Triple Crown for Older Horses
 

What three stakes races would you use if you were going to create a Triple Crown for Older Horses

Mine would be

The SA Handicap
The Whitney
The Jockey Club Gold Cup

The big three in the east... Whitney, Woodward, and JCGC.

Yes, because there is no racing outside of New York. LOL.

Except that for decades the Handicap Triple Crown was in fact the Metropolitan, Suburban and Brooklyn... And harder to win than the sophomore version...

Well then what three would you choose?

I'd keep that, but replace the JCGC for the Brooklyn.

Back in the 90's the CA tracks tried to promote an older horses Triple....but it failed....until Lava Man.

Well, I like the prestige and the spacing of the races...Plus, those three are intently watched by horse racing fans are preludes of atticipation for the Champion BCC race. I can't help it where they are located...What would you recommend?

Lava Man rocks:D

THe handicap Triple Crown was around for a long time and was comprised of three old and time-honored races in New York - the Met Mile (originally at the more centrally located Morris Park), the Brooklyn (originally run in Brooklyn, at the Gravesend track - Aqueduct's summer show-piece until the mid-1970s, run at distances from 9f to 10f) and the Suburban H (originally at at Sheepshead Bay, run at distances from 9.5f to 12f). When all three races came to be run at one track (Belmont) the stuffing went out of the series.

For modern races, the Met Mile, Suburban, and JC Gold Cup might be acceptable, except they are all again at Belmont. But I would not include any 9f races - the Met is there for the milers, thank you - and I would rather see "Triple Crown" races at real classic distances.

The West Coast already has its own handicap triple and Lava Man won it this year - the Santa Anita H, the Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic.

Santa anita handicap

Steven foster

JCGC at 12 furlongs

The JCGC is for horses that are 3 years old and up so you cant have that as a Triple Crown race for older horses. And it is StePHen not SteVen..

My picks would be

1) Donn Handicap
2) The Big Cap
3) Stephen Foster

Met Mile
Whitney
Jockey Club Gold Cup

Just make me feel like a complete idiot why dont you? LOL

okay, subsitute whitney for he jcgc

NYRA can have their own triple crown, but they will still get 10,000 people at any race at Belmont.

the only thing they can do today is put up a big bonus, but trainers today will never run their top older horses every 3-4 weeks. if you put more time than that between races, the triple crown loses all appeal.

the Breeders Cup Classic has made an older horse triple crown pointless.

the way tracks are owned today also makes it impossible.

why would any owner/trainer run in such an event with a great horse when they can pick and choose their spots?

remember it is all about breeding, and they want grade 1 wins, not some triple crown. the smart guys would always go the easier route. Why do you think Pletcher is so good. he knows how to pick his spots.=

Sniper,
I'll go with that.
Now, a question...
Could there be a TC for turfers?
Like a nice one at Toga, one at Fall Belmont, and one at another track?

Ther are a lot of races that could be included in a handicap triple crown, others have documented the history so I'll stick to the present. First you have to decide whether you want to pattern the series after the Euro version thereby having the races spaced throughout a season or the US...three within a short period! Do you want it to be international? Throw a grass race in like Canada?
If I could have a dream series, I'd go:
Dubai World Cup
Pacific Classic
BCC
of course, with turf:
DWC
Arc
BCC
Then again:
DWC
BCC
Japan Cup
Or, more traditionally:
Big Cap
Pimlico Special (if MD can come up with the bucks)
BCC

There was also the fall triple of the Marlboro Cup(no more:mad: ), the Woodward, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. PAGING SLEW O' GOLD!:cool:

I'd actually prefer we go right past the Triple Crown and have a ten race series in each division that determines the Eclipse Awards. No horse would come close to running in all ten races but the points accumulated in those races would determine the champions. It would also allow top races from both coasts to be included. For instance the Classic Division could have these ten races:

Donn Handicap
Santa Anita Handicap
Pimlico Special Handicap
Stephen Foster Handicap
Suburban Handicap
Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap
Whitney Handicap
Pacific Classic Stakes
Woodward Stakes
Jockey Club Gold Cup

Each of those ten races are worth 10-7-5-3-1 for the top five finishers. The series culminates with the BC Classic which is worth double points. So you could still win an Eclipse Award off of four races but it would be a lot tougher.

That is an excellent idea.:)

Boy, your are a barrel of fun!!!! This is just a fictatious poll. Have a little fun with it.

[quote=Downthestretch55]Sniper,
I'll go with that.
Now, a question...
Could there be a TC for turfers?
Like a nice one at Toga, one at Fall Belmont, and one at another track?[/QUOTE

How about the Sword Dancer, the Turf Classic at Belmont and The Arlington Million. These Sword Dance and the Arlington Million would have to be separted but to me those are the best Turf Races

[quote=boswd]Boswd,
Those sound like good ones. I'm sure others will chime in.
DTS

I rember a few years ago Fox and the NTRA tried to do something similiar. I liked it alot. We had major races on national television and had something of a solidaritary among the tracks as opposed to the cannablism you see today. I hope your idea or something similar happens in the near future

I'd go with the:

Forego
JCGC
BC Turf

This would test the horses at three different distances on three different tracks on both surfaces. I know that nobody in the world would go for this idea except for me but I think it would be fun. With the exception of one of the sprint race, Canada has an idea similar to this.

I guess for a more traditional idea, I'd go with another idea. The first race would be a newly created 8f race to be held in early July at either Hollywood or Belmont. It would change locations each year, depending on where the BC was going to be in that year. For example, if the BC was held at Santa Anita, the first race would be at Belmont. If the BC was held at Belmont, the first race would be at Hollywood. If the BC wasn't being held at either track, the race would still rotate between the two. The second race would be the Woodward. The final race would be the BC Classic. This would allow for a progression in distances from 8f to 10f which would mean a horse would have to have some versatility, allow three different tracks to host the races, and culminate with the biggest race of the year as part of the equation. It would also allow time for horses to run in other races between the TC races.

I'm not sure if this is what u are talking about but I remember in 1991, there was a series like this. I remember seeing Festin, Marquetry, Twilight Agenda, Strike the Gold, Unbridled, and some others doing battle in several of the races that they might not have run in if not for the bonus that was attatched to the series.

I found this old link about the NTRA and FOX http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=news&id=5315