[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

I think the sport has one chance to get back in the spotlight and it will be when a horse wins the Triple Crown. At that point two things could happen. The TC winner will retire and all the media attention and potential new fans will be lost. Or the TC winner stays in training and goes on to become one of the all time greats and draws tons of new fans to the sport. So I absolutely do not want to see a horse win the Triple Crown if they are going to ruin that one chance for the sport and just retire afterwards. However, if there were a gelding or a colt with the right connections that actually raced through their 3yo and 4yo season it would be absolutely fantastic for the sport. As big a fan as I am of Afleet Alex and as badly as I wanted to see Smarty win the TC I am glad both of them only won 2 out of 3 since neither ran after the Belmont and would have wasted racing's one big chance.

I think this is very far from being true. A TC will not be the only chance for the sport to get back into the spotlight. Any good rivalries or good horses that continue on will do that. Alysheba/Ferdinand. Sunday Silence/Easy Goer. Cigar. Smarty Jones. Afleet Alex. Giacomo. Bernardini. These horses have all put the sport in the spotlight. The problem is that since Cigar, all of the horses that have had a real chance to move the game further into the mainstream have left the sport as soon as they've gotten into the spotlight. And while most of those horses were made famous by their exploits in the TC, none of them were TC winners. I don't think we need a TC winner. Having said that, a TC winner would bring a huge spotlight to the sport.

I don't agree that one of two things would happen either. It's very likely that a TC winner would retire soon afterwards. That much I agree with. But your other scenario, that he would go on and become one of the greats is being extremely hopeful. Some of the horses that have come close to winning it over the past two decades were not great horses and winning the TC wouldn't have made them great. Real Quiet, Charismatic, Funny Cide, War Emblem. Not great horses. Good horses that were the best at the right time but far from great horses. Continuing on with them would have seen them lose races to basically unknown horses (to most fans and the media at least) and I don't think that would be a good thing. It's sort of like when people keep saying they are glad that a horse like Jazil or Giacomo is still running. I can't see how it's good for the game at all when the horses that earn the most name recognition because of the races they won, go on to be nothing horses. I think they not only tarnish their names but tarnish the reputations of the races they won. People want to see the best win the best races. They want to see the best teams win the biggest games. Upsets are fine and a part of sports but when fluke winners keep popping up, people start to think skill has nothing to do with it and it's all luck. I don't think that's a good thing for the sport.

Personally, I don't want another TC winner. I think that horse will likely be put on some kind of all-time great pedastal even if it's not deserved. I mean think about this fact.......Real Quiet was less than the distance across your monitor screen from going down as an immortal, better known than Spectacular Bid. It will be a great accomplishment if one does it but I'm afraid it will be overblown.