Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Rinzler — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:58:50 GMT

If Shackleford gets into an uncontested rhythm up front, that rhythm may turn into momentum by the time the stretch comes and may make it hard for the closers to shorten the gap.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Slew — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:47:15 GMT

Aleine: Shackleford's sire was a sprinter. Animal Kingdom has stamina on top and bottom. While the Preakness was the perfect distance for Shack, it was a tad short for AK who can easily handle the 12f. Love them both, though.

It's Nehro's 2nd place finishes in the LA, AR, and KY Derbies, however, that has convinced me that with more ground, he might finally make the lead....and he's a rested colt who skipped the Preakness.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Aleine — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:10:10 GMT

I hope Shackleford does well in the Belmont Stakes. It was said by one commentator before the race that Shackleford "..is a long striding horse and not exactly perfect (as perfect) as Animal Kingdom for the Pimlico track." For whatever reason Shackleford pulled it off. Who knows, maybe with this longer race on the Belmont track Shackleford will once again prevail, or Animal Kingdom, a shorter, sprint like animal,will have some gas left in him to finish the longer distance and win. Either way,...I hate to see ANY horse ill after the race. I saw the horrible shot of Eight Belles lying dead on the track before the cameramen got discreet and moved the camera away. And, when Barbaro bolted from the gate early, I forget which commentator (maybe Stevens) mentioned "...this doesn't bode well for Barbaro. It's always bad luck to do this."

What haunting words.

I'll be watching and perhaps placing a bet or two on the race, but however it plays out, I want to see ALL the entrants walk away after the finish. Keep 'em healthy.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Slew — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:45:09 GMT

Another old chestnut fell by the wayside this past weekend. You know...the one that states that a horse who breaks through the gate pre-race, won't win the race. Vinda, a daughter of Vindication broke through the gate early, was reloaded, then went on to win the 6f sprint yesterday in 1:08:52 at Belmont. Good for her.

Did anyone catch the HRTV special on Seattle Slew last night? Part 2 will air July 3rd. After 34 years, it would seem that the parties involved still aren't accepting responsibility for decisions made. I'm glad they were finally sensible enough to consider the horse first...eventually.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

SUNNY FARM — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:21:34 GMT

KAREN IN TX. : Your not as late to comment as I am !I have been outside most of the time.When I read the heading on Mr. Haskin's blog , I still have to have a quick say. SHACKLEFORD is "Just a baby" I can't wait to see him when matured! I sound like one of the few who saw his bucking as a good thing; being young & fit, why wouldn't he play-up ? I saw that as a good sign ! (Admittedly , when I saw him sweat so much I did wonder, but also knew he had the fire in him to win at the distance ) I enjoy hearing the comments about the horses before the races but never thought they were carved in stone or had a gaurentee...just things to say of interest. I think it was a great race and a very exciting day.No one should be attacked just for thier opinion as a commentator or held responsible ,so I am surprised to hear of so many comments about 'it', that even led to your writing a story . Your points were right if you ask me.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

calico cat — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:57:43 GMT

Coldfacts,

Sorry to see you go. I hope you reconsider. Your approach is different than most people and I enjoy reading you lenghty comments even when they are repetitive. Most of the time, you are very respectful and your knowledge of pedigree and history is valuable to me. If you choose to stay away, I, for one, will certainly miss you. Mr. Haskin's blog is a place where you can express yourself (usually) without fear of attack or ridicule. So I urge you to come back to the "sandbox" and bring your extensive knowledge and unusual conclusions with you.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Fuzzy Corgi — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:16:23 GMT

C'mon kids, let's have some fun and stop throwing sand at each other.

Shackleford does sort of resemble Secretariat for his thick, quarter horsey build, but mostly he reminds me of Slim Pickens horse in Blazing Saddles.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Karen in Texas — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:51:11 GMT

I realize that this is a late entry, but just wanted to say that I think Donna and Gary are as astute and brilliant as commentators as they were on the track as jockeys!

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Coldfacts — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 05:03:35 GMT

Steve,

The record will reflect that the two persons cited in my recent post made unprovoked attacks on me. I have no problem with my opinions be challenged but when I am accused of polluting your supporters with radiation and misinformation I do believe I am entitled to respond to those who have the audacity to make such claims. I consider the two individuals without apology to be despicable persons who should be classified accordingly.

I realized that your tolerance has been stretched and I have no desire subject myself to the indignity of you posting that my submissions will no longer be displayed. Consequently, I will make no further submissions to your Blogs. My decision is in no way based on your ultimatum but I am of the opinion that I have exhausted my usefulness to this forum. Many thank for displaying my submission during tenure of my participation.

