Has to be Nijinsky. Surely one of the most overlooked horses. For goodness sakes he won the Triple Crown, Irish Derby and King George & Queen Elizabeth in the same season. Won races from 6f to 14 f. Sired 3 Derby winners too. Okay I'm biased since he was the horse that started my interest in racing
Mill Reef was the sire of Shirley Heights and Shirley Heights was the sire of Slip Anchor. I am sure I read at the time that this was the only time a colt who won the Derby had sired a future Derby winner, who then went on himself to sire another Derby winning colt. Slip Anchor did not manage to take the sequence forward another generation, however he did sire Oaks winner User Friendly, so that's still pretty remarkable lineage. I reckon I could have shown my Dad and Grand Father a clean pair of heels if the three of us faced off over 100m. In my own particular case I would be super confident of beating my Grand Father, as he lost a leg to a German mortar in the war. I suppose that would have technically made my family face-off a five-legged race, or dare we have called it a Handicap Race? We might have got away with it, it was the 70s.
You've lost me with that one. No way Shirley Heights or Slip Anchor would beat Mill Reef, I do not care how they are related or how many legs )
It was just a bit of fun based on the relationship of the three horses. Could Slip Anchor aged 3, have beaten the 10yo Shirley Heights and the 17yo Mill Reef?
Some really nice extended footage of these older races on YouTube at the moment - here is Secreto turning over hotpot El Gran Senor in 1984
If the IT folk involved are the same as those that did the legends national the other week the result will be bollocks.
Great memories of that one. I picked out Secreto from Timeform's Racehorses which i used to get every year. Tipped it up for friends to back as i couldn't get to the Derby that year. I was confident he would stay the 12f better than El Gran Senor. But it was touch and go and he stayed on to win at 14/1. Can't remember what the SP was. Thanks for that Oddy
Crikey that was exciting watching that again, with El Gran Senor cruising and jockey looking round for danger; and danger there was. What a battle
NBC are broadcasting a virtual Kentucky Derby on the 3rd of May. The field is made up of 13 Triple Crown winners as follows:- Sir Barton 1919 Gallant Fox 1930 Omaha 1935 War Admiral 1937 Whirlaway 1941 Count Fleet 1943 Assault 1946 Citation 1948 Secretariat 1973 Seattle Slew 1977 Affirmed 1978 American Pharoah 2015 Justify 2018 I didn't see a racecard style list or betting as there was for the Epsom Virtual race. Perhaps the US racing fans can flesh those details out and my other problem is that I only ever saw the last two on the list in the flesh. I would imagine Secretariat will be FAV, as I can recall him in The Simpsons having a special fight in International waters against Mike Tyson. Not many horses have that in their form line.
I remember as a 9yo watching the 84 Derby with my Dad at home. Not sure who he had backed but after the race we cycled up to the bookies to get the result of the photo as they took a bit longer back then. I watched Teenoso win at my Nanas caravan and remember running home from school to watch Reference Point beat the one I backed Belloto in 87. Great days.
I have heard Secretariat is a machine, put what you like on it...the last time i said that was for Goshen!
Interesting/sad act trivia question for you here. Of those 13 Triple Crown winners what sets Sir Barton, Seattle Slew and Justify apart from the other ten?
