Dunno who else cares but American Pharoah is the best racehorse in decades

I say this without hyperbole. I've been following horse racing for about 16 years and this is the best horse I have ever seen. I'd have no compunctions about putting him up there with Secretariat and Citation in a list.

For those who are unaware, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown earlier this year - a feat that had not been accomplished in 37 years because of how grueling and difficult it is - and today he bounced back to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, which is probably the most difficult horse race in America. He also demolished the track record while he was at it, and became the first Triple Crown winner ever to win more than one race in his post-Triple-Crown three-year-old season. Not even Secretariat and Seattle Slew could pull that off.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-in-bc-classic

http://www.drf.com/news/american-pha...rs-cup-classic

I'm sure this all means very little to people who don't follow racing but seriously, I watched history being made with this horse this year and it was awesome.

It's a shame he's off to the breeding shed now so we won't get to see him race anymore, but on the other hand he'll be banking like $100,000 every single time he gets :jokey: so it's not a bad deal for him!

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He is a good horse who goes very fast :3:

My grandad was really big on horse racing. I've watched the Royal Ascot a couple of times, but I must admit that I don't really know anything about the horse racing scene in the US.

Is horse racing popular over there? Is it as common a subject of betting as it is here in the UK? Do people dress up fancy and wear silly hats for the big races, like they do over here?

What you say is true. But horses now aren't nearly as good as they were decades ago. Soooooo.........

I saw his run yesterday, just ridiculously good. And it was nice to see a horse finally land the Triple Crown earlier thos year after so many failed attempts. We won't see his like again for a while.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Carnelian

Is horse racing popular over there? Is it as common a subject of betting as it is here in the UK? Do people dress up fancy and wear silly hats for the big races, like they do over here?

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Yes, yes, and definitely yes!

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Originally Posted by Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World

What you say is true. But horses now aren't nearly as good as they were decades ago. Soooooo.........

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I would argue this; I read a pretty intensive study showing that thoroughbred horses have neither improved nor declined significantly over the last century or so. They run about as fast as they did 100 years ago. I think that's what makes racing so stable. (no pun intended.) Granted today's horses are bred more for speed than distance but whether or not that is "worse" is a matter of preference, really.

Secretariat still seems like the greatest ever (winning a race by 30 lengths!), but then he also seems like he was a total genetic freak. In Europe, we've had the likes of Sea the Stars, Frankel and (despite his loss yesterday) Golden Horn in recent years, all just as good some of the past greats.

>you will never be able to afford to create glorious ubermensch offspring with Frankel

Sounds like he has earned his retirement. I'm glad he got through his career uninjured and can just relax with his horsey harem.

Is that actually how they still do it today? I figured everything is so regulated and controlled they would collect his juice and then go artificially inseminate the mare. I dunno these things.:shrug:

I think they still do it the old fashioned way, artifical insemination isn't allowed with thoroughbreds or something.

Thoroughbreds (the breed used for most races) can only be registered if they're made the old fashioned way. I think it has to do with the potential for being able to fudge pedigrees. They want to make sure the dad is actually the dad.