She was a great filly......
 

Stack filly Alexander Tango killed in freak accident




by Tony O'Hehir



ALEXANDER TANGO, winner of the Grade 1 Garden City Stakes at Belmont Park on September 8 for trainer Tommy Stack, has been killed in a freak accident while in quarantine in Kentucky.

Fozzy Stack, son of the filly's trainer, said Tuesday: "The accident happened during the night. The filly was out in a paddock at Woods Edge Farm, which is owned by Paul O'Callaghan, a nephew of Alexander Tango's owner, Noel O'Callaghan, when something frightened her and she jumped rails, fatally injuring herself."

Stack added: "It is a shame, as she was such a good filly, and we were all looking forward to racing her again next year."

Alexander Tango, a daughter of Danehill Dancer, won four of her 12 starts.

She won over 7f at the Curragh in 2006 before enjoying a successful three-year-old campaign, during which she landed the Group 3 Derrinstown Stud 1,000 Guineas over 1m at Leopardstown, the Listed Kilboy Estates Stakes over 1m1f at the Curragh, and the aforementioned Grade 1 over 1m1f in the US.

On what proved tobe her final start, she finished seventh of nine in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes over 1m2f, also at Belmont, three weeks after her career-best success at the same track.



Rest In Peace, good girl.

It's a brutal game and really a shame she died but her sad demise doesn't elevate her talent.

She was not a " great " filly.

EXACTLY!

She was a fav of mine, we are all allowed our own opinions.

She was still improving and could have been anything, especially on her favoured firm turf, which she rarely got over here.

If i want to call her "great", i will do so.

I like to think that my death WILL elevate my talent.

I can see the tombstone now...

R.I.P. Justin Dew.. He was a GREAT handicapper and a GREATER poster.

More like:

"He was a decent handicapper, moderate poster, and fantastic blogger."

Remember, we're elevating here.

I think your tombstone should read:

"Here lies the real Justin Dew"

I want you to give my eulogy ;)

Individuals.... people, horses, whatever, shouldn't be neatly compartmentalized and assigned little names and titles. It's not all black and white.

Whether or not she was a great horse is a matter of opinion, but.....

But.....

Does it really matter?

If someone, anyone, feels the need to express their heartbreak why must others take it upon themselves to worsen their spirits? This is what i don't understand.

I've encountered this kind of attitude too..... it's something i don't get.

Alexander Tango was only three. She had won her first race, beating a field of 12, and went on to beat some very nice horses home including Trinity College, Championship Point, and of course the girls of the Garden City.

Her shocking and tragic death has left many people shaken. Why on earth do some feel a need to comment or correct someone who is obviously upset?

Run in peace, Alexander. Great is only a word that doesn't really matter. Some of us will remember you and are thankful we had the chance to witness your short time on this earth.

I'm sorry for her connections and her fans, and for you No Chance cause i know how much you liked her.

About a month ago i was thinking of Hendrix, seeing him in my mind all alone while (what seemed like) thousands converged on Rock Hard Ten, remembering a day from a couple of years ago.

I smiled. I finally thought of him and instead of bursting into tears i smiled.

He was so good. Calm, collected, the noise and crowds and chaos didn't phase him at all. He had a curious expression and that face... just remembering that face..... God I loved that horse.

She deserves to be remembered with a smile too. I hope you get to that point soon, No Chance.

It's been a hard couple of weeks with George leaving us and now this.....

Rest in peace.

Very well put which is what separates you from alot of others here. You really seem to put your heart into healing not being right. God Bless You

Very well said MMSC!

Greatness is an extremely objective thing.

There are a couple of horses who were undeniably very good and had their careers cut short by injury (one of them by a tragic fatal paddock accident), and their performances on the track have stuck with me so much that I consider them two of the greatest horses I've ever seen, while many others hardly remember them at all.

(One of them, 1998 NZ Derby winner Zonda, led the field out for this year's race and galloped down the Ellerslie straight. It was the highlight of the year for me...people behind me asked "who's that horse?")

