1971 vs 2014 Not that much has changed

[ct2346]

When you think of it, there are some parallels between the TCs of 1971 and 2014.

While no two scenarios ever line up perfectly, in 1971, a dead tired Canonero II finished 4th to a "fresh" Pass Catcher who had skipped the earlier two races. Certainly, this predates a points system and it predates the "changing breed", but the point is that this is the way the Triple Crown has been for ages. To hear the spoiled angry tirade of Steve Coburn, its easy to see that he has no appreciation of the sport or its history. I remember being in the stands that day along with 90,000 or so other fans and feeling the electricity that the event generated.

Too, I think of 1969 when Frank McMahon overruled Johnny Longden. The tired Majestic Prince couldn't hang with Arts and Letters - who HAD run in both the other two...but the point is that this IS a hard feat to pull off. Always has been. Always should be.

[TJ]

When you think of it, there are some parallels between the TCs of 1971 and 2014.

While no two scenarios ever line up perfectly, in 1971, a dead tired Canonero II finished 4th to a "fresh" Pass Catcher who had skipped the earlier two races. Certainly, this predates a points system and it predates the "changing breed", but the point is that this is the way the Triple Crown has been for ages. To hear the spoiled angry tirade of Steve Coburn, its easy to see that he has no appreciation of the sport or its history. I remember being in the stands that day along with 90,000 or so other fans and feeling the electricity that the event generated.

Too, I think of 1969 when Frank McMahon overruled Johnny Longden. The tired Majestic Prince couldn't hang with Arts and Letters - who HAD run in both the other two...but the point is that this IS a hard feat to pull off. Always has been. Always should be.

Hi ct,
I totally agree with you, winning the TC should be and is a very hard feat to pull off. Very good example and one of my favorites. I remember wanting to play the speedy but problem plagued Bold Reasoning in that '71 Belmont Stakes. He won the Jersey Derby but didn't make the Belmont Stakes. The horse who ran 2nd in the Jersey Derby, but missed the Derby and Preakness because he fractured a leg in the Hopeful when finishing 2nd to Proudest Roman as 2YO, was on the comeback trail. Proudest Roman was probably the best of the crop but had to be retired before the TC races. Pass Catcher won two allowance races before getting beat in the Jersey Derby by Bold Reasoning (not to be confused with Bold Reason, who was 3rd in the '71 Belmont). When Bold Reasoning didn't make the Belmont, I decided to bet my money on Pass Catcher because he ran well behind Bold Reasoning and Proudest Roman, unfortunately upsetting Canonero II (to the tune of $71). As we know, the lightly raced Bold Reasoning later became the sire of Seattle Slew.
So many other examples...Coastal didn't race in the Derby or Preakness, he won two allowance races and the Peter Pan before upsetting Spectacular Bid in the Belmont stakes.
Temperence Hill never ran in a TC race prior to the Belmont, he used a 3rd place finish in an allowance race as his Belmont prep upsetting Genuine Risk.
Summing, who upset Pleasant Colony never raced in a TC race, he won the Pennsylvania Derby prior to his Belmont win.
Creme Fraiche, Danzig Connection, Conquistador Cielo....three of the five in a row Belmont Stakes winners for Woody Stephens, never ran in a Triple Crown race....and the list goes on. TJ

[Pan Zareta]

Couldn't agree more but I'd offer that 1971 may not predate the "changing breed". That was only 5 years before the only G1 North American dirt race at 16f, the JCGC, was shortened to 12f where it remained until truncated to 10f in 1990. Imo, the shift further away from stamina toward speed in selection pressure that's changed the breed began 2 or 3 decades before 1971 and has only become more intense since then. Sixty to seventy years into that shift it shouldn't come as a surprise that 12f is outside the best distance range for most runners making it more difficult but certainly not impossible to win the TC.

Some believe that continuing to adjust the racing environment for the overall decrease in stamina capacity is just the pragmatic thing to do. I wonder what the effect of that would be in another 50 yrs. or so. Will "classic distance" be reinvented as a mile? 7f? Sure hope someone steps up and puts some serious $$ into the 2-4f races open to TB & QH.

[Patuxet]

A distinctly different situation prevailed in 1968. That year people were actually delighted when Greentree Stable's Stage Door Johnny beat Forward Pass, which previously had won both the Preakness and Derby, but earned the latter on the disqualification of Dancer's Image. There was widespread consternation that if Forward Pass won the Belmont he would not derserve to be considered an authentic Triple Crown winner.

I remember at the time that one of Greentree's owners (Jock Whitney and his sister, Joan Whitney Payson) or their their trainer, John Gaver, made the point that Stage Door Johnny had been bred and specfically trained for the Belmont.

The Belmont Stakes is an institution that predates the invention of a Triple Crown and in and of itself has existed as a breeding and training objective, just as the Epsom Derby has in England. Liking the Belmont Stakes to the Superbowl is a false analogy.

