87 replies to this topic

[Mike in STL]

False. Jim McKay was the best in the biz. "And down the stretch they come!" Nothing beats McKay.

That was Dave Johnson (not the former O's pitcher), but yes, that's one of the better sounds in sports.

Pretty sure that was McKay with that call. No?

[Oriole85]

Pretty sure that was McKay with that call. No?

http://articles.balt...retch-announcer

[Oriole85]

Here's a chart I found interesting on the length between Triple Crown winners (Paulick Report)

 

There are only three Triple Crown winners who completed the schedule at the modern spacing, which was put in place in 1969: Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed.

[SBTarheel]

Pretty sure that was McKay with that call. No?

McKay was the host of all of the Triple Crown Broadcasts on ABC, like Costas does now. 

 

Madison is correct, Dave Johnson was the race caller, and yes, he was AWESOME. 

[SBTarheel]

By the way, Tonalist has lost one race in his career, to my original Derby Horse, Constitution. 

 

Oh, what might have been. 

 

http://www.baltimore...rse-racing-but/

[ChaosLex]

I thought for sure he'd apologize this morning, instead he started in with his spiel again.

 

Sore loser. 

[Oriole85]

I thought for sure he'd apologize this morning, instead he started in with his spiel again.

 

Sore loser. 

He might've back himself in a corner, who knows? It's how he really feels. Don't we like honesty?

[ChaosLex]

He might've back himself in a corner, who knows? It's how he really feels. Don't we like honesty?

 

Eh, I don't know. I think one trainer put it best when they said he turned a nice Cinderella story into a nightmare. Another trainer said he's erased any goodwill he had in one fine stroke. 

[Oriole85]

Eh, I don't know. I think one trainer put it best when they said he turned a nice Cinderella story into a nightmare. Another trainer said he's erased any goodwill he had in one fine stroke. 

It's not a Cinderella story when he doesn't win it all, but I get what you're saying and I agree with erasing good will. While I think he should've kept his mouth shut and taken this up behind closed doors -- I'm just saying we get on sports personality's cases all the time for giving Markakis-like robot/cliche answers, umm ya know, then when Richard Sherman says what he actually feels we attack them for not being stoic. 

[Pedro Cerrano]

He's a whiny bitch. You lost. Get over it. If CC was truly TRULY a special horse then the fact that other horses were "fresher" wouldn't matter -- he would have beat them.

Also, three weeks isn't enough time to get a horse back to 100%?

I'm skeptical there.

[SBTarheel]

"Well, it was one hell of a ride, thanks to all the fans for their support, but it just wasn't in the cards for us today. I do think that there could be some adjustments to the Triple Crown, but it's the test of champions, and our horse, despite the loss today, is still a champion."

 

That's what he should have said.

 

@Bopper: It's not so much the three weeks per se, it's the grueling distances they have to go during these three races. Typically, the prep races leading up the the Derby are 1 1/16, or 1 1/8...They've never ran past those distances, and the Derby is 1 1/4, Preakness 1 3/16, and of course the Belmont 1 1/2. So it might take a bit longer for these guys to be 100% fit given the quick turnarounds.

[Oriole85]

@richarddeitsch NBC said yesterday's Belmont Stakes  averaged 20.6 million viewers -- the most-watched sporting event since Feb. 16 airing of Olympics.

 

@richarddeitsch NBC's highest-rated cities for Belmont: 1. Louisville; 2. Ft. Myers; 3. Sac.; 4. West Palm; 5. Balt.; 6. Tampa; 7. Orlando; 8. BUF; 9. NYC.

[Oriole85]

Joe Posnanski weighs in on California Chrome's ill-fated quest

 

You know what? It’s not fair. Horse racing’s Triple Crown demands that a horse win the most famous race in America, the Kentucky Derby; then, two weeks later, win the Preakness Stakes 600 or so miles away; and then, three weeks after that, beat a bunch of fresher horses in New York at the grueling Belmont, the longest race it will ever run (1 1/2 miles). That is thoroughly, entirely, even ludicrously unfair.

 

But here’s the part that’s easy to miss: It’s SUPPOSED to be unfair. That’s part of what makes the Triple Crown spellbinding. That’s part of why it stops America’s heart every now and again. That’s part of the reason more than 100,000 people poured into Belmont Park Saturday afternoon and created a scene more raucous and emotional than any Super Bowl or World Series or Final Four I’ve ever seen. It’s unfair. And yet, we can’t stop believing.

[SBTarheel]

Joe Posnanski weighs in on California Chrome's ill-fated quest

Like I've said over and over and over and over and over, it's not supposed to be easy.

[Oriole85]

Like I've said over and over and over and over and over, it's not supposed to be easy.

Preaching to the choir here, that's the appeal of the TC.

[SBTarheel]

By the way, a Horse Racing thread (I know, I know, not a real sport, won't care about it for another 10 months, blah blah blah has made it to a 4th page!!)

[bnickle]

Like I've said over and over and over and over and over, it's not supposed to be easy.

Again, I think its unfair. Or at least, it isn't how it used to be 40+ years ago. Horses lie in wait more often, the fields are bigger, and as you mentioned above you have more chances for jockeys to team up on a horse. Even if that happened in the old days(Im sure it did) its much easier to gang up in an 11 horse field than a 5 or 6 or 7 horse field.

 

 

So, with all of that being out of the way, as I said before and as you said here, when it happens again, it should be a very special accomplishment likely by a very special horse.

[Oriole85]

By the way, a Horse Racing thread (I know, I know, not a real sport, won't care about it for another 10 months, blah blah blah has made it to a 4th page!!)

Thank Chrome's owner, typically speaking this would be a non-story 10 minutes after the fact unless it was a very hotly contested. (won by like a nose)

[SBTarheel]

Again, I think its unfair. Or at least, it isn't how it used to be 40+ years ago. Horses lie in wait more often, the fields are bigger, and as you mentioned above you have more chances for jockeys to team up on a horse. Even if that happened in the old days(Im sure it did) its much easier to gang up in an 11 horse field than a 5 or 6 or 7 horse field.

 

 

So, with all of that being out of the way, as I said before and as you said here, when it happens again, it should be a very special accomplishment likely by a very special horse.

Coburn's suggeestion that Horses lie in wait to ruin Triple Crown chances simply isn't true. Tonalist for example got sick the night before the Wood Memorial, so he missed some training. He'd have been in the Derby otherwise. Owners and trainers map out plans for their horses months and months ahead of time..Some point to the Preakness and or Belmont for many reasons. If a horse doesn't have enough points to qualify for the Derby, sure they'll point to the Preakness, but it's because they want to win a classic, want the prestige, its not necessarily to ruin it for anyone else, they want to win a race.

 

It will happen again, I mean, it has to at some point. But yeah, it's going to take an absolute MONSTER to do it, for all the reasons we have mentioned here.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Secretariat's all like "U mad bro?"