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Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Solar Slew, dam of Cigar died at age 22.

"euthanized earlier this year at Fred Seitz' Brookdale Farm near versailles, KY., because of complications from the infirmities of old age."

No more details of her death were given, or what month she died in.
 

Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Sunday Silence wins the simulated race between all BC Classic winners :p

I loved that horse!
 

bronxgirl

Medalist
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Yeah, I saw that program and IMHO the only way Sunday Silence would have beaten Cigar was in cyberspace, not on a racetrack when they were both in their prime.
 

Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
I got chills watching the old footage. And seeing Cigar made me tear up. Both great horses.

My friend is a big Sunday Silence fan and we both had Cigar over Sunday. Well, the experts did the picking.

Also, how could they goof over saying Skip Away wasn't a speed horse. He has the fastest time for the Classic. Skippy can't get no respect! :mad:

Did you see the footage of Personal Ensign. She's a mean-tempered horse! The other broodmares are scared of her. Ensign rules in the pecking order at the farm.
 

Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
So many of the owners and trainers of those horses are gone--Charlie Whittingham, Allen Paulson, Bill Shoemaker, Sonny Hine, Howard Keck(Ferdinand's owner)Frances Genter, Ernie Poulous, Paul Mellon, Georgia Ridder, W.T. Young, etc.

Horses: Ferdinand, Skywalker, Sunday Silence, Unbridled.
 

Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Full order of finish:

Sunday Silence
Cigar
Alysheba
AP Indy
Tiznow
Skip Away
Unbridled
Pleasantly Perfect
Awesome Again
Wild Again
Ferdinand
Alphabet Soup
Black Tie Affair
Proud Truth
Skywalker
Concern
Volponi
Arcangues
Cat Thief
 

bronxgirl

Medalist
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Right, sure Sunday Silence beating Cigar and A.P. Indy in their prime? As I said, only in cyberspace, and not on the track.
 

Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Sunday Silence was a great horse, as I am a HUGE fan of his. I could believe it. He won when it counted.

their BC times were the same when Indy had a faster surface *and* that Easy Goer and Blushing John were much better horses than Pleasant Tap or Jolypha. :p

Sunday ran on his sore foot in the Derby, while Indy's connections kept him in the barn. Sunday just faced much better horses than Indy did in his career. Indy was all out to beat the likes of Casual Lies and Dance Floor.

Indy's speed figures were also no where near Sunday's. Not just Beyer's, but everyone's. Indy's figures didn't even match Best Pal when he was in his prime.
 
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bronxgirl

Medalist
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I'm no fan of the Beyer speed figures. There is no figure to measure the size of a great horse's heart.
 

Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Sunday had alot of heart. He cheated death twice, once as a foal when he was deathly ill, and then in a trailering accident. He had the strong will to live.

Nobody wanted him at auction. Yet he ran beyond expectations and was a true Cinderella story. Horse of the Year, Champion 3yo.

Poor Sunday just can't get the respect he deserved. Even when he died he didn't make the cover of The-Blood-Horse. Other HOTY winners did :mad:

When he died he kept fighting to live, until he suffered a massive heart attack. Other horses would've died sooner under those conditions. He had heart and the strong will to live.
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
The one finish I agree with was Cat Thief--dead last in the group of Classic winners. That win was the biggest fluke of all time. He actually won only 4 races in 3 years of racing, and of course one of them was a maiden win.

Cat Thief was trained by D. Wayne Lukas, and the year after his Classic win, Lukas ran him 10 times, but he never won another race.

Another 'big race' fluke was Go for Gin. He won the Kentucky Derby, but never won another race after that.

Does anyone believe that Birdstone should beat out Smarty Jones for 3YO of the year? I sure don't. Yes, he beat Smarty in the Belmont, but basically what he did was pass a tired horse. He got a 101 Beyer for that effort. I don't think he got much more than that in the Travers, where he beat a field of horses all of whom were known to be suspect at a mile and a quarter. Lion Heart suffered a career-ending injury in the race.

The BC Classic will show what kind of a horse Birdstone is. He will have to be fast to pass horses like Ghostzapper, who won the 9-furlong Woodward Stakes in 1.46.3 at Belmont after a stretch-long head-to-head duel with Saint Liam. Less than a month before that, Ghostzapper won the Iselin Stakes at Monmouth by 10 3/4 lengths, earning a Beyer of 128.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
The Breeders Cup Classic will have a full field of horses, not the short fields of the Belmont and Travers. Birdstone made no headway in a big field at the Kentucky Derby, going a mile and a quarter. He sat out the Preakness and came back for the Belmont, and beat a tired Smarty Jones by only one length.

Birdstone seems to do well only at NY tracks. He bombed in a Kentucky Derby prep race at a Kentucky track, and was an also-ran in the Kentucky Derby. There's no reason to believe he will do any better at Lone Star.

I wouldn't waste $2 betting on Birdstone.
 

bronxgirl

Medalist
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Both Peace Rules and Sarava were retired this week due to injuries. The field for the Classic is getting smaller and smaller.
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Sarava hasn't won a big race since the Belmont, so I don't think he was much of a threat in the Classic. 9 furlongs is about as far as Peace Rules can go, so the 10-furlong Classic was not his forte anyway.

Neither of those two horses would have had much of a chance in the BCC.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I just heard that Pleasantly Perfect, who won the Breeders' Cup Classic last year, and the Dubai World Cup and Pacific Classic this year, is going to retire after this year's Breeders Cup Classic.

It's really too bad that once a champion is crowned, they retire and we don't get to see them race any more.

:mad:

In other news, Sir Shackleton and Pollard’s Vision will meet again in the Indiana Derby on Saturday, Oct. 2.

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=24560
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I am going to the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont tomorrow. Funny Cide and Black Tie Affair, who last met in the Saratoga Breeders Cup Handicap at Saratoga, meet again. They will be joined by the Pennsylvania Derby winner Love of Money, Domestic Dispute, who has had two 2nds in his last two Grade II races, and the Cliff's Edge, who finished 2nd in the Travers, Bowman's Band and Newfoundland.

Both Domestic Dispute and Love of Money have been deemed major contenders.

Love of Money had a Beyer top figure of 112 in his last race, the PA Derby, a huge bump up from 105. He's had only 4 races, has had the lead in every one, and has never gone 10 furlongs. He's probably going for the lead in the Jockey Club, and he's the only speed. Funny Cide will do his usual stalk and pounce, and Evening Attire will come on in the stretch. It should be interesting to see if this late-blooming 3YO can handle the competition.

Domestic Dispute, a 4YO, has had two trips at 10 furlongs (the 2003 Ky Derby and the 2004 Dubai World Cup) and finished out of the money in both. He is a stalker, and his last two races, where he finished 2nd, were at a 8f and 7f, so it seems he may need a bit more ground---but 10 furlongs seems a bit much.

I gotta love Funny Cide, who's 2nd off a layoff and primed to run. His resume really is quite impressive. He's had 19 races and finished in the money in 16 of them, with 7 wins, 4 seconds and 5 thirds.

But if Evening Attire rains on his parade, that's OK too---I've always liked that ol' grey gelding.
 
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