Cross Breeds

Greatest Horses never to win the Triple Crown?

1. Sham; yes Sham. Even though he did not win any of the Triple Crown races. He was just unlucky to be in the same 3 year old class as the great one Secretariat. Even though he finished second the Derby he still broke the track record. He could have easily beaten the other horses in the Belmont if he did not have to spend his energy early trying to keep up with Secretariat. 2. Risen Star (Belmont) he should have win the Derby if not for a bad ride. Second fastest Belmont only to his father Secritariat. 3.War emblem 2:01.13 (Derby) If he did not fall at the start of the Belmont he might have won the race. 4. Spend a buck 2:001/5 (Derby) 5. Monarchos 1:59.97 (Derby) 6. Alysheba Almost falling down twice in the Strech run and still winning. Horses I did not put on Real Quiet: look at his times. yes it was close but against my top 5 he would have lost. Alydar; Great 3 races. Second in all 3. Slow times in all 3.

Public Comments

1. Man O War Kelso Dr Fager Smarty Jones Cigar Sunday Silence Unbridled Spectacular Bid
2. 1. Man O'War. Won 20 of his 21 starts, won one race by over 100 lengths. The only race he lost was to Upset because his jockey was being an idiot and didn't turn him to the track in time (they didn't have start gates back then) 2. Ruffian---one of the best fillies to ever race. Broke down in her last race, what a shame-she had such a heart.
3. I truly think that Barbaro could have won the triple crown. If they didn't have to tack up on the turf then barbaro wouldn't have gotten all excited and he wouldn't have broken down. I truly think that he had the heart, talent, and stamina to be a triple crown winner. R.I.P. Barbaro <3
4. Sham wasn't a great horse. He was good, but he never did anything special. War Emblem wasn't near a great horse. He didn't have stamina and he wasn't even the best of his year. Spend A Buck is a throwout. Monarchos - freak accident that never happened again. Ever. Alysheba might be on the list, but I don't think so. There were other horses. Alydar - Slow times count for nothing in the real world. What matters is how he did them. He would be on my list, but you said greatest horses, and there are some I like better than Alydar. And they were faster than a good lot of your horses. I'd suggest Native Dancer, whose Derby was a fluke (never lost another race in his life). Spectacular Bid was also one of the greats not to win it. Man O' War, of course, but it wasn't because he lost. Kelso would have had a shot if not for hoof trouble. Those would be my top four. From there it would get more hazy for me, since I assume that you are putting this up for horses that would have had a shot at winning if not for some bizarre event. I think Swaps is very underrated, and he might be my pick for number 5.
5. Cigar, Man O' War, Native Dancer, Sunday Silence, Alydar,Spectacular Bid, Sham, Colin, Holy Bull, Gallant Man, Nashua, Alysheba,Riva Ridge, Majestic Prince, Twenty grand, Silver Charm, Real Quite, Charismatic, Point Given, War Emblem, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Curlin. Can't think of any more off the top of my head, I'm sure I missed a few.
6. Two horses not mentioned are Cigar and Curlin. I also really liked Foolish Pleasure and Honest Pleasure
7. 1. Alydar had the misfortune of being the same age as Affirmed. Another year either way & he would have won the triple crown. Affirmed & Alydar made each other better. 2. Sham had 2 teeth knocked out in the starting gate at the derby. Perhaps the result would have been different if that had not occurred. To say the least, Frank Martin was livid after that race. 3. Alysheba proved how great he was. The Belmont just wasn't his day
8. My picks are: 1. Alydar - Alydar/Affirmed are in the top five fastest Belmonts. Affirmed ran it 2/5 of a second slower than Risen Star, Alydar was a 1/2 head behind. It doesn't make sense to call Alydar "slow" when he was just over 2/5 of a second behind Risen Star. Easy Goer & AP Indy ran it the second fastest to Secretariat at 2:26 flat. Point Given and Risen Star are tied for third at 2:26 2/5. Affirmed is next fastest. Verify at http://www.nyra.com/Belmont/mediaguide/07MG-BelmontSection.pdf The Affirmed/Alydar Preakness was 1:54 2/5 (Alydar lost by a neck). Risen Star ran it in 1:56 1/5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Zytq6GWWM http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEEDA153AF931A15756C0A96E948260 2. Riva Ridge - only reason he lost the Preakness was a muddy track. 3. Risen Star - I overlook his slow Preakness because he proved himself in the Belmont. Probably would've won the Derby if he had a different trainer. Even his trainer admitted it.
9. riva ridge
10. Yeah, but you forgot something here- Alydar was Alysheba's sire- a fact that you didn't mention in your list. He also went on to sire Easy Goer, who did very well without winning the Triple. I personally like Seabiscuit myself- and he was NEVER EVEN ENTERED IN ANY of the TC races. He wasn't considered to be TC material as a 3 year old, but he went on to become one of the greatest horses of all time, and DEFEATED his own uncle, War Admiral, in a match race. That's an amazing achievement, if you ask me, especially when you consider that Seabiscuit ran a total of almost 90 races in his career- more than almost any other horse in HISTORY. Seabiscuit did all this after spending most of his two year old and three year old seasons lame, and at times, unable to walk, let alone RUN. He was born with big, knobby knees- and they were vulnerable to injury because of their size. He came by them honestly enough- his mother, Swing On, had had them, and she never raced because she was too lazy and slow to run. When Seabiscuit was born, his breeder mistakenly thought that he was going to be just like his mother, and sold him as a claimer as soon as it was possible to do so. Poor Seabiscuit spent the next two years on the race horse's equivalent of a treadmill- and by the time Charles Howard bought him as a claimer, the damage had already been done. The only reason the colt ever was able to come back was because of his trainer's skill at patching up broken down horses- his trainer was a retired vet. Had that not been the case, Seabiscuit would have disappeared into obscurity at the end of his 3 year old year, instead of going on to become one of America's top horses. Even with his trainer's help, it was an uphill battle against injuries from that point on. A horse like Seabiscuit makes a horse like Big Brown look like a pony by comparison. Big Brown runs on steroids- but that kind of thing wasn't available in Seabiscuit's time- and he was the better for it, if you ask me.