Too late to pull and with the adrenaline and endorphins pumping he ran anyway (as they do). Will be interesting to see if he runs again soon or is laid up for a while because of it.
Lame horses don’t win 12 furlong races, endorphins or not. I did not see any head bob. No one would have let that horse onto the track in a marquee event if there was any question. Not to mention that New York has some of the most strict veterinary and medication regulations of any state.
His high profile lameness after the Kentucky Derby warranted independent veterinary investigation and was determine to be a hoof bruise. The horse was back on the track looking 110% in mere days.
His Preakness effort wasn’t as impressive as his others, but Mike Smith also took some of the blame saying he didn’t realize the pack was closing in on him.
Lame horses also don’t go from unstarted maiden to Triple Crown winners in 100 days and change.
There’s already been plenty of video footage of him post-race and the horse looks like he could do the whole thing over again tomorrow.
That doesn’t mean something won’t happen to him over the summer; with a supposed $75M on the line for his breeding rights, the horse will likely be retired if he pops a pimple before they would assume the risk. But every thing I see with my own eyes tells me this horse is tough as nails.
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Maybe at the smaller, less marquee tracks they might run lame… not this horse at this track on this day. Track vet is behind the gate lookin at all the starters with fine tooth comb and yes, I’ve seen more than one vet scratch behind the gate…
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“He can only beat the horses who show up”. Exactly. Who showed up? A bunch of “happened to be in the top 10% of this crop” horses. Other than Justified, all the others will be footnotes
That is why I wished he had beaten them by more. because he didn’t, is he just the best of a bad lot? Or does he really deserve to have his name put up alongside the other great TC winners?
TVG showed a compilation of other exciting Belmonts on Sat am of the race. And there were some doozies. Sunday Silence/Easy Goer, Ferdinand, of course, Secretariat, and many others.
Other than those wonderful ‘nose to nose’ matchups, just about all of them got my heart beating fast. The result was several incredible horses showing their superiority.
Strangely enough 80% of the other horses who hit the board in the Belmont were “who?” They did not make a splash as runners or as stallions. They were eminently forgettable.
As with this year. Even if he wins some more big races, Gronowski will be a footnote, not a major player. As will all the others in the race.
And THAT is why I think this race did not live up to expectations I wanted him to WIN!!! not just beat a bunch of slightly above average horses by an unimpressive margin.
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Restoring Hope won’t be a footnote for the public now (for all the wrong reasons).
Who did he beat?
well in the Derby alone he beat 2 Breeders Cup winners ,and one of them was the 2 year old. champion.
I think this was a quality crop of 3 year olds, and Justlfy was clearly the best.
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The love affair with Pharoah lasted longer as he was on everyone’s radar after his 2yo season. Don’t get me wrong - I am glad the connections did right by Justify in letting a big growthy colt have the time he needed to put it all together - that’s horsemanship.
We knew more about Pharoah - that he was always (and apparently still is) a big sweetheart of a horse. It’s the behind-the-scenes stuff that makes the people fall in love with a horse, and we haven’t gotten that with Justify. He seems…remote. It’s like suddenly here he is, and he will be gone almost as quickly; chances of him racing at 4 are between slim and none and slim left the building hours ago.
WinStar doesn’t bother me but I am not a fan of China Horse Club; I hated that Justify carried their silks in the Belmont. Teo Ah Khing has managed to get a whole bunch of investors to pay for his trips to the winner’s circle. (I should be so savvy).
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But he did win. Why does a win have to be 10+ lengths? Or a hard fought dual down the stretch? To have a hard fought dual down the stretch you need at least two to tango and there wasn’t a dance partner for Justify in the Belmont. Does his stud fee go up if he wins by 15l vs 2l?? Probably not. I’d much rather see a softer win such as Justify had in the Belmont knowing MS didn’t ride him hard just to pull away. Yeah, Secretariat’s win was impressive but as long as it was a hand ride, ok.