I think it's quite mean-spirited to try to correct someone posting a tribute to a horse they obviously thought a lot of soon after that horse's tragic death.

"She was a nice filly" hardly sounds like a fair tribute to me.

Thank you MMSC and Ed.

I always thought she was a class horse, and one who kept improving. If i want to call her great, i will do. I will NOT be stopped by anyone who tells me otherwise.

Ed and Doc... thanks, guys. :)

This is a community that is drawn here by horse racing.. Those that love it for its' gambling and competitive interests are going to clash with those that love it for their passion for the equine when it comes to defining racehorses' legacies. Period. Both are vital to the game and integral to this community.

If a horse like Tango was "great" to someone it's certainly OK, and everyone appreciates their love for the horse in question and their feelings of loss. But don't expect those with historical perspectives on performance, that define greatness with very specific results-oriented parameters, to accept it without question.

"Greatness" in racing has a rather distinct usage and definition. You're suggesting that those who don't agree with its' application have no right to express their opinion, and those that express it are implicitly correct because of the sentiment attached to it. That's going to be greeted timelessly with derision.

No one was ridiculing NCTD for loving Tango. They were questioning the merits of the filly being defined as great by her on-track performance. This is a difficult game to follow if you can't seperate the two sets of opinion and are overwhelmed by the unfortunate and frequently tragic passing of horses.

Is it ok that I think of my Great Grandfather as being my Great Grandfather....or should i consider him as just the father of my Grandfather???


jk....it's just my warped mind at play

It's not that i think they shouldn't express an opinion, it's when it seems one or two are being a little mean-spirited for no reason that it bothers me.

Whether or not it was mean-spirited is a fine line, but remembering certain comments on past threads? Yeah, I think it's intent was to be just the slightest bit rude.

I was slammed on the Super Frolic mattered thread and that's fine. I never went back to post on it... why bother? My intent was to simply say he mattered. I had my say so when the insults started flying i left it alone.

I don't go out of my way to post on things that i really have no interest in, just to be rude, like BTW's dunce cap thread. Why bother? We all pick winners and we all suck at times. I'm not gonna go and purposely throw that thread in his face. I'm mean but I'm not that mean.

It's under the surface (here) to me anyway.

If you didn't give a crap about this horse why post at all... you know?

That's the part I don't understand. Someone is feeling devasted..... it's just without class to throw something, some little comment in their face. That's all.

edit - Oh wait a minute, that's not the one I left alone.....:D

My Miss Storm Cat
 

Don't act all high and mighty. I said nothing personally nasty to you in the thread about Super Frolic yet you responded by making repeated personal attacks at me in other threads in this room. I don't care....it just shows others the kind of person you actually are. However, stop pretending you stand on some high moral plateau while others here wallow in the mud.

I liked Alexander Tango, and even had some of her connections sitting with me in the box for the Garden City, and was merely disagreeing with her being labelled great. And, quite obviously, I did so in a fair manner.

I'm not acting high and mighty. I'm just giving an opinion.

So, in your opinion you shouldn't have to abide by the same rules you believe others should post under.

Where has mmsc not abided to the rules, which we apparently abide by ourselves?

I understand that there is a big difference between the people who naturally care about the equine species. The animals that give us the opportunity to bet at all.

I started this thread because she is/was a horse i really liked and cared about. I'm sure everybody has their favourites and yes, she was one of mine. It might just so happen that others on here might really like a horse that i have no interest on. If the same misfortune was to happen to that particular animal, would i post anything in the thread that could cause upset to the topic starter? Ofcourse i wouldn't.

Is this stopping you having an opinion of your own? No, it isn't. If a family member was to die and someone was to write "she was a great mother......" what would it look like if someone came on and posted "i'm sorry, but she certainly wasn't great". Now, i know this will get the response "well, c'mon NoChance she was JUST a horse"....... ya know what, yeah she was a horse, a horse who i really liked. Was she as good as i was hoping she could be when i first saw her? No........ but does that mean i cannot call her great without getting certain remarks.

