Secretariat's older half bro Sir Gaylord and Cicada
 

Both scratched from the '62 Derby.

Sir Gaylord (who would have been a strong Derby favorite) got hurt and never ran again.

Cicada was scratched - and won the KY Oaks, Acorn, and Mother Goose in her next 3 starts.



Decidedly - who Sir Gaylord beat by almost five lengths in the Flamingo was the eventual winner of the KY Derby.



Cicada was on her way to becoming the first female horse voted champion 2yo, champion 3yo, and champion 4yo. She was beaten just a nose by Ridan in the Florida Derby. Admiral's Voyage - was beaten 6 lengths in that Fla Derby. He won the Wood Memorial, Louisiana Derby, and was also 2nd in the Santa Anita Derby and Belmont Stakes.

Ridan was an especially good 2yo - going 7-for-7.



After beating Cicada by a nose in the Fla Derby ... Ridan destroyed Decidedly and Roman Line in the Blue Grass next out. Decidedly won the KY Derby, Roman Line was 2nd, and Ridan was 3rd.

Have to think Sir Gaylord and Cicada is the greatest Derby entry all-time - where both parts scratched.

One of the great runnings of the Preakness that year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N23RCHGjyh8

Wasn't Cicada a decent 3rd in the great Jaipur-Ridan Travers?

looks like she was off the board
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rKCAhELwhc&NR=1

That crop was tremendous.

It was ok-to-above avg.

Some of the old-time crops were truly horrid ... Victory Gallop would have been a geared down 3x triple crown winner in the 3yo crop that Cannonero and Jim French came from.

On the subject of great 3yo milers ... here are a pair of monsters (even moreso than Uncle Mo and The Factor for sure) that ducked both the Triple Crown series and the Met Mile.

Dr. Fager was only a half length winner in the Gotham in his 3yo debut - but 2nd place finisher Damascus was my 4th rated 3-year-old of the entire last century....



In the Withers - Dr. Fager took on the undefeated Tumiga. Tumiga is the only 3-year-old since 1950 to win the Carter Handicap against older horses.



The result was a ruthlessly fast Withers.



3rd place finisher Reason to Hail (beaten 11 lengths) - was cutting back from a 4th place finish in the Ky Derby last out - where he was always fairly in contention.

4th place finisher Favorable Turn (beaten 16 lengths) - won the Saratoga Special as a 2yo - and would win the Donn Handicap as a 4yo.

5th place finisher Sun Gala (Beaten 19 lengths) - won both the Sports Page and the Stuyvenct in New York that same year.

Even the hopelessly drowned Racing Room (later won the Citation Handicap and 2nd in the Hollywood Gold Cup) and Yorkville (won the Sanford as a 2yo and Fayette as a 4yo) were accomplished horses.

Dr Fager's winning time of 1:33 4/5 was 50 Beyer points faster than the next race time of 1:38 3/5 for 8f on dirt in a 10K 3yo non-condition claiming race.

Basically - a projected Beyer in the 118-to-123 range.

And as for why they ducked the Met Mile .....



Who wants to run against that when they're so many lucrative spots for 3-year-olds?

It's not hard to find people who believe that Dr. Fager was the best horse of all time. Everything's relative, and some could do things he couldn't, but he was obviously a monsterous talent.

I just think it is so cool to see these kinds of horses sometimes running every other week. Oh, the good old days...................

Buckpasser was never all that strong of a figure horse - but he had bulit a reputation as a 'hanging winner' type of horse.

You never see horses win major races like he did in this one ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Sy-...eature=related

Wow!

:tro:

Other than not having the ability to rate well - I think he could do pretty much everything at an extremely great level.