Well I was at the stretch near the finish line when Affirmed and Alydar battled it out down the stretch so…My first great love, Kelso, winning the 1964 Washington DC International or maybe the 4th Jockey Gold Cup I think was also in 1964.
Well I was at the stretch near the finish line when Affirmed and Alydar battled it out down the stretch so…My first great love, Kelso, winning the 1964 Washington DC International or the 1964 Jockey Gold Cup for the 4th time!
Many of you will have seen the famous photo of Secretariat’s win - it is a very, very l.o.n.g photo, and shows in image just by how much he opened the distance between him and #2.
(It is available at Churchill Down’s race store)
I was at Aintree when Jay Trump won – back then we could walk the course and
they were mighty awesome, dwarfing us.
I have Mandarin on a collection of place mats I got from my grandmother’s house. Treasures, they are.
Id have to say Secretariat’s Belmont too.
The best race that I was at was Rachel Alexandra’s Woodward in 2009. That was an incredible day that I wont ever forget.
Too many to choose… Bid’s record performance at 10 furlongs, Secretariat’s Belmont, Personal Ensign’s Distaff.
I guess anything Citation did or beloved Exterminator. A time machine to take me back to see Tom Fool, live in person would be my dream. He was the first “historic” racehorse I obsessed over. But what of Dr. Fager, the most brilliant? If Fager, then why not Domino or Sysonby from farther back?
Alydar and Affirmed’s Triple Crown races would be up there for me. I took a hiatus from horses and racing for a couple of years and moved to Boulder Co. Hardly even watched any racing. Didn’t have a TV most the time in those years. Didn’t have electricity in the cabin I was living in in 78.
But I did see a repeat of the rivalry between 2 great horses, Easy Goer and Sunday Silence. Saw all 3 Triple Crown races and his disappointing 2nd to Is It True in the Breeders’ Cup.
Historical races run long before my time. Tough one but I think it would be the match race between Sea Biscuit and War Admiral at my hometown track, Pimlico. Grew up listening to stories of some of the old timers who were there.
Too bad match races have fallen out of favor. Pretty sure last of note was Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure. The out come is probably why there hasn’t been any since.
Man O War or Citation would be up there also.
I saw Secretariat’s Belmont and Preakness along with others but not the Derby. I was a groom at Pimlico at the time.
I was part of the “infield” madness at his Preakness. When he came out onto the track they played Edgar Winter’s instrumental Frankenstein (aka Monster) over the giant infield sound system. A perfect fit, Secretariat was a monster and seemed to prance to the music looking larger than life.
To this day when I hear the song on the radio from time to time I can see Red coming on to the track with this playing and the crowd going wild, still gives me chills. The same when I watch replays of his Belmont.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65XSHM3jlAY