Regards.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

sherpa — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:30:06 GMT

Mr. Haskin - your comment at 5:55 PM made me stand up and cheer! Hallelujah!!

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Steve Haskin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:55:51 GMT

Coldfacts and Sceptre, you each had one shot at each other. It ends here. This blog is winding down to its conclusion. Let it die with some dignity.

From now on all personal attacks will not see the light of day...on any of my blogs.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

TerriZ — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:33:13 GMT

Thanks Dawn in MN.

One hopes that one of Secretariat's descendents will achieve some measure of his greatness.

Terlingua, Secretariat's daughter, is said to have done this in the breeding shed. Unfortunately, she could never duplicate his track record due to her injury.

She is one of the greatest breeding mares of all time as she produced Storm Cat. And he in turn is the sire of Forestry who sired Shackleford.

PS when I saw Quality Road (another greatgrandson of Big Red) in the Donn at Gulfstream, he reminded me of his greatgrandfather in the Belmont. He glided effortlessly like Pegagsus floating down the track; it was surreal experience.

I guess we are fortunate to see flashes of greatness in Secretariat's heirs.

Hopefully, another greatgrandaughter, Awesome Feather will return from her injury. She has been undefeated as a two year old and has won the Breeders Cup. She has Big Red's stare and plenty of talent to back it up.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Linda in Texas — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:12:46 GMT

Dee - Just now able to read the posts. Thank you so much for the You Tube access with regard to The One and Only Seattle Slew's TC and other races. Gosh, seems like just yesterday when i was 38 in 78'. And Jim McKay could announce like no other and he felt every thing and every word he spoke.

Donna and Gary make a great announcing team and have so many interesting stories they could share, enough to fill several programs no doubt.

Thanks Steve.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

sceptre — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:59:18 GMT

COLDFACTS, where should I begin? Steve doesn't appreciate this sort of nonsense back and forths and I was reluctant to engage, but mostly for the good of others you should be revealed for what you are--I'll leave the conclusion to them...It's rather apparent now that your deficiencies in reading comprehension are on par with your writing skills. Had it been otherwise, you would have noticed that I, perhaps more than most, disparraged KY VET'S many comments, albeit only for content. You shouldn't, for a moment, equate Steve's reservations about KY VET as an endorsement of your silly mind-numbing, false fact and, or more specifically, false conclusion peddling rants. The reasons why relatively few call you to task is likely because it would prove too time consumming to cover it all, and/or that many may not yet appreciate the enormity of your foolish conclusions reached via anecdotal facts. I can almost guarantee that anyone well versed in the topics you tackle would dismiss immediately your misguided observations. And, lastly, please refrain from misquoting me (not to mention, misspelling your misquote).

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Dawn in MN — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:50:17 GMT

TerriZ, I don't think you're losing your mind. I don't like to compare horses to Secretariat, but I have to admit that when I saw Shackleford in the Florida Derby, he did remind me of Big Red. That's why I checked Shackleford's pedigree that day, and yes, he's a great, great-grandson of the legend. I keep hoping that one day Secretariat's progeny will approach Secretariat's accomplishments. Shackleford looks a little bit quarter-horsey...not always a good thing at 1 1/2 miles.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Crafton — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 06:13:54 GMT

Excellent article. I thought their observations on Shackleford and Sway Away were totally on point. I was saying the same things at home. Sway Away ran terribly ... Shackleford just happened to be the exception to the rule. It happens. Its not an exact thing.

Not only the fact that some horses naturally getted lathered up ... but I believe that while it indicates most are hurting or don't wanna run, occasionally it indicates a horse is simply really excited about running and just can't wait.

Now, the one issue I have with the pre-race coverage is ... why can't they show the GI Dixie turf race? I don't understand this. Its a LONG time before the Preakness post and there should be plenty of time to show that and get in all the pre race coverage. And it featured, before his retirement, one of the best and most versatile horses in the country in Paddy. To me, this is a problem. Paddy raced in the Derby, and pre-injury, he had continued to race. Yet, the coverage totally ignored his race. You make the coverage totally about the 3 TC races and that is all the public will care about. Talking about and showing the Dixie would help racing imo. And I see no good reason for not showing it.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Coldfacts — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 03:38:26 GMT

Sceptre,

Why am I not surprised that you have come to the defense of the K VET. I was positive his tenure on this Blog would be short as a leopard cannot change its spots

