The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

Tony — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:57:59 GMT

.p. vAL'S RIDE ON SUNDAY SILENCE IN THE PREAKNESS WAS THE GREATEST AND p.vAL IS THE BEST.

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

Tony — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:12:41 GMT

I agree Richard Migliore in the 2008 Breeders cup turf sprint, masterful ride, made all the difference.

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SCG — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:56:30 GMT

Richard Migliore on Desert Code in the Breeders Cup Turf Sprint. 2009

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Brian — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:03:28 GMT

EXCELLENT article; best I've seen in some time. Really enjoyed the clips!

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helsbelles — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:57:42 GMT

Nice work on this piece Becky, I enjoyed it, as well as all the comments. I'm glad Todd mentioned Ginger Punches white-knuckle ride in the Go For Wand. Watching it live, I was so scared for her. She proved she is a true champion.

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

Carl — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:05:03 GMT

How about Mike Smith aboard Giacomo, bobbing and weaving through tired horses - can anyone say blimpcam!!!!!!

And what about Gary Stevens aboard Winning Colors - it aint easy taking a horse gate to wire in the Derby. His timing was perfect, the horse wouldn't have lasted another 1/16.

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

Chas — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:25:53 GMT

Only one other blogger had THE definitive answer to the question. It was Angel Cordero in the '86 PA Derby. As a Philly boy, my buddy and I spent many days in the 80s at Garden State and the PHA. For those of you that know the track, the crown of the track rides high on the clubhouse turn. Broad Brush broke so wide out on the crown that he had to hit the animal across the face to shock him back and angle him into the wire on a sloppy dark day. Saw it live and never saw anything like it since!

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Cheryl, Newmarket, UK — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:59:32 GMT

Another ride to add to your list - Tony McCoy on Wichita Lineman at last week's National Hunt (Jumps to you guys!) Festival at Cheltenhem.

Ridden along from a long way out, the Champ delivers the horse perfectly on the line. Magic!

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

Elaine Tillery — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:34:38 GMT

Horsenut23:

When Secretariat won the Belmont. I called my best friend and asked her, can you believe what we just witnessed? It was so unreal because Secretariat just kept going and going. We thought for certain that he'd lost the way he was running along in the backstretch.

Horses do not run 1 1/2 the way he did.

How I wished Secretariat had raced as a 4 year old. Turcotte expressed that he was better on turf that on dirt with his daisy cutter action. No telling what he would have done.

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

s lee — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:51:04 GMT

Sometimes a great ride is what a jockey does for a horse, sometimes it's what he (or she) refrains from doing.

One great thing about Turcotte and Secretariat is that Turcotte listened to what Secretariat told him he wanted to do that day. Go to the lead? Hold in 2nd? Come from behind? Turcotte kept him balanced and out of trouble, but the running style was Red's.

But I don't think I'll ever see again what Shoemaker and other jockeys did for Forego. Forego's 1976 Marlboro Cup, where he carried 137 pounds to Honest Pleasure's 119 was a great, great race and there are several videos on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch

It was his owner's (Martha Getty's) favorite (and most heart stopping) race.

Look how wide Forego is carried at the top of the stretch - if he's not 10 horses away from the rail, then he's 12!

But mostly just watch him get rolling.

Shoemaker, who was not Forego's regular rider, but as some said in jest "as a pickup rider, the Shoe is pretty good", and Willie did a great job. The track wasn't great that day and Frank Whiteley told Shoe to let Forego settle in - he knew the track, he knew how much his ankles hurt him, and he'd know if he was ready to run. So Shoe got him away safe and let him settle into the back of the pack, just coasting along as Forego got warmed up and comfy. Then, as Shoe told the story, he asked Forego to run and Forego said "no". And you didn't TELL Forego much of anything, you asked him. So they went along another 1/16th of a mile or so and Shoe said, "would you like to run now?" and Forego said "no". And Shoemaker is watching the markers fly by and looking at how much ground they have to make up and wondering if he'd flown in from California for nothing and he asked Forego again "would you like to run now?" and Forego said "Yes".

And off they went. Shoemaker said the acceleration was incredible -that Forego shifted gears, then shifted gears again. He said they were so far behind at the top of the stretch that he thought they'd never get home, but then, as Forego started to fly, he thought "maybe we can finish in the money" and as Forego kept picking up horses and kept up his speed, he thought "geez, maybe he can win this".