As MMSC said, you read the thread, you obviously didn't agree, so why post? I don't mind that you don't think she was a "great" filly. You can have your own opinion, however, i do feel there was a certain nature behind some of those posts. A nature, which i didn't like.

I wouldn't care if she was a Gr1 winner or a maiden claimer. I liked her from day one. In my eyes she was great. End of.

I'll start by giving you the thread full of MMSC's disgraceful behavoir....

http://www.derbytrail.com./forums/sh...ad.php?t=17091

though this post is my personal favorite...



On the highlighted portion of your post I have a few comments....

You seem to be saying it is both OK for someone to express an opinion but not OK if that opinion disagrees with what has been posted. I don't understand this. Like it or not, especially if you aren't being personally nasty, people are allowed to disagree with opinions here. You didn't say " I loved Alexander Tango and am very sad about her death. " You said two things, a version of what I just wrote AND that she was great. You expressed an opinion, which you are certainly allowed to do, and others responded with a different opinion, which they are also allowed to do.

Now, on your stuff about comparing a horse's death to the death of a parent. You can post what you want I suppose....but so can others. Being that my father passed away less than two weeks ago I find your analogy as offensive as it is ludicrous. But, hey, we are all allowed our own opinions.

Everyone has their breaking point and I had hit mine, lest you forget your post on the first page.....

It was very rude and between you and two other posters I had had enough.

By the way, as much as I'd love to edit your post and delete what i had said? I'll be fair and leave it alone.

Really? Here's my only post on the first page. Feel free to point out where it was rude.



This was in response to this post from ArlJim which was directed to another poster....

You are allowed your own opinion, i never said you weren't. There is a great lack of compassion between posters on here, and maybe it isn't something i am used to.

The post that MMSC pointed towards you is nothing to do with me, however if that is her opinion of you, then fair enough. I cannot side with either one of you.

I posted that thread through the love of the horse, and i understand that you obviously were not much of a fan. I just found the opinions to be a little harsh, considering i was greatly upset by her tragic end. Like i said, there have been a number of threads started because of the sad end to other people's favourites, maybe i'm just in a minority but if i don't agree about something when it is clear the topic starters if upset, i will just leave the thread alone.

It isn't actually your post i was that bothered with, and when i am saying "you" i mean it in the general sense. It was some of the posts afterwards that seemed to ridicule my statement that upset me the most. There is certainly no need for that sort of posting. I can understand when people don't agree, but to carry on by making a mockery of the initial post is just rude.

I am sorry to hear of the loss of your father. I had no idea.

Give me a break... you know all the questionable posts have now been deleted.

I was a big fan of Alexander Tango. I just said she wasn't great. It's not an insult.

No they haven't. That's complete BS. Just because that's the way your mind works doesn't mean others work that way. The simple fact is you overracted to what I posted and took pathetic personal shots at me and are only now realizing ( maybe only a little ) how bad it made you look.

Next time think about it before you do it or before you choose to lecture others on their behavior here.

I just went though the Super Frolic thread again and okay you're right and I'm wrong.

The little insults here and there though..... like i said i had had it.

If you think I'm the only person here who thinks you pontificate and are an extremely rude pompous *****, you're mistaken.

The little insults may appear to you but I don't see them. But whatever.

So you have issues with me. Big deal. So others do. Another equally big deal. That's the way the world works. Some like us and some don't.

You need to find a way to justify your behavior. Most of us do at one time or another.

Did the late addition of pompous ***** make you feel better?

I know it hit the spot for me.

Why yes. Yes, it did.

I don't like being accused of being insincere.

The more accolades the better. What's the sense of being rude if you can't be pompous ( though after having used " pontificate " one could easily accuse you of being redundant ) and an " ***** " too?

OK....and where exactly did this happen?

What can I say?

You've earned so many adjectives.....

Can BOTH of you just give it a rest now!

I wish i had never started the thread, i had no idea it would turn into this.

You don't like eachother...... i don't give a flying ****