I'm amazed and delighted that the Belmont still manages to exist at its testing mile and a half distance in this age of ever shortening races well documented by Pan Zareta

[ct2346]

Hi ct,
I totally agree with you, winning the TC should be and is a very hard feat to pull off. Very good example and one of my favorites. I remember wanting to play the speedy but problem plagued Bold Reasoning in that '71 Belmont Stakes. He won the Jersey Derby but didn't make the Belmont Stakes. The horse who ran 2nd in the Jersey Derby, but missed the Derby and Preakness because he fractured a leg in the Hopeful when finishing 2nd to Proudest Roman as 2YO, was on the comeback trail. Proudest Roman was probably the best of the crop but had to be retired before the TC races. Pass Catcher won two allowance races before getting beat in the Jersey Derby by Bold Reasoning (not to be confused with Bold Reason, who was 3rd in the '71 Belmont). When Bold Reasoning didn't make the Belmont, I decided to bet my money on Pass Catcher because he ran well behind Bold Reasoning and Proudest Roman, unfortunately upsetting Canonero II (to the tune of $71). As we know, the lightly raced Bold Reasoning later became the sire of Seattle Slew.
So many other examples...Coastal didn't race in the Derby or Preakness, he won two allowance races and the Peter Pan before upsetting Spectacular Bid in the Belmont stakes.
Temperence Hill never ran in a TC race prior to the Belmont, he used a 3rd place finish in an allowance race as his Belmont prep upsetting Genuine Risk.
Summing, who upset Pleasant Colony never raced in a TC race, he won the Pennsylvania Derby prior to his Belmont win.
Creme Fraiche, Danzig Connection, Conquistador Cielo....three of the five in a row Belmont Stakes winners for Woody Stephens, never ran in a Triple Crown race....and the list goes on. TJ

Agreed that the Coastal instance also has a lot of parallels. I was there that day as well and was all over Coastal as Buddy Delp (at that time) got under my skin. It was a great day as Johnny Campo (who for some reason didn't get under my skin) put over a $100 winner that I was also all over. I never bought into the safety pin stuff. The gods just didn't want it to be. Weird parallel with the pin and Big Brown's shoe. Perhaps Star Trek's Metrons get involved.

Never got on the Bold Reasoning bandwagon while he was running. I was on Epic Journey that day in '71 preferring the simple half brother angle. John Jacobs seemed to be such a nice guy. Funny that 7 years later his sister would get the whole enchilada.

[ct2346]

A distinctly different situation prevailed in 1968. That year people were actually delighted when Greentree Stable's Stage Door Johnny beat Forward Pass, which previously had won both the Preakness and Derby, but earned the latter on the disqualification of Dancer's Image. There was widespread consternation that if Forward Pass won the Belmont he would not derserve to be considered an authentic Triple Crown winner.

I remember at the time that one of Greentree's owners (Jock Whitney and his sister, Joan Whitney Payson) or their their trainer, John Gaver, made the point that Stage Door Johnny had been bred and specfically trained for the Belmont.

The Belmont Stakes is an institution that predates the invention of a Triple Crown and in and of itself has existed as a breeding and training objective, just as the Epsom Derby has in England. Liking the Belmont Stakes to the Superbowl is a false analogy.

I'm amazed and delighted that the Belmont still manages to exist at its testing mile and a half distance in this age of ever shortening races well documented by Pan Zareta

Thank you for this post...I was one of those that was delighted. There are already enough misplaced asterisks in 1968.

While I can't think of many specific examples off the top of my head, my recollection is that SDJ passed his distance abilities along although I think mostly on the turf. Johnny D and Late Bloomer come to mind but I think his successes went a lot deeper than that. Would be nice to get access to some of that blood in the bottom half today....

[walaa]

Actually, though, I think it has way more to do with training these days. I watch ALOT of racing, esp. overseas, whether SAF, anywhere in Europe, Aus, etc, and horses that routinely would be ruled "sprinters" by their breeding win at a mile to 3 miles over fences, and on the flat. Even in those countries, their sprinter sires have all the entries in the long races, they dont specifically have "distance" sires just like over here, some may have better reps for siring stamina based runners, but nowhere is there some sire that only makes winners over 10 furlongs. I remember watching one race at 3 miles over fences in UK, and a Dixie Union was the favorite, and I thought, "really, over here he would already be retired or broken down from wrong handling" and of course he won handily, over horses with sprinter sires and the sires that you would have bet on to win. It happens all the time, with bloodlines you couldnt get people to touch to race over 6 f here, winning over and over again, until later in years then here. People just dont have the patience to watch those kindof raxes here, and so no one trains for them anymore. You should see the crowds at these races, just having fun . Its not like that here, and probably never will be.