|
Quote:
That was the race that got me hooked on the sport too.....but I wasn't fortunate enough to see it live. |
Quote:
|
Silver Charm's Derby dogfight putting away Freehouse and holding off Captain Bodgit at the wire.
Silverbulletday's Oaks wasn't the most exciting race competitively, but the way she responded on cue when the button was pushed was one of the greatest (though predictable) moves I've seen. |
Quote:
|
Live in person? hmmm it's a toss up between the 2002 TEST Stakes between YOU and Carson Hallow and last years edition of the Whitney with Invasor just hanging on. I think I would have to choose the 02 TEST.
|
Quote:
What a race that was wan't it? I was at the finish line on the Clubhouse apron, Thank god I am 6'4'' and had just the best view of them batteling it out down the stretch. It still gives me chills how exciting that was. |
I'll go with a more recent race - Second of June and Read the Footnotes in the Fountain of Youth - Great stretch battle
|
Quote:
RIP Second of June |
2004 darley alcibiades:
Runway Model, Sharp Lisa, In the Gold, Dance Away Capote, Sense of Style ; in that order, blanket finish. we were at the finish line. we could see Runway Model won, after that we had to wait for the photo. |
That Belmont was pretty exciting. Then again, any Triple Crown race is at reat to see in person.
|
Maybe not the "best" race, but Ouija Board's win in the F&M Turf this year was truly a performance for the ages. I get goosebumps just thinking about that race... In my mind the best horse on the grounds at the '06 BC.
|
The Best and the Worst in one Race:
1990 Breeders Cup Distraff was by far the greatest and most memorable race I have ever witnessed in person. With Bayakoa and Go for Wand hooking up right out of the gate and dueling for a mile and a sixteenth, until Go for Wand went down. That was probably the saddest thing I have ever seen in racing. |
Quote:
|
1978 JCGP Exceller, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, a blast from the past
|
1979 Ohio Derby...Smarten set a track record that still stands today at venerable junk heap T-down! Of course that was my only visit to a thoroughbred track!! For some reason talked my dad into taking me for my 13th birthday and he did...increased my birthday payroll just a tiny bit with my 10 dollar win bet on Smarten...(low odds though!) Good horse, destroyed the field!! Seen lots of good quarter horse races, but those don't count.
|
John Henry winning the Goodwood at Santa Anita before he was a racing God. He payed 7/2 that day.
|
Conquistador Cielo's ('82) Belmont wire job, laying off 6 days from a track record in the MET Mile!
|
Apparently I posted in the wrong thread earlier. The best races I've seen in person are probably the 2005 and 2006 Whitneys.
|
1. 1973 Secretariat & Sham- my first Derby
2. 1997 Preakness- Silver Charm, Free House & Captaim Bodgit 3. 1966 Scarborough Downs- cheap claimers in Maine, but a triple dead heat for win |
cigar tying the streak at arlington is my obvious choice!!!!!! it was the first year i started going to the track and that, horse and race and arlington itself all in that same day made me fall in love with this game!
|
Not necessarily the best race from a competition stand point, but for sheer atmosphere, it was Smarty Jones in the Preakness....
Best race....'06 Azeri Breeders Cup....Round Pond vs Happy Ticket from gate to wire....was a great race. |
I was at the 78 Travers but I don't remember it although I vividly remember knowing Affirmed was a champion while I watched his last few races on the Channel 9 Frank Wright show.
The two most important races I've seen in person were the 1994 Travers where there was a cause for Concern but he held him off. The other was the 1997 Travers when Deputy Commander nosed out Behrens. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Ronnie Franklin got him stopped two or three times, and almost fell off. But, Spectacular Bid still won the race. I was trackside by the winner's circle for that one, as the late afternoon thunderclouds had darkened the South Florida sky prior to post. |
Quote:
Kudos for finding and remembering an Ohio race to rightfully toss into this circle! Whodathunkit! (I cut my teeth on the old Akron-Cleveland area tracks......most of which disappeared and were consolidated into "modern day" Thistledown just before you were born) |
Smarten....definitely one of the more underrated stallions of the last 25 or 30 years.
|
Mine would be the Breeders Cup race between Johar and High Chapparel, the day was already unbelievable , once in a lifetime deal , but watching Johar and High Chapparel hook up inside the 16th pole and grind it out to the wire was just heart stopping. To be honest all the races that we ran in that day were like nothing I had seen before ,never did I think in my whole life would I ever get to be a part of something that most likely will never be repeated.
|
Quote:
Mandella had a little better day I guess. |
Empire Maker's win in the FL Derby. Loved it!
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
Why would I be talking about Bobby Frankel? |
I think that it would probably be Gorella's victory in the Beverly D. at Arlington this August. I love the move she made, and it was electrifying in person.
A close second, would be the other race visually scorched into my memory with the same move....Vacare's maiden race at Arlington this summer. Breathtaking move. |
Quote:
Surely Brian you have seen more than a few breathtaking races at Portland Meadows in your day. |
Quote:
That's the most memorable of all the races I ever saw there. Nothing breathtaking, but you already knew that. |
Quote:
I remember that one well. "...and You's in sooo tight." "It's a photo finish that doesn't deserve a loser." Another Carson Hollow race--this one against Xtra Heat in the fog at Laurel. It wasn't an especially close race, but it was one of the prettiest races I've ever seen. The fog was so thick that Dave Rodman declared he couldn't call it. We saw Heat and Hollow get lost in the fog into the first turn. It was an otherworldly sight--quiet and ghostly-- seeing Xtra Heat emerge when she rounded into the final stretch, well ahead of Carson Hollow. It was like seeing spectral images of horses. Very magical. |
Quote:
|
Just thought of another..Kona Gold's track record sprint in the BC at Churchill had the crowd buzzing afterwards.
|
Val Royal's BC Mile is honorable mention. What a beast that day.
|
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:03 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.