forums like this would be if he wins the TC with borderline figs, and then we can argue for a good long while whether he's worthy. In the absence of any compelling rivalry, maybe we can pit him against himself. At best, though, the controversy probably wouldn't rise beyond the level of current fans out into the mainstream. The real world would dig a Triple Crown for a while and then move on.

[Casino]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

Maybe the story will go along those lines, but it is false. This is an "average" crop with some depth in terms of solid allowance horses.

Rf i agree.My question is if Ak wins how can we ever determine whether his worthy of being labeled great?Is greatness high beyer numbers while winning the tc,running fast times,competition?5 weeks 3 races,thats tough even with medicore competition,or do we look at the overall season?

[cj's dad]

Someone posted that AK ran the last 1/2 faster that anyone since Secretariat. So, it seems to me that he is a quality animal. Hope he wins as I am commited to Belmont on the 11th.

[OFFandRUNNING10]

Originally Posted by cj's dad

Someone posted that AK ran the last 1/2 faster that anyone since Secretariat. So, it seems to me that he is a quality animal. Hope he wins as I am commited to Belmont on the 11th.

I saw someone had posted that as well but could not find what thread it was in. Did anyone confirm that at all? I am surprised it is not being talked about more if it is actually true.

[Pell Mell]

Don't you know that the Beyers are the ONLY gauge as to how good an animal is. That's why all the Beyers guys are rich and the rest of us are paupers.

[atonymania]

There has been no triple crown winner since 1978,if AK wins he will go down as one of the greatest,he run against the best crop available during his time and he will definitely earn my respect regardless of numbers.