The most interesting thing I remember Shoe saying was that at the top of the stretch he realized there was a conversation going on in his head. One voice was saying "get out your whip and hit him, hit him, hit him, he's not going fast enough, hit him." And the OTHER voice was saying "DON'T TOUCH HIM! He knows what he's doing and if you hit him you'll distract him. LEAVE HIM ALONE." Shoemaker said it was a very interesting conversation but he didn't have time to listen to it. He waved his stick a few times, but mostly just moved up on Forego's neck and talked him home.

What a jockey.

What a race.

What a horse!

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

2 time valley player of the year — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:17:52 GMT

Angel Cordero in the Preakness aboard Codex. He was the most aggressive rider i have ever seen. He knew all the tricks and the jockeys riding against him knew that to win a race that angel was riding in required special attention as to where he was and what he was doing. As many jockeys said on his tv bio a very intimitdating rider no matter what he was riding.There have been and still are so many outstanding jockeys but Codero was my favorite.

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Paul — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:02:49 GMT

Not sure how carefully people watched the race where Ferdinand won the Derby, but there should have at least been an inquiry against him. He literally wiped out a wall of horses as he angled in towards the rail as he started making his run. Very lucky nobody went down in that Derby. Watch it again !

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Bemo — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:32:38 GMT

My nominee for the greatest ride that I have ever witnessed is probably long forgotten by most. It was the front running ride on Fast Hilarious under Craig Perret in the 1971 Gulfstream Park Handicap. Fast Hilarious was a very good middle distance horse but the 1 1/4 miles of the GP Handicap was a bit far for him but he held on by just a nose over Judgeable. Perret was always a master on the front end, just like Earlie Fires.

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Vince — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:07:13 GMT

John T

You are so nearly right with the Piggott quote. He had won the Washington International on Sir Ivor the year before and had come in for some strong criticism from the American press because he had left it so late and was clearly on the best horse in the race. Fast forward 12 months and Piggott wins the same race on the unfancied Karabas. The US journalists were trying to rile him about his late, late tactics. And so Lester, when did you know you had the race won? About two weeks ago, he replied.

I think at the time (don't know about now) Americans were not keen on jockeys just cheekily stealing races at the death after other horses had done all the leg work. But that was his style, and the style of a lot of English racing.

On that note, I really treasure the One Dreamer ride, firstly because I backed it at 47/1 but mainly because as someone used to European racing, I expected all front runners to fall in a hole and get caught, Piggott style. She can't hold on surely? Fantastic stuff.

May I also nominate my three worst Breeders Cup rides: Kinane on Giants Causeway, Kinane on Azamour and Kinane on Rock of Ginraltar. Two cases there of a Euro jockey thinking he can make it all up Piggott style in the last furlong.

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

Becky Johnston — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:57:15 GMT

I found a lot of the races you all mentioned and put the links in this response. Hope you enjoy and sorry about the ones I couldn't find.

1997 Belmont Stakes Touch Gold

www.youtube.com/watch

1981 Kentucky Derby Pleasant Colony

www.youtube.com/watch

2007 Kentucky Derby Street Sense

www.youtube.com/watch

1976 Belmont Stakes Bold Forbes

www.youtube.com/watch

1987 Santa Anita Handicap Broad Brush

www.youtube.com/watch

1993 Sanford Stakes Dehere

www.youtube.com/watch

1977 Kentucky Derby Seattle Slew

www.youtube.com/watch

1993 Breeders’ Cup Distaff Hollywood Wildcat

www.youtube.com/watch

1996 Breeders’ Cup Sprint Lit de Justice

www.youtube.com/watch

2002 Test Stakes You and Carson Hollow, one of my favs too, you don’t get much gamer than Carson Hollow was either. One of the best races I ever saw for sure.

www.youtube.com/watch

2008 Risen Star Stakes Pyro

www.youtube.com/watch

1996 King’s Bishop Honour and Glory racing with two future Derby Daddies behind him.

www.youtube.com/watch

1968 DC Int’l Sir Ivor, had to settle for this race

www.youtube.com/watch

1980 San Juan Capistrano John Henry

www.youtube.com/watch

2008 Go For Wand Ginger Punch, what courage

www.youtube.com/watch

2008 Personal Ensign, another gutsy performance this day for Ginger Punch

www.youtube.com/watch

Great Forego compilation video

www.youtube.com/watch

and last but not least

1988 Kentucky Derby Winning Colors

www.youtube.com/watch

re: The Best Ride I Ever Saw...

