Affirmed

[Rokeby Forever]

Hiya Larry, my huckleberry friend,

Affirmed will always be an underrated horse because he wasn't a "flashy" type colt that would win races by 10 lengths. Alydar and Spectacular Bid were flashy type colts, but Affirmed wouldn't let either one go by - he would have broken bones to win a race.

Affirmed had the will to win at racing's highest level - that's the rarest quality that can be found in a Thoroughbred. I don't care what horse would have been in a stretch drive with Affirmed...Secretariat, Citation, or any great from the past - Affirmed would have found a way to win. I think a horse like Sunday Silence had that will to win, but Sunday Silence didn't face the level of competition that Affirmed had to look in the eye - and Affirmed would have never let Sunday Silence beat him.

Here's a couple of clips of Affirmed doing what he did best - winning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZmaqszF4GA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=berN2tnAlkk

Think about what a GREAT horse Spectacular Bid was and watch the clip of the 1979 JCGC - Affirmed just played with The Bid.

Affirmed was an amazing horse....that's all I can say.

Best,
Rokeby

[halfpint23]

Hiya Larry, my huckleberry friend,
<SNIP>
Affirmed had the will to win at racing's highest level - that's the rarest quality that can be found in a Thoroughbred.
<SNIP>
Best,
Rokeby

OK, now you have made me all misty-eyed....

It's the sheer courage and try and PRIDE of the Thoroughbred that endears them to me. My first really good broodmare was a daughter of Trooper Seven, and she had all of the above in spades. Her connections broke her down twice at Longacres - stifle, first one side, surgery and then run again til she did the OTHER side on that deep heavy miserable surface - and then they literally threw her away.

We picked her up for a song, sick, horribly depressed, virtually crippled and about four hundred pounds underweight. She gave us four gorgeous, sane and talented foals, we still own her first, my old Appendix stud, and his soft kind eye and the fire in him still remind me of his dam. All of her kids had her "look of eagles", that I see in your photo of Affirmed -

Well done, Rokeby, and thanks.

[wallinga]

Did anyone ever read Barb Livingstons: Champions? Those shots of Affirmed in the snow are awesome! Great horse.