Grade 1 Winners Mystery Question
 

With Spring at Last now aiming for the 7F Grade 1 Carter after winnng the Grade 1 Donn going 1 & 1/8, I wonder what is the answer to this question:

Which horse most recently followed up a winning 9 Furlong or longer race with a winning Grade 1 win at 7 F or less?

I can't remember the last to enter, much less win. I guess I'd stab at Precisionist or maybe Silverbulletday, but those are just stabs.

I'm really glad to see Spring at Last pointing for the Carter and I hope he goes and runs well.

Don't know if it's what you had in mind, but Serena's Song won the Beldame in October '95 ahead of the Santa Monica the next January. Lost the BC Distaff in between though...

Pleasant Tap likely a candidate for this too...

I know it doesn't fit your criteria (Gr 1), but it came to mind as I was reading your post.

Unbridled won the 7f Deputy Minister in his next start after winning the Breeders Cup Classic at 10f.

It feels like it would be the Malibu that produced that result. I guess Pleasant Tap didn't win a distance Grade 1 prior to his win.

Forego made the switch three times, once from 1 1/2 miles and twice from 1 1/4, but the Carter and Vosburgh were both Grade 2s when he won them.

No criteria and nothing really in mind. Just don't remember it happening.

The biggest problem, aside from the lack of Grade 1s under 1 1/8th, is that until recently horses actually raced too frequently.

You said Grade 1 and in my example, the Deputy Minister was not a Grade 1.

More Than Ready came a pathetic hang job away from doing it in 2000 when he was 4th, I think, in the Haskell and won the King's Bishop.

Personal Flag won the Suburban in 1988.

Great question.....found out some interesting things. General Assembly won the Vosburgh in 1979, over the mighty Dr. Patches, but he at least raced against Spectacular Bid and Coastal in the Marlboro Cup after his Travers Win.

Ghostzapper could have. :D

I'm sorry Bigs, didn't at all mean to come off sideways. If Spring at Last can do it, it will be pretty nice to see.

As I just mentioned, he beat General Assembly and Coastal in the Marlboro Cup. That was, I believe, his first race after the Belmont. He lost the Jockey Club to Affirmed.

He did. 13 days before.

Yup.

Hard Spun almost did it last year.

Good call... however, if he wins the Haskell... does he go in the Travers, or the King's Bishop? I say Travers.

It doesn't happen to often but I do think that there are more horses that could do it if put in that situation. Bigsmc mentioned Unbridled earlier. Recently, BTW was reminding me of Turkoman. Neither of those horses would ever be thought of as sprinters but because they were talented horses, they could do it. I think that what happens too often today is that horses get pigeoholed into something and that's the only thing they are given the opportunity to do. I think there could be a lot more horses that could switch back and forth between dirt and grass. I think there could be a lot more times when we'd see fillies beating the boys. But unfortunately, taking chances is frowned upon. Sometimes I wonder how much I would have been laughed at and riduculed if this were 1973 and I was suggesting that the best dirt horse in the world skip the JCGC and instead make his turf debut in the Man o'War?

I think Philski is absolutely right about Hard Spun. Had he won the Haskell, I feel like it was almost a certainty that they would have went the Travers route even thought it might not have been the best one. Like with Roman Ruler a few years ago. Like with Lion Heart. Pressures to go the traditional routes with horses instead of being original.

barbaro

did commentator win a sprint after the whitney?

How many get the chance though? When I see horses like Nobiz and Showing Up do it, I know there are others that are more talented that could. They may not be able to be top five in the country on both surfaces but could be more than capable of competing in graded races. Lava Man and Candy Ride just came to my mind. Asi Siempre. Barbaro. Giant's Causeway, Sakhee, Jolypha, Ibn Bey, Arcangues, Sheikh Albadou, Dayjur, Johannesburg, Arazi. I'm convinced it could be done more often than most people think.

Happens all the time in South America. They do dirt to grass alot.

Jones felt that Hard Spun would have been a world class grass miler.

I think of all the horses who retired early last year...Hard Spun is the one I am most disappointed in not seeing develop further.

That Beldame was one of the most disappointing races ive ever seen...

They do dirt to grass there. In the rest of the world, they do females against males all the time. They do 3yo's against older all the time. I've even seen a couple of 2yo's facing older horses in some of their sprint stakes. It makes me glad that horses like Ouija Board and Miesque and Ridgewood Pearl were campaigned over there instead of over here because they weren't limited to our silly traditions.

We had a stretch here from 1982 to 1996 where the Met Mile was won by Conquistador Cielo, Gulch, Dixie Brass, Holy Bull, and Honour and Glory. Housebuster ran second. All 3yo's. But for some reason, running a good 3yo in the race has fallen out of favor and I don't understand why. A 3yo gets something like a 13 pound allowance from older horses on the scale. That's huge. If I had a horse like War Pass and he lost the Derby, I'd be headed right for the Met. Back in 2004, I very nearly went to my knees to beg this guy to run Lion Heart in the Met after he lost the Derby but they insisted on the Preakness. Damn traditions.

Dark Mirage...anyone have her PP's?

There are fewer options for fillies in Europe against their own gender. Similarly, once the classics are run the 3yo's dont have tons of places to go against just each other.
They don't really have the equivalent of the Travers or Swaps or King's Bishop to run for. I love seeing 3yo's in the Met. Invariable the 3yo Met winner gets toasted in races like the Wood or the Blue Grass when they should be reading to go an all out blast for a mile at the end of May.

Honey Rider never raced against males.

That would be incorrect.

sorry i meant honey rYder. I was contradicting what he said but sarcasm doesnt go well with typing. maybe i should have used one of these :rolleyes:

I assume you are talking about the Todd Pletcher horse.....and she raced twice against the boys last year.

didnt she run more than twice with the boys?

You are right....at least three. I forgot about Florida when she was second to Jambalaya. She also ran in Dubai and the UN at Monmouth.

I don't get the need for the sarcasm. I didn't say that it NEVER happens. I said that I think more females could be successful if given the opportunities.

Jersey Girl did it in 1998... she won the Mother Goose then shortened up and won the Test..

Go for Wand had that same double.

Hard Spun would of been a monster going a mile on the turf.
too bad the "sporting" sheiks didn't race him this year. I think they could have really increased his value as a stallion tenfold.

Or you could blame the people that sold him. But that isn't as popular a position to have.