Wish I Could Have Seen....

[King Glorious]

I missed the airing of the Holy Bull Stakes today so I went to YouTube trying to catch it there. When I typed in Holy Bull, it took me to a bunch of his old races. Man, what a nice horse he was. Anyway, the last one I watched was the race against Cigar where he pulled up and couldn't finish. It got me to thinking of how much I would have loved to see that race play out and how great it would have been having them match up all year in 1995. Then, I started thinking of some of the other big "what if?" things I would have liked to have seen. What are some of yours? Mine include:

Would have loved to see the finish of the 1990 BC Distaff between Go for Wand and Bayakoa.

Eskendereya, Event of the Year, and Dinard run in the Kentucky Derby.

Smarty Jones vs Ghostzapper in the 2004 BC Classic.

Candy Ride in the 2003 BC Classic.

Easy Goer and Sunday Silence face each other in 1990.

Java Gold in the 1987 BC Classic.

[RolloTomasi]

Zenyatta in the Big Cap, Gold Cup, and Pacific Classic in 2010 (and 2009)

Daddys Lil Darling in the 2018 Epsom Oaks

Charlatan in the 2021 Pegasus WC

In Excess in the 1991 BC Classic

Liam's Map in the 2015 BC Classic

Bernardini in the 2006 Belmont

Empire Maker in the 2003 Preakness

Gentlemen, Formal Gold, and Singspiel in the 1997 BC Classic

Frankel in the Epsom Derby and Arc

Spend A Buck in the 1985 Preakness

I'll Have Another in the 2012 Belmont

Nadal, Charlatan, Uncle Chuck, Cezanne, Thousand Words, Eight Rings in the 2020 Kentucky Derby

King Glorious in the 1989 Travers

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Zenyatta in the Big Cap, Gold Cup, and Pacific Classic in 2010 (and 2009)

Daddys Lil Darling in the 2018 Epsom Oaks

Charlatan in the 2021 Pegasus WC

In Excess in the 1991 BC Classic

Liam's Map in the 2015 BC Classic

Bernardini in the 2006 Belmont

Empire Maker in the 2003 Preakness

Gentlemen, Formal Gold, and Singspiel in the 1997 BC Classic

Frankel in the Epsom Derby and Arc

Spend A Buck in the 1985 Preakness

I'll Have Another in the 2012 Belmont

Nadal, Charlatan, Uncle Chuck, Cezanne, Thousand Words, Eight Rings in the 2020 Kentucky Derby

King Glorious in the 1989 Travers

Lol. You're an ass. Even I wouldn't have wanted to see King Glorious in the Travers. I think he would have been crushed at 10f. Would have loved to see him try the big guns at 8-9f though. McCarron said they wouldn't know what hit them.

Man, that 1997 Classic would have been something special. People forget how good Gentlemen and Formal Gold were.

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Easy Goer and Sunday Silence face each other in 1990.

That was the big one for me, except I'd want to add in Criminal Type, who had beaten each of them early in 1990, while getting a weight break.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

That was the big one for me, except I'd want to add in Criminal Type, who had beaten each of them early in 1990, while getting a weight break.

What a laugher horse racing has become.

The Hollywood Gold Cup in June 1990 brought together the winners of the Santa Anita Handicap, the Met Mile, the Pimlico Special, the Oaklawn Handicap, the Gulfstream Park Handicap, the Californian, the San Bernardino, the San Antonio, the San Pasqual, and the Razorback. And we're not talking about past accomplishments. The races listed above were won in 1990.

For comparison, last year's Gold Cup brought together the winners of the San Pasqual and the Curlin Stakes (run at Meydan). Those were the only 2 wins recorded at all up to that point in 2020. Four of the six starters were winless in 2020.

A heartfelt thanks to all the super trainers, ex-claiming trainers, syndicates, racing managers, large ownership groups, and commercial breeding operations for eroding the competitive nature of the sport while keeping the prestige of these once major races on life support so that you can artificially prop up the initial stud fees of your stallion prospects for the first couple of seasons before you sell them off to foreign interests when they don't produce at the yearling sales.

[freddymo]

Normandy Invasion in the Preakness would have been something to behold

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

That was the big one for me, except I'd want to add in Criminal Type, who had beaten each of them early in 1990, while getting a weight break.

Absolutely. I'm getting old but I seem to remember that there was a race set for Arlington that summer that was trying to get them all together. Would have been great.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Absolutely. I'm getting old but I seem to remember that there was a race set for Arlington that summer that was trying to get them all together. Would have been great.

Originally it was being set up for Sunday Silence and Easy Goer to meet, but then when Criminal Type beat them both separately, they added him....then they all got hurt ( of course ).

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

A heartfelt thanks to all the super trainers, ex-claiming trainers, syndicates, racing managers, large ownership groups, and commercial breeding operations for eroding the competitive nature of the sport while keeping the prestige of these once major races on life support so that you can artificially prop up the initial stud fees of your stallion prospects for the first couple of seasons before you sell them off to foreign interests when they don't produce at the yearling sales.

Infinity pies

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Originally it was being set up for Sunday Silence and Easy Goer to meet, but then when Criminal Type beat them both separately, they added him....then they all got hurt ( of course ).

They weren't going to beat Beau Genius anyways. Won like 10 stakes from 6f to 10f that year.

Couldn't handle a three-pronged duel in the BC Classic between him, Thirty Six Red, and Dispersal after a half mile in :45+, though.

Of course, if he ran nowadays Beau Genius would have walked on the lead. Dispersal would have been in the BC Dirt Mile and Thirty Six Red would have been arbitrarily retired after running off the board in the KY Derby presuming Coolmore or Winstar had bought his breeding rights after he won the Gotham and Wood Memorial (gotta protect his reputation and their investment).

[King Glorious]

What Maclean’s Music would have looked like in his next few starts.

[richard burch]

Any or all of Rachel Alexandra's races in 2009.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by richard burch

Any or all of Rachel Alexandra's races in 2009.

They’re all on YouTube

[FATPIANO]

King Glorious comments about The Bid at the end of his 4 year old season....

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by FATPIANO

King Glorious comments about The Bid at the end of his 4 year old season....

Sounds like they made the right decision, though they went a poor way about it.

https://vault.si.com/vault/1980/10/1...nningest-horse

If he had been sound and his connections tolerant of his weight assignmenst, perhaps Spectacular Bid would have taken down the Fall Championship series at Belmont before Slew o'Gold did in 1984, giving the series some momentum and stability.

A 3-race series at a single meet to decide championship honors is a much better concept than a single big day of racing where a single race can trump anything done during the rest of the year.

[goodcopy]

In any race against any other horse at any distance!

[FATPIANO]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

Sounds like they made the right decision, though they went a poor way about it.

https://vault.si.com/vault/1980/10/1...nningest-horse

If he had been sound and his connections tolerant of his weight assignmenst, perhaps Spectacular Bid would have taken down the Fall Championship series at Belmont before Slew o'Gold did in 1984, giving the series some momentum and stability.

A 3-race series at a single meet to decide championship honors is a much better concept than a single big day of racing where a single race can trump anything done during the rest of the year.

Thank you