Sir Barton was the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 1919. The last was Affirmed, in 1978.
That's right. Nineteen seventy eight.
Today, Big Brown was looking to become only the 12th winner of the Triple Crown and the first horse to do so in 30 years. He had a chance. A good chance. He was big. He was strong. He was confident. He was undefeated. He had white on his face. All the great ones have white on their faces, or so it is said.
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)But it was not to be. Something went wrong, though nobody is quite sure what yet, and the big colt was pulled up by his jockey with 3 furlongs left in the race. He lost.
And we'll have to wait a little longer...
So let's keep ourselves busy by watching a few videos.
Affirmed winning the Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown in 1978:
Seattle Slew won in 1977:
And the Legendary Secretariat in 1973:
I remember watching all three of these horses race. After Secretariat won, I remember asking my daddy if he thought they'd sell that horse, because I wanted to buy him. He said no, that horse is too valuable. I was only 8, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
A complete listing of all the Triple Crown winners. Short, isn't it?
1978 Affirmed
1977 Seattle Slew
1973 Secretariat
1948 Citation
1946 Assault
1943 Count Fleet
1941 Whirlaway
1937 War Admiral
1935 Omaha
1930 Gallant Fox
1919 Sir Barton
4 comments:
I was so bummed, I thought for sure he was going to do it! I guess the crack in his hoof was asking for too much too soon.
I was bummed, too. I really thought this would be the year.
The quarter crack had me worried, too, but it was more about how they didn't work him out any because of it than if the hoof was really bothering him. The jockey said he showed no sign of lameness. The vet also said he didn't appear to be lame.
I wonder how much of it was that he didn't get his steroid shot this month. The owners said they wanted to prove they had a good horse, and it wasn't just the steroids, so they didn't give him his monthly shot. I guess it was the steroids.
I heard one of the commentators saying that they're talking of banning anabolic steroids from horse racing, and they should. It's the only sport in which they are still legal (that I know of), and they are just as detrimental to a horse as to a human.
I'm with you, I wish they would ban the steroids.
I remember watching Secretartiat too. It was quite exciting to me at that age.
Don't forget Smarty Jones, who also...argh!...came SO close in 2004. I watched that race and was heartbroken when he came up just shy.
If you ever make it to Louisville, KY (I have family there), a tour of Churchill Downs is worth a visit. That's the place where I learned the history of how they get those weird names for race horses. ;-)
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