<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DMK: Guess that must be why I have it hanging on the wall, signed by Turcotte…
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> 
If you EVER need a housesitter, I will do it for FREE 
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SERAPH:
I don’t care how sappy this sounds but it truly broke my heart to see Funny Cide run that way…he almost ALWAYS stays off the lead by 2-3 horses and makes his strike as they’re coming around to the homestretch!
I’ve watched every race that he has run and also know that a similar mistake was made in the earlier race that EM beat him at…he chased down the speed horse upfront and didn’t have anything left in the tank for the final drive home.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Seraph,
Go back and watch the races again, or check out Funny Cide’s PPs. The only 3 races that he won prior to the Kentucky Derby were won on the lead. He had the lead by the second or third call in each. In the Wood, the race that he lost to Empire Maker, he never got the lead at all, he ran in second every step of the way. Possibly you’re thinking of the LA Derby, when he was beaten by Peace Rules, when he was on the lead and wound up running 3rd, but he hadn’t run in 2 months, so I’d imagine that he just came up short. But he didn’t exactly chase down the speed horse in that race, either. He was on the lead until the mile pole, and then got tired.
Funny Cide is a very aggressive horse who likes to be in front. Ocassionally with that kind of horse, you get lucky with the pace and the race goess fast enough that he’s happy right behind the lead, instead of on it, but more often you’re going to have to let him do his thing, and hope for the best. Otherwise, he’ll wear himself out fighting the rider, instead of relaxing. But then you always have to hope that he has enough gas to finish.
Nobody cheated him, and nobody threw the race. It just wasn’t his day.
~ Stephanie
If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t a lot more people happy?
JA Gold: Tastefully said and much appreciated 
Regular statements don’t bother so much as when people get so upset and angry over something they see. Why not say something like, “Why did Santos send a horse like that?” rather than, “Well I think he gave the horse a terrible ride! And here’s why…”
Even more laughable were the people who got so angry with me over a simple statement I made regarding Funny Cide not being as classy as horses like Affirmed or Seattle Slew. I notice no one pointed out their lack of politeness.
Anyway, regarding your question: A trainer tells the jockey how to warm up the horse, and sometimes will just say, “Ride how you think is best” (usually when the jockey knows the horse), or give special instructions like don’t use the whip, keep him in front, etc. If something happens like the horse bolts, stumbles, something happens with another horse, that’s where being a good rider comes in. The jockey will take the situation into their own hands and hopefully make the right choice.
It’s my opinion that 80% of the time, the best jockeys will just let the horse run it’s own race instead of trying to interfere, unless it’s a horse that can’t rate itself (or something similar). Hope that helps
J
Licensed Fjord Jockey and collector of bobbleheads.
[This message was edited by Soup From the Store on Jun. 09, 2003 at 04:59 PM.]
Funny Cide’s owners have a lot of class, the wealthier crowd would do well to learn from them. I honestly think that FC’s owners were happy w/ the way the horse went, it just wasn’t his day.
Why did Empire Maker’s owner decide not to race in the Preakness. He said it was b/c EM was not well, but if the allegations against Santos had turned out he would have risked his horse’s health to win and gone ahead and raced him(I think that’s what he said). So he shows up at the Belmont and races EM, even though he has no shot at the Triple Crown and gets in the way of our having a Triple Crown winner (yeah I know there was another horse after EM but still). I think that Funny Cide was the better of the two horses b/c he did all the legs of the Triple Crown and put in an impressive show at all of them (he didn’t come in last). I mean is this how it has always been. Would we not have had a Secretariat or Affirmed if this is the way things are always done? I mean having a horse enter into the Belmont even if it means not having a shot at being the Winner and depriving us of our Triple Crown winner.
Personally I’m jaded. Before the race, I wasn’t sure that FC was going to win b/c we’ve come so close so many times, losing by a nose once (that was heart breaking), and not having our Winner. Am I the only one who feels this way?
Is it true that every year since 1998 has seen a horse take the Derby and the Preakness but not the Belmont?
DMK said:
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
And you don’t need to waste the electrons presenting well thought out ideas to the choir. The choir is already singing your tune. And maybe your opponent will not change his/her mind no matter how well thought out your argument. But all the other readers who were looking for some education might just think “you know, I didn’t know that… Soup sure knows what she is talking about, and explained it well.”
You just need to figure out which person you want to be. The one who shares her knowledge, or the one who slams people over the head with it. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
And SoupFTS, I think she absolutely hit the nail on the head. I admire your knowledge and experience at the track and wish I had a similar one (albeit not necessarily in racing–just somewhere involved with horses ). However, it really does turn one off from your posts when you act snide, self-righteous, and just generally knowing-it-all!
I’m not trying to be mean or rude, just agreeing with DMK that you have all the right tools with which to be an extremely interesting and knowledgeable poster. You just need to get rid of the idea that “what you know” is more than everyone else knows, because even if it is, it’s a rude way of looking at things! Especially at 17 (not that a seventeen-year old can’t have a lot of knowledge, but you should at least hold some respect for people who MIGHT have a bit more experience than you
I was so disapointed FC didn’t win. He didn’t look very interested in the race today. I look forward to hearing of his future runs, though What a cool horse.
