SeaOat – Ohhh…I like those 25 cent mechanical ponies! L I actually have a picture of me sitting on one in England when I had just turned 22. (It was done as a joke…) But seriously, you gotta go sit on Secretariat if he’s still there! 
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by mcm7780:
PhillyFilly – Oh!!! Thanks for the clarification! But it will still stink if we don’t have a Triple Crown anymore…I’d like to see someone win it in my lifetime! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
mcm7780, The Triple Crown has been around for many many years (way before Visa started sponsering it with the added bonus). As long as those three races are run, there will always be a Triple Crown!
Let me first say that this might be a bias opinion on my part, but let’s give credit where credit is due. Scrappy T ran on hell of a race for a horse that was barely talked about or even given credit for beating Giacomo and the rest of the field by 5 lengths in the end.
Because of my connections to Scrappy T, I was concentrating on him the entire race. At the start he broke clean and was leading around the 1/16th pole as Going Wild and High Limit came up and passed him at the start finish line. As they went into the first turn Scrappy T was sitting in third behind High Limit and Going Wild. They stayed that way until the ½ pole. There as the announcer said “…High limit with a short lead , Going Wild, Scrappy T under a long hold right there right in behind the leader running third with a ½ mile to go” just then Scrappy started his move on High Limit who was on the inside and was second. As they went into the turn the TV announcer was concentrating of the favorites back in the pack. Closing Argument trying to pick his way through horses, Greenley’s Galaxy gaining ground their with a big move to the rail, Afleet Alex bottled up on the inside, Sun King and then Giacomo has a lot to do with 3 furlongs to do it he is 10 lengths behind and caught in some traffic now.
“And Scrappy T comes away with the lead!!!” Nobody mentioned the move that Scrappy T was making at that point.
Then all hell breaks loose as Ramon “The Windmill” Dominguez hits Scrappy T with a left handed whip. As Ramon said in his interview, it was to make sure Scrappy T was awake and not getting lazy heading into the stretch. This as we all know sent Scrappy T’s hind end out to his right into Afleet Alex. I give Afleet Alex and Jeremy Rose a lot of credit for their athleticism in regaining their composure and averting a tragedy. Yes, this makes Afleet Alex’s win even that more impressive, yet nobody is giving credit to Scrappy T for finishing second, 5 lengths in front of Giacomo and the rest of the field.
If you watch the rest of the race you will see Afleet Alex being whipped to the finish line. At the 1/16th pole Ramon (my image 5pkn1203 on my web site) looks through his legs and stops whipping Scrappy T and coast home, whereas the Giacomo and the others are whipping all the way. Don’t forget that Scrappy T lost some momentum in the incident also, yet he finished second by only 4-3/4 lengths and 5 lengths in front of the rest of the field. Not bad for another long shot. Who now is not getting any respect from the media.
I can see the opening of the Belmont coverage now, Scrappy T will be mentioned but only as the horse that almost caused the favorite Afleet Alex to fall during the Preakness. We will see that reply over and over again, but no mention of the fact that another long shot almost upset the favorite in the second Triple Crown race.
There are a lot of “what ifs” out there, as someone said on this thread that Afleet Alex might have won by 10 lengths. But what if Scrappy T had not crossed Afleet Alex and made it a horse race to the finish and Scrappy T won. What if, one or both of them went down and there was a pile up and a lot of jockeys and horses got hurt. But all that did not happen. What happened, happened and we can not change that. Yes, Afleet Alex showed some great ability as did Jeremy Rose and I congratulate them on one hell of a ride. I am glade that both horses and riders came out of uninjured, knowing Emily that was her first concern, not just for Scrappy T, but for Afleet Alex as well, as she watched both horses in the test barn.
As that very long day drew to a close, Emily and I sat on the grass outside of Scrappy T’s stall watching him act up for everybody as they walked by. I told her that I was proud of her and all her hard work that she has put into him and the other horses in the barn. And that Scrappy T would be remembered for a long time. Not the way they the connections would like but as the horse that made the finish of the 130th Preakness a thriller.
Scrappy T will not even be known as another long shot that did very well over some the best horses.
Thanks to all the Scrappy T supporters out there. I know Emily appreciates all your support and comments.
I know I made one guy happy sitting behind me at the races. As I was leaving he was at the IRS window cashing his tickets and I know he bet on Scrappy T.
Charlie Mann
www.cmannphoto.com
AB: you stick left on a horse to put him on his R lead. They should go right on straights and left on turns, keeping fatgue to a minimum.
By now most these horses do it on their own as exercise riders teach them early on in their training (if not getting to it naturally). If not taught correctly & persistantly as a youngster it can become more of a problem habit later.
Sometimes a sore horse will be reluctant to switch over too, as it hurts…you’ll notice most breakdowns happen into the stretch as this change happens onto the leg majority of horses stay on the longest (going by most written distance).