Tracy W. — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:41:53 GMT

My top three:

Forego's 1976 Marlboro.

The horse AND the jockey won it. The Freight Train and The Shoe. Doesn't get much better than that.

Sunday Silence's 1989 Preakness Stakes.

That took a lot of grit. The ride was wonderful and he seemed to run on heart alone.

Lastly, Lava Man's third Hollywood Gold Cup, 2007.

Watch the race, and you'll see why. What a way to tie a record.

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GunBow — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:23:48 GMT

Thanks Becky. Nice to see Olympio get his due. Not too many remember him, but I think he was right there w/ Hansel for 3 year old champ in 91'. He beat Dinard in a great stretch duel in the San Vicente, won a stakes at Golden Gate, then won the Arkansas Derby. After that, he won the Minnesota Derby and the 10 furlong American Derby. He was nosed out at the finish line of the grade 1 Secretariat Stakes on turf when he was on the lead early, dropped back on the turn, and then rallied in the stretch to just miss. He closed out his year winning both the grade 1 Hollywood Derby on turf at 9 furlongs and the 7 furlong grade 1 Malibu. In the Hollywood Derby, he once again was on the lead, dropped back on the turn, and then came flying down the stretch. Eddie D knew him so well and never panicked when Olympio would start falling back on the turn.

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Asst. Hotwalker — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:57:30 GMT

Donald Miller squeeking through on the rail and making the turn in the Preakness Stakes. His ride is etched in my memory.

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nmclean — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:10:59 GMT

I saw a great ride at Aqueduct on Thursday March 12th, a Maiden Claiming, Race #2. Ramon Dominguez on Saratogian showed what a difference a jockey can make. At the top of the stretch Ramon used his stick and Saratogian lugged in and slowed. He used the whip once more and recognized the stick wasn't "working" with this horse. He put the stick away, uncrossed his reins and used (leaned on) the right rein which resulted in the horse coming back to win the race by a head. It was breathtaking to watch the replay. The effort and strength it took to keep Saratogian from bumping the inside horse, Smarteralex. Great job "reading the horse" Ramon!

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bheinz01 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:59:01 GMT

What about Summer Squall and Pat Day winning the 1989 Hopeful by charging through the hole between Bite The Bullet and Carson City after being squeezed and bumped?

Then victory in the 1990 Preakness, Day trusted the horse's guts and tactics again to get them through on the rail to

beat Unbridled.

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da3hoss — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 11:55:42 GMT

To me, the Exceller win, taking away nothing from the great Exceller, just cemented what a great race horse Seattle Slew really was, what a fighter, never quitting...popping out of the gate, all nerved up, the fractions early in the race with that ridiculous speed duel with Affirmed, who had his own problems with a slipping saddle, being headed and yet in the final strides coming back with that great heart of his to make it a photo finish...

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LavasLegend — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:17:04 GMT

As an honorable mention follow-up to my post regarding Shoe and Ferdinand's Derby, I have to give kudos to Gary Stevens aboard Winning Colors in the 1988 Derby.

In and of itself, you might not think that much of a "simple" wire to wire victory, even by a filly in the Derby.

But it was SO hand-crafted by Stevens, to catch 19 other riders fast asleep at the wheel and let that amazon of a filly steal the whole thing. He left JUST enough in the tank to keep her in front at the end, a ride that definitely deserves noting.

Proof? That they were not about to let her get away with it again in the Preakness, and they didn't, making sure not to look quite so foolish twice against the big gray gal ;)

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LavasLegend — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:10:07 GMT

SO glad to see Shoe and ferdinand's Derby in here, as it remains, hands down, the GREATEST ride I have ever witnessed in 3 decades of watching races.

If anyone ever needed a single example of why Shoe was the best, or what magic he embodied, just point out that 2 minutes, and it needs no further comment.

Of course, it's also a brilliant tribute to the late, great Charlie Whittingham too.

Titans of the sport, what a perfect Kentucky Derby. :)

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horsenut23 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:47:55 GMT

Elaine Tillery:

I was 19 watching Secretariat's Triple Crown and Still bawling my eyes out every time I see a video! I was at home, on my knees yelling "go,go, go" and I didn't stop crying until after the telecast was over.

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Bob — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:12:40 GMT

Afleet Alex when he nearly fell coming around the final turn into the straight in one of his triple crown wins ( Preakness? or Belmont?)