Some time ago the following quote appeared in one of the K VET’s post “COLDFACT IS SPEWING RADIATION LIKE A BOKEN NECLEAR REACTOR” I was not surprised by the statement as I was accustom to the VET’s offensive remarks from the now defunct MSNBC Message Board. I was equally not surprised that his offensive remarks secured your immediate endorsement. You will recall your similar offensive accusation that I was “PROVIDING MISINFORMATION TO THE VULANARBE LESS INFORMED” Your attack on me did not receive the support you expected so in the VET you found an able ally. The Idiom “Birds of a feather flock together” could not be more relevant in describing the alliance. However, I prefer “Great minds think alike but fools seldom differ” The fact that his submissions have now been barred from this blog highlights that those that have endorsed his brand of nastiness are no better.

In fairness to the K VET, he did spare Mr. Haskin’s supporters his full repertoire of nastiness as he was far more offensive on the MSNBC Message Board. He has proven repeatedly that he has no regard for anyone’s views and has confirmed that he was not schooled in the social graces. I once advised him after his brutal attack and insult of a female poster that his conception should have been followed by an indictment. I have no regard for those who believe these forums were designed for self-promotion and to disparage others and their views. Clearly you find his brand of written expression acceptable as dissenting opinion. Without a surveying Mr. Haskin’s supporters, you are sadly the only one with this opinion.

The K VET is neither the only poster that has crossed the social decency line nor the most egregious. That distinction goes not surprisingly to you. Your ill-conceived comments about the contents of my posts can be forgiven. However, your conclusion that Mr. Haskin’s supporters fall into the category of vulnerable less informed is unforgivable. How were you able to make this determination? Obviously by concluding that misinformation that was skillfully packaged had captured their attention and they were too dump to recognize it. By labeling them less informed is a polite way of stating your offensive remarks.

It’s interesting that you have questioned Mr. Haskin’s decision to block your offensive ally, yet you had the audacity to requisition him undertake a similar decision regarding my submissions. I can just imagine if you had acceded to your request, you would have showered him with praise as oppose to the criticism to which he is now being subjected. Sometime ago I classified you as bright but confused. . I have now determined that bright should be remove from the classification in light of your attempt defend of the indefensible.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

sceptre — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:41:58 GMT

Dear Mrs. Brothers,

As a long-time racing devotee, permit me to congratulate you on your consistent, professional, polished fine work. It's actually difficult to envision it being accomplished any better...Permit, also, this dissenting vote regarding the idea that your network should do a piece on racehorse meds/raceday meds. It's a complicated subject still under study, so better not to fan the flames until more learned conclusions are had.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Alex'sBigFan — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:18:38 GMT

Oldie,

Very well stated. And yes, that was my intent exactly to offer a positive suggestion. When Shack was bucking what immediately rang clear in my mind was two BCC's ago, the year Zenyatta won the BCC before everyone had jumped on her bandwagon, I remember specifically the announcers immediately stating as she pawed the ground in the post parade and danced that this was normal Zenyatta behavior and that "it would be cause for alarm in other trainers." I forget who the announcer was, could have been Randy Moss or Jerry (love both of them too, it's on YouTube) but don't quote me it was over 2 years ago.

I was thinking of something like that, of having the knowledge available beforehand, not Donna B. having to get it on the spot, very hard to do and she does it the best. I am glad she joins us here to post. We are all such an educated group and the sharing of

constructive ideas is a positive.

I cannot wait to see the two chestnuts, AK and Shack. Both have gotten me, and I usually love the bays! I'm rooting for either the Derby winner or Preakness winner to take the Belmont and a star to emerge. Two jewels of a crown are better than one and that will mean that we can produce yet again one that was an almost TC winner.

Go AK, Shack, Donna B., & Gary!!!!!

And since I had to sneak Zenyatta in there, congrats to her as she in now in foal!!!!!!!

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

TerriZ — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:03:58 GMT

To Mr. Haskin and other knowledgeable horse experts:

Am I losing it or does Shackleford's build resemble his great-great grandfather Secretariat? He has his broad chest, his stance, handsome looks, and beautiful chestnut coloring minus the three white socks. It's interesting that Shack's distant cousin, Quality Road, shared a propensity for acting up at the gate.

I'm glad that you are focusing the positive side of things Mr. Haskin. We didn't have good coverage on network television for a long time. And Gary Stevens and Donna Brothers have imparted much knowledge and color in the NBC coverage of the triple crown.

