The second part of your post was not worth responding to.Originally Posted by blamethewinner
The second part of your post was not worth responding to.
Your don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.....RZ
Call me what you want, anything's better than a racist @sshole such as yourself
Another (semi-literate) bitter, lonely human with 2000+ posts on a message board.
Have a nice day.
New York is grouchy.
I'll settle for another SA Derby/Big Cap winner. General Challenge was the last and I saw Free House pull it off in person.
Travers/Whitney isn't going to happen. Don't torture yourself.
Bitter, most definitely. Lonely, probably.(aren't we all a bit at times?) He's many things and most are not pleasant, but semi-literate? Dead wrong on that one CT. Just thought I'd pass that along.
I truly do not think so. Perhaps the trainer with continued success. But Blame? Nah.
Of course his name might help with the remembering.
Come on. Perhaps the sign-wielding zealots that were proclaiming Zenyatta as the best ever will do their best to remove the word "blame" from their vocabulary. However, no self-respecting racing fan/horseplayer will ever forget who beat her in the BC Classic.
The thing is, most knowledgable racing fans understand the fraudulence of last years HOY voting, and for that reason alone, Blame will always be remembered. The majority of the zealots may not have the same shelf life in their support of the game.
I disagree. Zenyatta did so much for the sport, it would have been ridiculous not to award her HOTY. She truly was the HOTY. Record for the year aside.
It's kind of interesting that all the explanations I have seen being offered here for why it won't happen again focus on why the Whitney has lost stature and can't compete with the Haskell.
I wonder if, since the creation of the Breeders Cup, it may not be the other way around, and the Travers is the race that has lost significance.
Since 1984, when the Breeders Cup began, there have been 27 renewals of each race. During that time, not one Travers winner has won a Breeders Cup race, and Breeders Cup winners have the inside track at Horse of the Year. During that same period, 5 winners of the Whitney went on to win a Breeders Cup race: Lady's Secret, Personal Ensign, Awesome Again, Invasor and Blame; three of those went on to be Horse of the Year. During that period, I believe only two Travers winners won Horse of the Year (Holy Bull and Point Given), and each did so without winning on racing's biggest day.
The only horse in that period to win the Whitney and Travers (Easy Goer) came up short in both the Classic and the Horse of the Year voting.
HR, Java Gold also won both but did not compete in the Classic. Looking at the Saratoga schedule, the Whitney is three weeks before the Travers. The Haskell and Jim Dandy are four weeks. We know that it is just way too much to ask of a horse to run twice in 22 days. Back in the day, Alydar won the Whitney 14 days before the Travers and Affirmed won the JD 13 days before.
I would not say the Travers has lost significance as it is still the showpiece of the Spa meet and is the only day when prices are jacked up ala the BC or TC races. The basic irony of the BC is that older horses, the ones more likely to win BC Classics are relegated to the back burner and all emphasis is on 3 yos through the end of August. Who would have cared about the '09 Woodward had Rachel not run in it?
Last edited by Slewbopper; 06-28-2011 at 01:13 AM.
Your don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.....RZ
The Jim Dandy was 11 Days before the Travers ( 8/8 to 8/19 ).
My comment was designed to encourage people to "think outside the box."
The question-begging circularity in your formulation depends on our taking for granted that "the Spa meet" (by which, one always assumes the New York Spa, even though it long ago died as a spa) retains its former national significance.
For those who consider championships the goals that the best athletes pursue, the record is what it is.
The thing is there are some knowledgable racing fans that feel the way you do and some knowledgable racing fans that simply do not. Just because you are among the latter does not make it so. Blame will be forgotten. Zenyatta will not. It has nothing to do with zealotry or knowledge. It's simply a matter of racing history contribution.
I guess the irony continues to be lost on you.
Your omniscience is impressive. Do you also give out future pick-6s or does your certainty about the future exclude the definable?
You know what? You are right. In '78, Sunday was the dark day in NY racing
Your don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.....RZ
To be honest, I was surprised there wasn't racing on Sundays by then as well. I know there was in 1979.
Perhaps I'm wrong, I don't really see all that many new fans in this sport due to her, a peaking interest in racing due to her, or even more people on this forum since she ran/was retired.
"That's all the world is after all, an endless battle of contrasting memories."
Not necessarily so Annie. Only one horse ever beat Man O War....Upset. Only one horse ever beat Zenyatta....Blame.
I don't know if "blame" will garner a new definition in Webster's dictionary. Until 1919, the word "upset" referred to a bad stomach or being pissed about something, not an unlikely winner of a sporting event.
Semi-literates unite!!!!
Your don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.....RZ
Regarding Annie's post and your obtuse response, you don't have a clue. in '09 and '10, the voters got it right for HOY.
Rachel deserved it because of the excitement she brought to the sport with her unprecedented campaign as a 3 yo filly going 8 for 8 and beating males three times.
Last year, Z entered the Classic with a 19 for 19 career record. Besides her outstanding ability, she was also an incredible personality. The ratings for last years BC were triple what they have ever been since the races have been on ESPN. Why? Zenyatta's presence.
In a day and age when horses run 5 times in a year, how the hell could anyone think that she did less for the sport in a short head defeat than Blame did winning two other Grade 1s the rest of the year defeating one good older horse, Quality Road, by a head while carrying 5 pounds less?
What is refreshing to me is that in the last three years, it did not come down to the HOY being the one that won the Classic.
Your don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.....RZ
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