Who is Your Favorite Horse of All-Time

[Jonathan Steele]

The one and only Secretariat.

Regards,

Jon

[lsosa54]

Sunday Silence bred by Arthur Hancock and trained by Charlie Whittingham. In 14 starts, he had 9 wins and 5 places. His battles with Easy Goer were fun to watch and that's right about when I became interested in handicapping.

He became the leading sire in Japan from 1995 to 2007.

[Turbulator]

Originally Posted by alydar_David

Alydar

http://www.hitak.com/home/alydar/

Clicking on the above link took me to a page with some other links including the one I'm reading now. "The Killing of Alydar." It's fascinating.

"In her 1992 Connoisseur story, Flake hinted that Alydar's death might not have been accidental. After learning that the farm's insurance policies on Alydar totaled $36.5 million, making him the most heavily insured horse in history, she went so far as to suggest that Alydar might have been worth more dead than alive. Yet no law enforcement official had shown any interest in pursuing the issue—until Tomala began flipping through records about Calumet in 1996.
What she realized was that Lundy had to have been frantic in the months before Alydar's death. There was no way he was going to be able to come up with that $15 million payment to First City by February 1991. An accountant who had studied Calumet's records told Tomala that the farm was then losing almost $1 million a month."

Read the full article here

[socantra]

Mine is also my avatar, Assault, Tripple Crown winner and Horse of the year in 1946. I never saw him run, but I visited him several times a week when I was growing up in Kingsville, Texas. A Kentucky Derby winner was pretty heady stuff for a small town Texas kid.

I never rode the horse, but we had a lot of very serious conversations about racing, growing up, girls, baseball and life in general. He was a very good listener and one of mt best friends.

I visited him several days before I left South Texas in 1962 and then a couple of more times when I was back through town.

Assault broke a bone in his foreleg at the age of 28 in 1971, was put down and buried there on the King Ranch. A friend sent me the obit from the local paper and I shed a quiet tear for my old friend.

Dick

[alydar_ David]

Originally Posted by Turbulator

Clicking on the above link took me to a page with some other links including the one I'm reading now. "The Killing of Alydar." It's fascinating.

"In her 1992 Connoisseur story, Flake hinted that Alydar's death might not have been accidental. After learning that the farm's insurance policies on Alydar totaled $36.5 million, making him the most heavily insured horse in history, she went so far as to suggest that Alydar might have been worth more dead than alive. Yet no law enforcement official had shown any interest in pursuing the issue—until Tomala began flipping through records about Calumet in 1996.
What she realized was that Lundy had to have been frantic in the months before Alydar's death. There was no way he was going to be able to come up with that $15 million payment to First City by February 1991. An accountant who had studied Calumet's records told Tomala that the farm was then losing almost $1 million a month."

Read the full article here

Steve, you might enjoy reading Wild Ride: The Rise and Fall of Calumet Farm

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...ride&x=25&y=24

I know some things about Lundy that aren't in the book. In the spirit of being positive I won't mention them.

One of the cool things about the book is how Alydar got his name. I won't spoil it for you!

:>)

[Turbulator]

Originally Posted by alydar_David

Steve, you might enjoy reading Wild Ride: The Rise and Fall of Calumet Farm

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...ride&x=25&y=24

I know some things about Lundy that aren't in the book. In the spirit of being positive I won't mention them.

One of the cool things about the book is how Alydar got his name. I won't spoil it for you!

:>)

Thanks, Dave. I just found it at my local library, and I'll read it as soon as it's available.

[Tim Y]

Originally Posted by clore1030

I remember his first turf race in a medium level claimer at Belmont which he won by daylight. Before he had come to NY, he didn't have much of a record and in his first start here (a dirt claimer) he paid about 50 dollars. The public would never get anywhere near that kind of money on him ever again.

Being a gelding, there was nothing else for him to do but run as long as he was holding up, and he held up well for years.

I have his maiden win photo at now defunct Jefferson Downs LA at 4 1/2 furlongs. After the bloodstock agent bought him for Sam Rubin he told him; "I messed up and bought you a gelding," to which Rubin responded; "What color is that?"

[dogkatcher]

Native Diver, not one of the greats, but was always exciting and a beautiful black.

[clore1030]

Originally Posted by Tim Y

I have his maiden win photo at now defunct Jefferson Downs LA at 4 1/2 furlongs. After the bloodstock agent bought him for Sam Rubin he told him; "I messed up and bought you a gelding," to which Rubin responded; "What color is that?"

Funny story. It reminds me of Jacklin Klugman, given that name because someone couldn't distinguish the proper sex of the horse.

[barb craven]

Being new to the racing community, I don`t know many horses, but since I have started I have to say the horse that excited me the most was Eight Belles. From the very beginning there was something about her that made me root for her in every race.

I looked looked up her pedigree and she comes from a long lines of winners as far as I can tell. If I`m wrong, tell me please.

I think she could have had a great career. That`s an opinion from a newbie.

Barb