Scrappy T should have been set down below Giacomo, or diaqualified altogether. That was blatant interference.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by Sing Mia Song:
I believe that Ramon knew Afleet Alex was coming up on the outside, and he hit Scrappy T left handed to carry him slightly into Alex’s path. He certainly had no idea that Scrappy was going to react as strongly as he did. Keep in mind that Ramon had never ridden Scrappy before the Preakness (he might have worked him, but never rode him in a race), and even though the horse had a history of running greenly, he had never responded to the whip like that before. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ditto that. I said exact same thing to Darren last night. And he said Ramon D is known for being one of the hardest hitting jockeys riding now. It is possible that they chose Ramon D for Scrappy knowing that he has a reputation for being able to hit a horse hard and felt that he would be able to improve Scrappy’s greenness/erraticness?
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by accidental buckaroo:
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by SeaOat:
AB: you stick left on a horse to put him on his R lead. They should go right on straights and left on turns, keeping fatgue to a minimum.
By now most these horses do it on their own as exercise riders teach them early on in their training (if not getting to it naturally). If not taught correctly & persistantly as a youngster it can become more of a problem habit later.
Sometimes a sore horse will be reluctant to switch over too, as it hurts…you’ll notice most breakdowns happen into the stretch as this change happens onto the leg majority of horses stay on the longest (going by most written distance). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You know there is more of an art to this than I ever imagined. Well forgive the bluntness of this question, but as I had no idea that they should go right on straights and left on turns, did he miss it? Not like that lead, maybe sore?Does he tend to veer when he switches leads?
Is this the same thing that happened in last years Arlington (I think that was it) when Powerscourt got dq’d or was that something else?
Thank you for that lead info.
AB </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
AB, do you ride?
If you do, then you know how it’s a lot more comfortable for horse and rider when turning to the left at the canter for the horse to be on the left lead and vice versa. It’s also more efficient as the horse bends it’s body to that side.
So for a racehorse going around turns on a US track you want them on the left lead.
You switch to the right in the straighaways to even out the workload.
What happened in the Arl Mill with Powerscourt was different, that was more run of the mill horse drifting away from the whip while being ridden out hard. Jaime Spencer was at fault there and should have switched his whip to address the drift and avoid interfering with the other horses.
In Europe or Aus the same incident would not have resulted in the horse being DQed, though Spencer would have likely picked up a nice suspension.
.
What a race!! I’m surprised the jockey didn’t come off.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by Glimmerglass:
Secretariat only received a bronze - as depicted with Ron Turcotte up - at the Horse Park in November 2004. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Actually, I just did a little research on this because I distinctly remembered a photo of a Secretariat statue at the end of the Ray Woolfe book Secretariat. I was thinking that it was at Claiborne but wherever it is, Woolfe describes the scene at the unveiling ceremony, and how Penny Tweedy wiped a tear from her cheek as she walked up and kissed the statue on the nose. 
I believe the statue in my book may be the same as this one, which indeed “lived” at KHP until it was replaced with the newer statue:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mishappa.image.pbase.com/u36/kkenison/small/32225934.secretariat104.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www4.pbase.com/kkenison/infrared%26page%3D3&h=132&w=160&sz=7&tbnid=8chX8lL-ob8J:&tbnh=75&tbnw=91&hl=en&start=28&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSecretariat%2Bstatue%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN
MCM7780–Does that look like something you’ve ridden before? 
See the final few paragraphs of this article.
http://www.kypost.com/2004/07/19/racing07-19-2004.html
I was a little luckier than the woman mentioned at the beginning of this article. She wrote to Claiborne and got a photo. When I wrote, I got a lock of mane from Big Red himself. 
Sadly, I never got to see him.
TFJ… The announcers said that this is not the first time Scrappy T has blown out around the turn. If you KNEW your horse had a history of that, why the HECK would you whip him with your left hand???
I admit, I know nothing about being a jockey but I always use my stick in a way that will help my ride, not add to an already existing problem. But maybe that’s just hunters… 
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by mcm7780:
Glimmer – Okay, so I’ve been to a gazillon sites but can’t find the name of the horse. So, do you know who this is? I feel like such a geek!!! With my luck, this will be a QH or something (since I’ve always thought it was Secretariat). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That very well could be Secretariat… there are TWO statues of him in the KHP. The newer one of him racing, and another older statue (which I think is the one in your picture.) It’s definately not the Man O’ War statue as that is surrounded by flowers and also the front legs on it are not square.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>If you watch the rest of the race you will see Afleet Alex being whipped to the finish line. At the 1/16th pole Ramon (my image 5pkn1203 on my web site) looks through his legs and stops whipping Scrappy T and coast home, whereas the Giacomo and the others are whipping all the way. Don’t forget that Scrappy T lost some momentum in the incident also, yet he finished second by only 4-3/4 lengths and 5 lengths in front of the rest of the field. Not bad for another long shot. Who now is not getting any respect from the media. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
“If IFS and BUTS were beer and nuts we’d all have a heck of a party.” Welcome to racing!
