Big Red Tribute

[tom]

Tim you might want to check this out.....tribute to Secretariat over at HTR.

http://www.homebased2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8904

[Charlie D]

Not really into History part Tom, but enjoy watching good horses strut thier stuff

Thanks go to you and Bob - Good viewing

[For The Lead]

Originally Posted by Charlie D

Not really into History part Tom, but enjoy watching good horses strut thier stuff

Thanks go to you and Bob - Good viewing

Sorry Charlie. I'm not picking on you, but calling Secretariat "a good horse" is kind of like calling a Rolls Royce "an ok car".

Secretariat IS the Greatest Horse of ALL TIME. (IMNSHO)

In the Derby....every 1/4 mile faster than the previous 1/4 mile. Let me know the next time you see a horse do that going 1 1/4 miles.

In the Preakness....went into the clubhouse turn last and came out of the clubhouse turn first. Again, let me know the next time you see a horse do that.

Then there is the Belmont......109.2 is fast for any horse going 6f. But going 1 1/2 miles? And finish like he did? Unheard of!

Again, my apology, but Secretariat was much more than "a good horse". He WAS the BEST there was, even up to today and probably for many years to come.

[Tim Y]

Originally Posted by tom

Tim you might want to check this out.....tribute to Secretariat over at HTR.

http://www.homebased2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8904

I have my own video of him running around his paddock at Claiborne and our feeding him (and his begging for) peppermints. November 5, 1985 (Bill's birthday he told me too) and it was akin to meeting Mohamed Ali, Micheal Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth, Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas, and Kharem Abdul Jabar all in the same individual. The rational part of me reminds me otherwise, but one wanted to talk in hushed tones around him, almost bow in his presence. He was in the lead stall in the front barn at Claiborne in the same stall as his sire Bold Ruler with Spectacular Bid as his "friend" across the aisle.

If you tried to "make up" a story of him and sold it to make a Hollywood movie NO ONE would believe such schmaltz. A product of a LOST coin flip at Saratoga several years before, he was the second choice of a mating of two mares to Phipp's Bold Ruler. They got their choice of the first mating, The Bride, never won a race.

Meadow Stud was on it's last legs and Christopher Chenery, an emeritus professor of economics, was dying with the life's wish of having bred a Kentucky Derby winner. The business was going poorly and his daughter Penny took the reigns to see what she could do. The family clamored for a sale dispersal but she wanted to hold on for "just a while longer." Dr.Cherney died in January 1973, with the knowledge that they had indeed bred a Derby winner in Riva Ridge, but never got to see Big Red's three year old season. Among his other horses of note, Chenery owned and bred Hill Prince, the 1950 U.S. Horse of the Year; Cicada, champion filly at 2, 3, and 4; and First Landing, the 1958 U.S. Champion 2-yr-old colt.

So Hollywood would have laughed at a plot that said a RED horse in WHITE and BLUE colors would make his first start on JULY 4th 1972 but get wiped out at the gate by a colt named Quebec. That experience would forever make him "gate shy" and he never broke on top.The only time he was ever out of the money (much akin to Man O'War's loss being left at the post with Loftus in the Sanford). The rest, they say is history. Race after race doing the unbelievable.

I have written to and responded with horsemen all over the world and the jury is UNANIMOUS in their acclaim. Many an Aussie knows how great he was as the track record holder in the Melbourne Cup is his son Kingston Rule.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Rule.

Risen Star in many an other year hd he been luckier, would have been a Triple Crown winner. I have his Belmont photo as I do his father's. Lady's Secret was in a class by herself (I just looked at her Breeder's Cup Distaff win, BEFORE D. WAYNE ruined her, and Penny Tweedy is right there in the winner's circle) and General Assembly broke the track record in his Traver's win.. Chief's Crown was out of a Secretariat mare.

No horse ever reproduces himself but his influence was mainly through is being a top broodmare sire.

Dr. George Pratt who studies the biomechanics of race horse motion said, in a documentary done for CBC called A Magical Way of Going said: "If you put all the biomechanical measurements from Secretariat into a computer program, smoke would come out the back, He SHOULD JUST NOT BE."