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Oh give it a rest :rolleyes:
He sure as hell was not off before the Belmont:lol:
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Steves Haskin sort of addresses the “feeling different” issue in his excellent column:
http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2018/06/12/Justify-Rewrites-Triple-Crown-History.aspx
Yes, Justify’s corporate ownership makes for a charmless backstory. But if you read Haskin’s essay, there are a lot of real horse people in Justify’s background.
Regarding “he did not beat anything good” there were other triple crown winners who won over small fields against horses no one ever heard of. Thirteen horses in about 100 years have done it–he must have done something right.
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I think Justify beat plenty of good horses. The field for the Belmont is almost always not very big. Coming into the Derby; it was one of the most difficult Derby’s to handicap this year. Every horse had a shot with no clear front runner. the 3 yr old crop this year was a good one. Lots of competitive, consistent horses this year.
While they couldn’t beat Justify; I think many of them could really come into their own later this year or as 4 year olds. I think that could make things very interesting in a few months time
As for Bob and Justify; I give props to Bob and his team for taking their time with the horses that need it. They did the same with Arrogate. Not every horse should race at 2 and these two horses prove that sometimes they need some time to grow up and find their groove. Arrogate petered out and never truly came back into form; I think his sheer size had much to do with that. Lets hope Justify does not have the same result in a few months
Justify has extreme efficiency in his gallop and motions. Perhaps this is why his wins look less impressive. His mechanics make his gallop look like a canter and there is nothing truly “commanding” about the way he moves. He is a big lanky, tall horse. Whereas, American Pharoah, was a bit smaller and more compact and when he galloped he had this massive hind kick, big sweeping and commanding stride that when he galloped into the stretch he looked like a charging beast. There are few horses that I enjoy watching gallop more than American Pharoah. there are few races I like watching more than AP’s run in the Belmont; at the top of the stretch when he just took off and Frosted was giving it his all and just couldn’t make any ground.
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I still get goosebumps and even teary-eyed when I watch American Pharoah’s races. His Arkansas Derby is probably the most beautiful race I have ever seen, with him pulling away effortlessly, ears pricked, not a concern in the world.
The photo of him swarmed by the press, with the throng reaching out to touch every part of his body, and him just standing there calmly with his head up and ears pricked… that is one of the most extraordinary photos I have ever seen of a horse. Here you have the then most valuable animal in the world acting more tolerant than a petting zoo pony.
Justify is an amazing animal. I was slow to get on his bandwagon, but he proved me wrong repeatedly until he made me a believer. I have the greatest respect for him. But he will never be American Pharoah, and that’s okay.
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Did you know … Justify was bred by a woman, Tanya Gunther, and here’s a nice little story about Justify and her:
I think that is just one of the reasons AP was more of a “people’s horse”. His temperament enable BB to give folks a up close & personal look.
Justify doesn’t come across quite as quiet & tolerant. Much more of a hands off approach with him.
Regardless, I was ecstatic being able to watch him winning his Triple Crown. The naysayers will go on & on about how weak this years crop was… all the while forgetting that this Derby was on of the most jammed packed with talent Derbies we’ve seen in a long time.
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Joe Public will never see this as a great Triple Crown run though. From the lameness thing after the Derby, to the near photo finish in the Preakness, to the blocking scandal in the Belmont, the Justify story ain’t no fairy tale.
We get it. You’re not impressed, AP was better, Chrome shoulda won… blah blah blah.
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Traditional fairy tales are about overcoming adversity and emerging triumphant.
Isn’t that what you just described?
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I wish! Hope horse racing as a whole emerges triumphant from today’s declining track attendance, public mistrust, etc. That’s the concern.
Sure, horseracing has problems.
But it also has a newly minted Triple Crown winner. And for some of us, that’s a reason to celebrate. We get that you hate the horse (or his connections, or whatever) but really, it’s time for you to stop raining on our parade.
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I can’t even this thread. It is a terrific thing that a horse not raced at 2 won the F’ing Triple Crown! Please, racing, more of this.
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