Tradition

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Doesn't this happen now anyway, even without any of them winning the TC? Some of them don't even have to win a TC race and it still happens. You say that the TC should be promoting certain traits in the breed and I agree. But even though it should, it's not.

Which recent classic winners have been successful sires? There's maybe 3 or 4 (Unbridled, Thunder Gulch, AP Indy, if you count Sunday Silence). None of those horses were notoriously unsound from what I recall, and none were particularly brilliant either.

The TC only identifies potential stallions, doesn't mean that those horses will be potent or popular. The few that have been consistently good all have imparted some classic attributes to their best offspring. Among recent winners, Empire Maker loomed large late last year with some stamina types.

As far as breeders favoring non-classic stallions, well obviously they have a different agenda. Let them make their own TC out of the Withers, King's Bishop, and Malibu. Or better yet, the Sanford, Saratoga Special, and Hopeful.

[Seattleallstar]

I thought this was about the Mr Prospector horse that was regally bred

[AeWingnut]

I had a longer response but the system crashed.

Lets just say that in order to excel we need to lower our standards
so that everything is easily accomplished with little or no meaning or value

[31lengths]

For what reason exactly do people want the format changed?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by 31lengths

For what reason exactly do people want the format changed?

so someone can win.

i'm going to petition that you can run the boston marathon as a relay, that way i can finish a lot higher with the help of my friends.

[horseofcourse]

Many, many races have changed. The JCGC used to be 12f...I remember way back then. At one time the BC Distaff used to be 10f. (At one time the race was called the BC Distaff as well!!) I actually remember that. In fact before I can remember the JCGC was even 16f. The distance has been changed twice in the last 40 years. Before the 1900s people didn't even drive cars or fly in airplanes. It was simply better. Getting smallpox was also fun. Augusta National used to be 6900 yards or so but it has changed as equipment has changed. They still hand out the green jacket each April.

Change isn't always that bad. The thoroughbred has perhaps changed for the worse, but change has occurred.

I don't care one way or the other, but I honestly don't think change would kill anything.

[Zippy Chippy]

I thought it was an interesting comment by Lauren Stitch on ATR today: 50 years ago, it wasn't a radical idea to run a horse back after two weeks and then run again after another three. Trainers ran their horses into condition, so horses were used to running with little time in between.

Today's trainers have gotten away from that. They run their horses every four or five weeks, and you are lucky if a horse runs a dozen races in one year.

Maybe the problem isn't the spacing of the races or the distances. Maybe the problem is that today's training methods aren't conducive to keeping a horse sharp enough to run three races in five weeks. Should the Triple Crown change just to suit the changes in training and conditioning?