I still pause every May and October 4th each year to remember that ONCE for a scant two years, we saw something as close to perfection that has ever been seen in a race horse.

I have never seen ANTHING CLOSE and I have seen many of them.

[Vinnie]

Hey folks! I hope that you don't mind me chiming in?.. I have always been told and I have always personally believed that if one is fortunate enough in r life you might just get to see "THE ONE"! Sometimes, it is a boxer, it may be a golfer as phenomenal as Tiger Woods. It could just be someone as unique and unparalleled in talent and presence as the incredible Michael Jordan who I was so very fortunate to be able to see play live at least a dozen times or more when he was in the prime of his career. I have that photo in black and white of the famous stretch run from the 1973 Belmont signed by Ron Turcotte on the rail of the photo where Secretariat appeared to be the only horse on the track near the end of the race and it sits on the wall right above my work station. When Secretariat won the Belmont and went on his Triple Crown Tear I was only 9 years old and I had no idea of what a horse race even was at that time. Heck, just watching him perform via film footage to this very day simply takes ones breath away.

Several years ago when I watched ESPN's Top 50 athletes of all time and Secretariat was listed well within the upper echelon of that grouping many people scoffed at the notion that a horse could even be considered to be amongst the Top 50 Athletes that ever lived. IMHO, it would have been a crying shame if he would have been excluded from such a list. I always heard stories about him later in his life, for example that when it was eating time out in the pasture that the other horses in his company wouldn't even eat until Big Red sauntered over to the trough to begin feeding. Even the other horses inherently knew that this horse in their company was something truly special.

I only wish that I would have been able to see him run live. If anyone out there on the board ever got to see him run live, I would very much enjoy hearing what your thoughts were on the whole experience. WOW!!

Have a Great Day and Good Skill to Everyone.

Vinnie

[Charlie D]

Originally Posted by For The Lead

Sorry Charlie. I'm not picking on you, but calling Secretariat "a good horse" is kind of like calling a Rolls Royce "an ok car".

Secretariat IS the Greatest Horse of ALL TIME. (IMNSHO)

In the Derby....every 1/4 mile faster than the previous 1/4 mile. Let me know the next time you see a horse do that going 1 1/4 miles.

In the Preakness....went into the clubhouse turn last and came out of the clubhouse turn first. Again, let me know the next time you see a horse do that.

Then there is the Belmont......109.2 is fast for any horse going 6f. But going 1 1/2 miles? And finish like he did? Unheard of!

Again, my apology, but Secretariat was much more than "a good horse". He WAS the BEST there was, even up to today and probably for many years to come.

Ravens Pass was a good Euro horse, he beat US good horses like Curlin in the Classic, but i'm not going to say he is the Greatest horse in the World as i just don't know if that is correct and the same applies to Secretariat

If you or anyone else want to assign Great, best or whatever tag to Secretariat, it's fine by me

[Tim Y]

Originally Posted by Charlie D

Ravens Pass was a good Euro horse, he beat US good horses like Curlin in the Classic, but i'm not going to say he is the Greatest horse as i just don't know if that is correct and the same applies to Secretariat

*** again. NO HORSE is defined or measured by a single performance NOT NOW, NOT YESTERDAY, NOT EVER.

Find a copy of Robertson's The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America ***

[Tim Y]

QUOTE:"for example that when it was eating time out in the pasture that the other horses in his company wouldn't even eat until Big Red sauntered over to the trough to begin feeding."

Breeding STALLIONS are overtly agressive and are NEVER in the same paddock as they might fight one another. GOOD STORY, but a story nonetheless. They graze in the pasture but eat out of a feeding tub, in their stall just like all horses in barns.

[Charlie D]

Originally Posted by Tim Y

**** again. NO HORSE is defined or measured by a single performance NOT NOW, NOT YESTERDAY, NOT EVER.

Find a copy of Robertson's The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America ***

Looks like ***

[Charlie D]

http://www.chef-de-race.com/articles...ighweights.htm

Above is a list from Timeform and according to thier list, Sea Bird is the "Greatest" , is that correct??