"Charismatic" on ESPN

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Cardus

I think that the 1999 Belmont Stakes has been discussed here before.

I am certain that I read in the New York Daily News -- either in the Sunday edition or within a few days after the race -- that Antley said that he "felt something at the top of the stretch." (It was a quote from Antley, not a second- or third-party speculation.) It sounds like Antley went on with a horse who might have been injured.

In light of that, subsequent stories about the race, the horse, and the jockey, have been incomplete and unbalanced, and make Antley seem heroic in spite of what Antley said after the race.

And if he'd pulled him up then and it turned out nothing was wrong, what would have happened to him? Care to go back through the comments after KD's ride on Big Brown in the Belmont? As none of us have been in Antley's position- riding a horse with a chance to win the Triple Crown, I don't think we can judge what he did, or what he said in the heat of emotion right after the race. Whether it happened at the top of the stretch, or right before the wire, he made the best judgment he could in an extremely high-pressure moment. The horse is alive today and Antley is not.

EDIT: Out of curiosity, I googled "Antley Charismatic Daily News" and found this article from Sunday, June 8, 1999:

http://articles.nydailynews.com/1999...c-triple-crown

"Long before he could explain how he felt Charismatic "let up a little bit" with an eighth of a mile to go, still in the green and yellow silks he had worn to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, tears rolled down his track-stained cheeks as his mother silently rubbed his back.
"He gave a lot," Antley said of his horse, a brave third in the Belmont Stakes while finishing with two fractures in his left front ankle, a broken cannon bone and a broken sesamoid. "He gave America a lot."
Charismatic gave his racing career trying to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. He'll never run again.
"Hopefully, he'll have a lot of babies for us," Antley said.
At the top of the stretch, Antley thought he had it.
He didn't know anything was seriously wrong, even when Lemon Drop Kid and Vision and Verse had passed him in the final eighth. He said he rode hard enough, striking Charismatic twice with the whip, to preserve the third-place finish, and as he reached the finish, he felt the horse "dip beneath me."
"He was hurt, but he's an athlete and he gave his all," said Antley. "

I'm not sure if you read something different, or misremembered "let up a little bit" as "felt something at the top of the stretch," but this is what I found. Though as you said you are certain of your memory, if you find something different, do post it.