On a side note, I hope Santos’ son is ok. It’s so neat how much he looks up to his dad. Maybe this will be a good learning experience for him, learning that winning isn’t everything.
“You smell like dead bunnies”
~ Ralph, The Simpsons
Member of Hot TB Mare Clique
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fairview Horse Center:
do ya think a horse in front of him may have slowed him down without fighting his rider?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not likely. They were going too slow. Funny Cide is a horse that likes to run on the lead, if he can get there. barring that, with a decent pace, he will tuck in behind a horse, but he runs easier on the lead.
Horses aren’t like cars, and they all have their preferred way of running. That’s where racing strategy comes in. In a race, horses don’t run all out every step of the way. They all need a breather at some point. They have a compfortable speed that is easy for them to maintain, and then they have a kick. Some horses are comfortable at slower speeds, and are deep closers, and some horses need a stiff pace, but they still aren’t giving it their all, so they have something left in the stretch. You try and set up your racing strategy to take advantage of the other horse’s weaknesses, and lessen your own.
Funny Cide likes the lead, or as close to it as he can get. That kind of horse can be scary to run in the Belmont because of the distance. A mile and a half is a long way to go all out, so you have to hope that you don’t get pressed every step of the way. With only 5 other horses, nobody was going to want the lead, and everybody was going to stick pretty close together. I’d imagine that Tagg and Santos wound up on the lead purely by accident, because nobody else went for it, and not because they planned it that way. Once they were there, Santos had no shot at pulling Fnny Cide back off of it, so he tried to keep the pace slower, so that Funny Cide wouldn’t burn himslef out. Baily knew it, so he pushed Empire Maker onto FC’s butt, making him more determined to go a litle faster. Santos had a tough choice at this point. Let Funny Cide out, and hope that he had enough in the tank to make the mile and a half, or try to rate him. He chose to try and save the horse a little. I would have let him go, and hoped for the best, rather than risk burnung him out by fighting with him. But I wasn’t riding him. If he’d done that, he may very well have come up short in the stretch after all.
When you’re watching a race, it’s easy to forget what it’s like to be riding in it. Every decision has to be made quickly, under huge pressure, depending on what everybody else is doing at the same time. And no matter what the rider chooses to do, the horse has to cooperate. Santos did the best he could, it just didn’t work out, that’s all. That’s why the Triple Crown is such a big deal. It’s a nearly impossible feat for one horse. Funny Cide sure gave them a run for their money, though. He’s still a great horse, and we’ll see a lot more of him in races to come.
~ Stephanie
If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t a lot more people happy?
Funny Cide was 3rd.
Speaking of the Advertising, did you see the ad after, from an Insurance company that said something like, "most of these TB racehorses retire at 3 years of age…what age would YOU like to retire? My thoughts were - I sure wouldn’t like to retire at 3 if it meant I would get eaten soon 
Darlyn
http://www.fairviewhorsecenter.com
Are We Having Fun Yet?
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by lifesabreeze:
FC switched leads from his right to his left in deep stretch in the Derby and the Preakness. Otherwise he switched leads at the usual spots,into and out of the turns.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
There were 13 turns in the Preakness?
it was a jockeys race, and Bailey is the BEST. He made FC keep moving up, he sat still, he had horse at the end, he is soo GOOD! it was amazing to watch, and disappointing in one way to know by the last turn there was no way it was going to happen.
FC did not look sound in the paddock or the warm up.
“… Bob Coglianese, took the picture during the stretch run of the 1983 Tremont Stakes at Belmont Park. The photo’s entitled “The Savage”, a term used when a horse gets so competitive he reaches over and tries to take a chunk out of his rival. What I didn’t know was that the horse on the outside, Late Prospector (the one doing the savaging) came across the wire first, but was ”” understandably ”" disqualified. The inside horse, Golden Derby, officially won the race. “The Savage” is one of my favorite racing photos. It perfectly captures the passion, danger, and intensity of the track. No one can look at that picture and tell me Thoroughbreds don’t care whether they win or lose…"
Nan Mooney
http://www.championsgallery.com/racephoto/fi/00000046.htm
Makes you wonder why so-competitive F-C wears a Figure-8 noseband
He only switched 5 times in the Derby and Preakness.One extra switch in deep stretch.
Seraph, that’s WHY it’s so special. Because all the Triple Crown winners faced the same obstacles: 3 tracks, 3 states, shorter races, that loooonnngggg Belmont, rested opponents, fresh opponents ready just for the Belmont or whatever, and those few like Whirlaway, Affirmed, Seattle Slew and Secretariat faced the same obstacles, some of them even worse ones, and they triumphed over them all, and THAT’S why they are great and achieved this RARE achievement. It’s not a cheat, it’s WHY so few are so great as to do it all facing all the things you mentioned - and they DID it.
Hmmm, I thought it was the left hind…stabbing it and hitching. 
Yeah, I believe he would have been the first gelding. I don’t really know much about racing, though. I was pretty dissapointed, but I think the mud screwed things up. 
oh well, there’s always next year!
“Well, I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.”–James Stewart, “Harvey”