I can’t really see anything from that pic, pretty far away…but yes, riders do stop whipping their horses when sitting where their horse is spent. In other words: He’s well in front of the horses he’s going to beat (and) no point in sticking further to catch the one way up front…ESPECIALLY when he knows he had no shot of catching AA on a horse that 1. can’t be sticked w/out very possibly ducking away (again).
As for ST losing momentum, well duh…but he didn’t drop knees 8 inches from the ground and come up flying either. Therein lies the difference in calibur of horse. AA was making a monster move past everyone & still recovered. Even without the contact, even with ST being whipped, most anyone understanding race horses knows ST would have still just run a very good second. Yes, he “only” got beat by 4-3/4 by a horse who took the worst of the hit!
Cool you stayed focused on ST w/ so many of his trip, assume you have a shot of the big moment where they clipped? Or anything that the main media missed of those top of stretch shots? All pics of those brief moments would be great to see! Not everyday you witness sports history w/ camera in hand!
Baltimore Sun front paged a doozy, showed just how low AA went…scary stuff.
A pretty amazing race that did make me money
Kudos to Scrappy T and all of his connections (Emily, et al) for getting him there. I for one was annoyed at the zero coverage of the rest of the field in the prelude to the race - I mean Scrappy came in with a good G3 win, raced against many of these G1 horses before and never finished out of the money. That should’ve been worthy of a dark horse angle 
As for the amazing recovery by AA I very much tip my hat to him. Not since 1987’s running of the Derby with Alysheba getting clipped by Bet Twice have I seen a horse almost go to their knees but rally back. (Wtach the 1987 race replay off the link)
I am glad that Giacomo came in 3rd - it was an honest, solid position as he hit traffic and couldn’t have done much better. Hopefully it will shut up a lot of the columnist and pundits who know &*$@ about racing.
As for Afleet Alex wining by more then 5-lengths had the incident not occurred I disagree. If Scrappy T hadn’t bowed out and kept his line he was in perfect position to continue going with speed to the finish himself. The pictures clearly show he was cranked hard with his head to the rail himself and his jock backed off bigtime from going to the whip for the close.
In an honest race I think it still would’ve been about 5-lengths - nothing more.
I hope that Charlie Mann took some good pics of the race
The photo: Reuters Photo of the almost tragic collision
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by CuriosoJorge:
I am well aware that Scrappy T did not interfere with Giacomo. However, the horse and the jockey should be held accountable for his behavior. Whether you believe that the jockey could control what happened or not, that is the jockey’s job! This is not the first time the horse has done this, so apparently the connections need to be sent a message that the horse needs reschooling. This is why I believe the horse should have been disqualified. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Give us a precedent where a horse and jockey were disqualified for doing something that did not affect the outcome of the race.
Jockeys get warned, fined, suspended for dangerous riding, but I’ve never heard of a horse being disqualified when they haven’t interefered with the outcome of the race.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Windsor – Yep! That is the statue I “rode”! So it is Secretariat…I feel better now! I thought maybe I’d been mistaken all these years! L I felt very cool getting to sit on it. So that one isn’t there anymore? How sad! He was fun to sit on…good size for me! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Crike! You guys are getting to sit on Secretariats while I had to ride the 25 cent palominos outside the grocery stores. But haha, mine moved 
Go Alex!!! wow, what a horse.
Either way, congrats to Scrappy and xcntrygirl. Also glad to see Alex win and that Giacomo could @ least have a respectable placing to shut all the critics up since the derby win. Is there someone taking over the Triple Crown or are we just going to have a “triple crown” with no bonus to the winner? I had no clue Visa was pulling out until today … Also, BRAVO for the governor to encourage the fans of MD racing that he will do whatever it takes for MD to get slots. Just crossing fingers that it happens …
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by SeaOat:
AB: you stick left on a horse to put him on his R lead. They should go right on straights and left on turns, keeping fatgue to a minimum.
By now most these horses do it on their own as exercise riders teach them early on in their training (if not getting to it naturally). If not taught correctly & persistantly as a youngster it can become more of a problem habit later.
Sometimes a sore horse will be reluctant to switch over too, as it hurts…you’ll notice most breakdowns happen into the stretch as this change happens onto the leg majority of horses stay on the longest (going by most written distance). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You know there is more of an art to this than I ever imagined. Well forgive the bluntness of this question, but as I had no idea that they should go right on straights and left on turns, did he miss it? Not like that lead, maybe sore?Does he tend to veer when he switches leads?
Is this the same thing that happened in last years Arlington (I think that was it) when Powerscourt got dq’d or was that something else?
Thank you for that lead info.
AB
Hm-m-m, so, Giacomo didn’t do so badly. Would love to see replay, but probably not much chance of that. 
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-title”>quote:</div><div class=“ip-ubbcode-quote-content”>Originally posted by Sonesta:
his jockey looking back to see if Afleet Alex was going to fall. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
???
No offense to Scrappy, but if AA hadn’t gone to his knees he’d have won by 10 lengths.
.
