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Originally Posted by The Bid
Travis
We are talking about a horse who was being compared to Secretariat and Seattle Slew. Do you think Slew or Secretariat could have endured an opening quarter with Da Tara, eyeball to eyeball? Its lunacy to think that the best move was taking this horse back, he should have been sent up the rail and given an opportunity to run. Maybe he doesnt get the distance, maybe he comes up short, whatever. The betting public deserved an opportunity, and so did the horse.
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Good point, but I am not buying this arguement from people. I think the only people who were comparing this horse to Secretariat or Seattle Slew were either glamorizing the present and the comparison or were completely uninformed or uneducated. The sport needs that kind of comparison. It's only natural. People get excited that "it's happening -- again" perhaps. It's like someone approaching hitting 400, or the old 60 home run mark. People get into that mindset.
This horse had a lot more to do in order to be truly compared to and on par with those two greats. If he won, sure, he would be an undefeated Triple Crown winner -- and that's a "great accomplishment" -- but it doesn't make him one of the all-time greats or a truly great horse. It certainly gets him closer, but not all there.
In my mind, he'd have to keep going -- and go on -- not retire undefeated, but go on and continue to prove that he is a truly great horse. If he came back, one a few more G1's, beat older horses, faced adversity again and again, took on all comers, the mid-year and late bloomers, and so on. If he retired after winning the Triple Crown undefeated -- to me the true greatness was still elusive. The greatness was perhaps what could have been. It was the potential -- and that is not definitive. Secreatariat and Seattle Slew were in my mind.
Eric