Justify has been retired

[Glenn Escobar]

With a deal in the works with Coolmore there’s just too much money on the line. It’s nice they will parade him for the fans.

I will send pictures from said parade.

I’ll hold you to that! I’m so jealous!

I think if we are really lucky, I might be able to pull off a selfie of me and the Steward with Justify somewhere in The background. That’s my new goal for the weekend.

[Lori Hamill]

I will send pictures from said parade.

I’ll hold you to that! I’m so jealous!

I think if we are really lucky, I might be able to pull off a selfie of me and the Steward with Justify somewhere in The background. That’s my new goal for the weekend.

I would love to see this!!! As I'm sure many others would too. Good luck, Glenn, hope it goes well, wish I could be there too.

[The Steward]

I will send pictures from said parade.

I’ll hold you to that! I’m so jealous!

I think if we are really lucky, I might be able to pull off a selfie of me and the Steward with Justify somewhere in The background. That’s my new goal for the weekend.

Pretty sure I'm going to shoot it from the roof.... but I like the idea.

[Fanta Arcadia]

annnnnnnd my extended tour of WinStar is booked for September 22 now. The perfect reason to drag the husband back to KY for the second time this year.

[Kaine Saracen]

Quite a shame really. Another fast yet unsound animal being added to the breeding pool to dilute future generations even more.
Don’t know if this as actual fact, but I read somewhere that Bull Hancock of Claiborne considered a stallion prospect needed to retire with at least 20 races to be viable.

[Nena Olson]

Quite a shame really. Another fast yet unsound animal being added to the breeding pool to dilute future generations even more.
Don’t know if this as actual fact, but I read somewhere that Bull Hancock of Claiborne considered a stallion prospect needed to retire with at least 20 races to be viable.

20 seems like a lot of starts compared to what some really nice stallions have had. Danzig had 4 and Tapit had 6. Justify's sire, Scat Daddy, had 9. Seattle Slew only had 17, A.P Indy had 11, Giant's Causeway had 13, Smart Strike had 8, Galileo had 8, Sadler's Wells had 11...

Anyway, you get the point lol

[Kaine Saracen]

Yes I do... a lot of those retired due to injury or had injury issues throughout their rather brief careers. Point noted

[Glenn Escobar]

I have a pile of pictures from the parade! I will get them posted here shortly, but I must say that even in a walking parade that is one impressive horse. Didn’t get my Glenn + Steward + Justify selfie, but it was still a lot of fun to be there and cheer for what he has done.

[Nick Gilmore]

Doesn’t anyone realize that there was a reason he didn’t run as a 2 year old? I should think he’s had issues all along. Kudos to his handlers for getting him this far. The article Lucas linked mentioned filling in an ankle. I’m curious how many times it’s been tapped as it is, but that’s another issue.

Personally, I’ve always believed that bute and lasix are evil. Many years ago I had a jockey friend who would take lasix himself to reduce (real dumb in my books) and he said it was pure torture. Now let’s not get into dosage or even what type he was taking, but it can’t be easy on any animal or human to dehydrate the body in hours. People in all walks of life do hateful things when money is involved and there is no getting over that.

[Andrea Bouwkamp]

Yes I do... a lot of those retired due to injury or had injury issues throughout their rather brief careers. Point noted

In Slew’s defense, he raced 3 seasons and would have raced more if he hadn’t almost died early in his 4 yo campaign. Slew was a sound horse.

[Nick Gilmore]

Quite a shame really. Another fast yet unsound animal being added to the breeding pool to dilute future generations even more.
Don’t know if this as actual fact, but I read somewhere that Bull Hancock of Claiborne considered a stallion prospect needed to retire with at least 20 races to be viable.

20 seems like a lot of starts compared to what some really nice stallions have had. Danzig had 4 and Tapit had 6. Justify's sire, Scat Daddy, had 9. Seattle Slew only had 17, A.P Indy had 11, Giant's Causeway had 13, Smart Strike had 8, Galileo had 8, Sadler's Wells had 11...

Anyway, you get the point lol

I’d like to add Northern Dancer to your list at 18 races and where would horse racing be without him in the breeding shed?

[Laura Ferguson]

Different times. You can divide thoroughbred racing/breeding in America to before Secretariat and after Secretariat. You didn't syndicate horses for nearly the $$$ prior to that, and that event meant (i) no way was Secretariat running at four, and (ii) a shift occurred towards breeding being the bigger economic engine. Prior to that time, you had more breeders who raced their own horses, and less emphasis on the sales ring, so horses raced longer. Economics are totally different now.

So, you had horses that Bull Hancock stood like Round Table (60+ starts), Bold Ruler (30+ starts), Buckpasser (30+ starts). Those same horses today never would have raced as long as they did. That said, Bull Hancock also syndicated Nijinsky II (13 starts), so I'm not sure that the 20 start comment is or is not accurate - I couldn't find anything one way or the other.

Northern Dancer had 18 starts as of July of his 3yo year, when he bowed a tendon, which forced his retirement. You don't see 3yos today with that kind of dance card. The other stallions mentioned above are all in the post-Secretariat era, when it is unusual to see a horse race longer (and when you do, most of the time it is because the pedigree is more blue collar than blue blood).

[Kaine Saracen]

Not the original place I read it. But apparently I was still wrong.... it was 25 starts!

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/spor ... eding.html

[Anne Conradt]

Bull and his son were flexible though, Kaine.

After all, Bull did buy into Penny's scheme to save the farm, a scheme which really never existed at all.

It's been said it was all pure Disney fiction, that performance clause mentioned in the movie that said Secretariat had to win certain races to save the farm. Now, it never existed?

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/spo ... ction.html *

Btw, Big Red had 21 starts. (You should have stuck to the original 20. lol. No one was calling you on it, anyway.)

* “Unfortunately, the movie took too few suggestions and too many liberties,” Crist writes. His principal objection is the film’s premise that there was a “performance clause” in Secretariat’s syndication agreement that put Tweedy in “constant financial jeopardy if Secretariat loses races.” In fact, the clause never existed and Tweedy had already solved all her financial difficulties. “The idea that Secretariat had to win the Triple Crown to save Meadow Stud is sheer fiction,” Crist concludes.

(Don't sweat it. Disney had me fooled up until today, too. Did they swear everyone around that film to secrecy??? lol. I never heard a word. But you have to admit. It did give the movie a little "edge of your seat" juice.)

[Stormy Peak]

Penny Tweedy had income coming in from other sources, not just Secretariat - she also owned Riva Ridge the 1972 Kentucky Derby winner.
Riva Ridge's Derby was the first horse race I ever saw... watched it on my grandma's black and white t.v.

My first 't.v. in color' horse race that I saw was Secretariat's Belmont win...again...from the same grandma's house.
I had also seen color photos of Riva Ridge and of Secretariat, and knew they had the same silks... so when Secretariat came along, I was cheering more for him because he had the same 'colors' as Riva Ridge did the year before and being 10 years old at the time, and just being exposed to horse racing... when I heard the term stable mates... I imaged them as being best friends and being in stalls next to each other and just hanging out in the pasture sometimes.

I was pretty sad when Disney just glossed over Riva Ridge's help in keeping Calumet far going. I also wish they could have, for the real fans of the sport...had just given at least 1 minute of film time to Forego...who finished 4th in the Derby but who went on to become one of the greatest race horses ever.

Stormy