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and Funny Cide won the JCGC at 4 :)
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Horses don't hold their form forever. A lot of them are retired after the Belmont becuase they need to go to the breeding shed before they tail off
it only hurts their stud fee to keep racing |
Regardless of whether they won or lost, there are a lot of good horses that suffered career ending injuries at Belmont Stakes:
aside from those mentioned the following very good horses had careers ended by injury suffered inthe Belmont stakes: Count Fleet, Cavan, Majestic Prince, Smarty Jones, Praire Bayou (euthanized); Tim Tam and Caveat. Possibly Pine BLuff as well, not sure exactly when he was injured. Lot of other injuries also: Needles did not run the same after Belmont (2 off the board finishes that year, but won following year); Cannonero was also done for the season but came back next. Count Turf was never same and Pensive never won again, although not exactly sure what injuries if any. Alsab suffered a serious splint injury in this race but somehow maged to run again in his soph. season. This list is by no means complete and I only listed horses that have won a TC race. There are also a few e.g. Bold Forbes and Cannonade that went wrong at some pt. but not sure if it was the Belmont race itself. It seems to me this is a lot of injuries for good horses, but you may not see it that way. note: Hansel was actually hurt in the Travers stakes. [edited to add a few horses] |
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I know that there will always be those that want to keep blinders on. Nobody ever said that every horse that runs in the race is going to come out hurt or suffer later. But the percentage of those that come out of that race to either never run again, never win again, or not even finish out the year is too high for me. In my 22 years of watching the sport, I've seen far too many horses that run in the Belmont and are seriously affected in one or more of the three ways I mentioned above.
Ferdinand, Risen Star, Hansel, Pine Bluff, Prairie Bayou, Thunder Gulch, Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic, Monarchos, Point Given, Empire Maker, Smarty Jones, Giacomo, Afleet Alex, Jazil, Rags to Riches. To be fair, in the cases of Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic and Smarty Jones, they had to be there and I would have run there with them too. But I can't help but feel that there is some connection to that race and these horses suffering the problems they have. And it seems like it's getting worse. If it's acceptable for u that there is a 50/50 chance that if u run in that race, your career is basically over (or at least your season), then u run. For me, that's just too high a percentage. Maybe some of u are ok with losing at least one major horse every year out of the Belmont Stakes. I'm not. We've lost Rags in 07, Jazil in 06, Alex and Giacomo in 05, Smarty in 04, Empire Maker in 03, Point Given and Monarchos in 01, Charismatic in 99, Real Quiet in 98 and Silver Charm in 97. This is good for the sport how? Sure, injuries can and do happen at any time. Sure, PG, Empire Maker and Rags were injured in subsequent races. And I'm not even saying that there is conclusive proof that the Belmont has anything to do with this. But it is a fact that all of these horses have that one thing in common. |
Could it possibly be that the Belmont happened to be the last race at this level that those horses could successfully compete at without a setback of whatever degree ???? That their limits were realized at this race juncture, not because it was the Belmont ... I do not subscribe to the blame the Belmont theory ...
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sorry to hear she has suffered an injury. we were told back when she won the belmont that she would race at four. that of course remains to be seen.
as for the belmont being the end of a horses career, no doubt many races would have their share of horses who were not the same after, suffered an injury, etc. i doubt that the test of champions would show a higher incidence of forced retirement. if any race has an adverse affect, i would think it would be the ky derby--or, overall, the bc races. the last hurrah for a great many horses. |
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I tried to limit my list to only those horses actually injured in the race and who did not race again or were not the same. List was limited to those that won a TC race. If were to add in those that were not said to be injured but went sour a short time after the Belmont, the list might grow considerably. There are a number of horses that might be candidates based on Avalyn Hunter's book but could not specifically point to the race itself. WOrth thining about. *** prudery: Sure it's possible that the series of races could have done the damage as well. In fact I think you would have to factor all that in to do a fair comparison. It's a fair pt. I think if people are going to use Jazil as a data pt. then you might as well start to factor in the derby, and the whole series of races. that's why I tried to just list those were actual injuries were sustained at Belmont. |
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How the hell is Silver Charm on that list. Didnt he win the Dubai WC the following year?? Giacomo?? Didnt he run like 4,000 times after that race. It wasnt the belmont that made him a loser, he just wasnt the best horse out there and won a dream set-up derby. The Belmont has absolutely nothing to do with Gaicomo's downfall. Point Given can not be on this list either. I'll give you Jazil and Afleet Alex and of course Charismatic, who broke his freakin leg in the race.. Oh yeah, that must have been the Belmont Stakes fault. No possible way he took a bad step. I will make a point similar to yours. All horses who were injured ran in maiden races. I think maiden races are the reason horses get injured. And I'm not even saying that there is conclusive proof that the Maiden races have anything to do with this. But it is a fact that all of these horses have one thing in common. |
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He did bear out as he rounds the turn, it seemed like a lot to me at the time. Did he not continue to bear out as the went down the stretch? How far off the pole do you make him? This was noticeable to me... |
had smarty suffered an injury in the belmont, he would never have been put back into training.
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I forgot about Skip Away's Belmont, since he ran so poorly in the Derby... I always think of his elder accomplishments (of which there were many, obviously). It was the JCGC in which he beat Cigar, by the way ;) |
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