Here are the past 10 Belmont Stakes, starting with 2008...
Note that most winners had early speed.
Posted on 06/05/2018 4:25:10 PM PDT by Libloather
I thought about it. Although that of course is impressive, there weren't all that many 1-5/8 mile races back then, and a lot less now. The Gallant Fox immediately comes to mind.
____________
From wikipedia...
The Gallant Fox Handicap has been raced at various distances:
Oh wow.
While not good, apparently all sorts of trainers and jockeys used tricks that were not yet banned, until they were. But 2013 is pretty recent. Sorry to hear the horses passed from this. I abhor cheating.
Here are the past 10 Belmont Stakes, starting with 2008...
Note that most winners had early speed.
And good chance for rain yet again for last leg in triple crown!
Yes, trainers have used performance enhancing drugs until testing became more strict very recently. And they became more strict in part due to the Baffert incident. He is the only trainer I know of who had a bunch of horses drop dead in his barn...not one horse, or two, or three, or even five, but SEVEN all in a short period. Only after this string of deaths and the ensuing outcry and investigation did Baffert admit to using the dangerous thyroid drug on all his horses. So I can’t ever root for a Baffert horse.
Excuse the formatting errors. And ignore the blue hyperlinks. They won't work. Go to Wikipedia's Belmont Stakes page to access them.
Tapwrit was 2017. His winning time was 2:30.02
Again, Secretariat was 1973.
“They later learned Secretariat had an abnormally large heart.”
As did Sham.
Holy hell. That just sounds so shocking. I’m sorry to hear it about anyone.
Whoa Nellie.
Holy shot.
https://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/deadly-to-horses-the-baffert-effect-part-1/
You’ve opened my mind. Thanks.
You're welcome...and thank you for being open-minded, and for the link to that terrific, honest article.
I’m going with my kids to the track for Belmont day and my son is also quite saddened to hear this kind of stuff is still going on. No sport is fun or real or beautiful if cheating or abuse goes on, and since I’ve been involved with gymnastics for many years, I know of what I speak. These abuses need to stop. What a travesty that the overseeing body for horse racing is like Meryl Streep reporting on Pervy Weinstein, or USAG controlling Dr. Nasser.
perhaps you should hear the ENTIRE story about this ...there was a series of bizarre deaths of 7 horses trained by Bob Baffert around 2010-2011 ...it was over a period of 16 months. The California authorities did a complete investigation into it, and found absolutely NO RULES WERE VIOLATED by Mr Baffert, and there were NO ILLEGAL DRUGS found in any of the said horses. Most perplexing was that all 7 incidents occured at Bafferts Hollywood Park barn...nothing happened at his Santa Anita barn or his Del Mar barn...Baffert and his team co-operated fully with the investigation...he testified that he did give all his horses a thyroid drug, but it was used as a suppliment to help build strength, a very common practice among other trainers and that is LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. Baffert immediately stopped the use of the drug, after concerns that it might have contributed to the deaths. No conclusion was ever found, 6 of the 7 cases bore evidence of heart problems, as 6 of the cases, the deaths occured right after races or after on track workouts. Baffert was completely cleared of any wrong doing. Bafferts personality rubs alot of people the wrong way, as does his amazing success, which is unequaled. He has given hundreds of thousands to equine retirement farms, which are really great places. These great retired race horses get to live out their years in dignity and comfort. His wife is also a huge supporter of the retirement farms. The richest people in the world buy these horses and send them to Baffert to train...he could never be as successful as hes been if he wasn’t a great horseman. His record speaks for itself.
Looks like NBCSN begins coverage at 2pm on Saturday. That changes over to NBC at 4pm.
Could conceivably even been some other person or people that did something to these horses. Perhaps a rival or disgruntled former employee.
Basalt, you describe the Baffert I’d always heard, and yesterday that was all new info to me. Those stats on that blog were eye opening. They didn’t appear to come from jealousy but I don’t know the reason behind all that research.
I understand there is all kinds of legal “cheating” that everyone engages in. Including human athletes. Substances aren’t banned.... until they are. I get that. But those stats about the deaths of Baffert’s horses vs anyone else were a bit shocking.
However, you bring up a good point. The blog entry did not research the rat poison thoroughly. For instance, if as you say it was only happening in the Hollywood Park stable. So that points to a careless pesticide sprayer there. Or ordering food from some source that had their crops sprayed with it? Or left the rat bait out where it got mixed with the hay or whatever.
I don’t want to slam the guy nor do I want to believe a cheater is a fair guy. It’s tough.
i dont know...common sense tells me he couldnt get to the level hes at if he was dangerously drugging horses and killing them....if you were an owner of a 5 million dollar colt that you just bought, would you send him to a trainer doing that? The fact that hes so in the eye of the media, hes one of the few true “personalities” in the sport, the scrutiny is there. Remember too, that blog is part of an anti-racing activist group that is determined to shut down racing. For what its worth, i remember hearing the same stuff about D.Wayne Lukas in the 1980’s when he was the top dog....
I know. You wouldn’t think. I love horse racing and horses actually love to run and to please man. As long as we are treating them well, it’s a pretty exciting sport and pastime for all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.