Let's cellibrate the marvelous horses, their history, the jockeys, trainers, owners, and families who have been involved in horse racing.

Doesn't anyone else's heart skip a beat when you see a horse that reminds you of Big Red? Isn't that part of what its all about?

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Oldie — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:10:28 GMT

Sceptre, I agree with Steve's decision to review KY VET's comments prior to posting to the board (and mostly blocking them) for exactly the reasons he provided as I was logging in. I do agree he occasionally offered a valuable dissenting opinion that forced me to consider another side to a race or issue, but would have found it easier to stomach doing so had he not begun every post by telling us all how stupid we are. Gambling is an educated guess, and not everyone who follows racing is a gambler.

Donna B., you are a class act. Is there any chance you might influence the powers that be at NBC to do a bigger story on race day medications?

ABF, in the best of all possible worlds there would be adequate resources devoted to in-depth data compilation prior to each TC race, but as I pointed out earlier, when a network televises only a limited number of races, our expectations cannot be that high - and truthfully, we should be thanking NBC: no other network has mentioned broadcast of other races, race series, or issues with regard to the sport, while NBC upped their ante, adding Saratoga to their dance card. I do not mean to say we should never suggest ways to improve the broadcast - but not by saying they did something wrong, only by saying what we think they might do to improve the broadcast. From what you posted I believe that was certainly your intent, and for whatever it's worth, I don't think anyone here was directing their comments at any one person, but a group who made it known they felt the announcers made a comment that gave them pause and possibly made them change their bets. Contributors here have largely indicated the truth, which is that no one should gamble money they can't afford to lose, and everyone who gambles is responsible for his or her own homework and decisions. Post Preakness was the first time I ever heard Shackleford commonly gets sweaty during the post parade and warmup, but I am busy with many things and do not have a lot of time to devote to research on the subject - and I certainly don't aspire to make a living betting on thoroughbreds, I just love racing.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Steve Haskin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:31:22 GMT

Sceptre, I fully understand what you're saying ,which is why I have tolerated his comments for so long. All I was waiting for was one comment that was not of a negative condescending nature. I never saw that comment. I dont mind if a person starts a comment with "you people dont get it." But when every one of your comments starts that way all is does is incide other people. Not only did I get tired of his constant negativity and talking down to people, but also the comments in response to him. All his comments were doing were lighting a fuse...on a constant basis. If he wishes to respond to this I'm fine with that and if shows he is capable of even a single non-antagonistic comment I'll be glad to allow his comments back on here.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

Smoking Baby — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:31:22 GMT

Lilu 123123. LOVED your story. Mine's not quite as cool but I'll share it anyway. The point is you just never know with these horses. That's what makes it so cool to watch. One of my favorites a few years back was Came Home. I was at my sister's wedding in Ohai that year and found out he was running against older horses in the Pacific Classic the next day. My buddy and I drove down to Del Mar (hung WAY over from the wedding), got our free beach towel, went straight to the infield and crashed for a couple races. War Emblem was also running so we got the added bonus of seeing the Derby winner in person. I just DID NOT like the way Came Home looked in the paddock so I bet a little known (at the time) Pleasantly Perfect. Of course Came Home runs the race of his life and makes a dummy of me. On the up side when Pleasantly Perfect got good the next year my buddy said "hey, isn't that the horse you were so high on down at Del Mar?" Sometimes you are right but not on the right day. My girlfriend liked Shackleford but again, like a dummy I told her he didn't look good. Once again...I was wrong. I can live with that.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

RunnerGirl — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:03:54 GMT

Mike M, you make a good point. I had already ridden up to Garrett Gomez and asked about Sway Away and if washing out was his "norm" and he said, "No". By this time I had no more time to ride up to riders and inquire about their horse's tendencies and they were about to come to me (on air) so I needed to be in position. Plus, Jesus was trying to keep Shackleford away from the other horse as much as possible and so I have to be careful not to be too intrusive. While it's important that I do my job well, it's more important that I do not interfere with the jockeys who are also trying to do their job well.

All of that said, yes, in hindsight I do wish I had spoke with Jesus before the race (if I could do so without harming his attempts to keep his horse away from the action) and I've learned a lesson with regard to priorities and next time I will try to reach out to the riders on horses that are taking the most in the form of wagering dollars and work down my list from there.

re: Preakness Telecast Aftermath: No Sweat

JayJay — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:04:11 GMT

Have you heard anything about Twinspired ? Any chance they're looking at him to run in the Belmont ? It's a week away and haven't seen any news about him so he's probably not going to.