It shoulda been ...

[WhiteCamry]

Which Triple Crown non-winner was most cruelly cheated by the fates?

[Beverley]

Uh, well, I would have said Sham, still holder of the second fastest Derby time as far as I know. But maybe you are limiting this to winners of the Derby and Preakness who failed to grab the Belmont?

[findeight]

Silver Charm (er...OK Real Quiet) comes to mind. Notoriously tough to pass even though not the fanciest or fastest. Just hated to be passed and dug in with more.

Belive it was Victory Gallop who was sent well outside down the stretch and RQ didn't hear him coming over the roar of the crowd, didn't catch a glimpse until it was too late. Lost the Triple Crown by the rim of a nostril on a head bob. Didn't Real Quiet get two legs on it as well?

And...Charismatic:no:.

There are many others who missed one of those three races but got the other two. Risen Star 3rd in the Derby but got the other 2...ohhhh...AP Indy maybe got 2 as well????

Whole other bunch never had the chance but proved greatness elsewhere...like Cigar.

[WhiteCamry]

My own vote is for Man o'War. He wasn't even entered in the 1920 KD.

And if you don't believe there isn't anything to destiny or karmha, consider the '20 Derby was won by Paul Jones - another nautically-named horse.

[Kenike]

I was thinking Charismatic, also. That just broke my heart.

[GreenMachine]

Belive it was Victory Gallop who was sent well outside down the stretch and SC didn't hear him coming over the roar of the crowd, didn't catch a glimpse until it was too late. Lost the Triple Crown by the rim of a nostril on a head bob. Didn't Real Quiet get two legs on it as well?

Actually, it was Real Quiet who was just barely nosed out by Victory Gallop in the Belmont. Silver Charm was a tough second to Touch Gold.

I would submit Spectacular Bid and Native Dancer as the two who ran in all three TC races and should have won all three. Of course, they're remembered as all-time greats regardless.

[Falconfree]

My first thought was Charismatic.
After that, Real Quiet, Silver Charm, and Point Given.
Ah, shoulda been, woulda been. :)

[Chester's Mom]

Alydar. He was second in all three....any other year he would have been a TC winner.....

[DeeThbd]

How about for sheer heartbreak, Dancer's Image in 1968? Trained by Lou Cavalaris (woo! maple leaves!)....disqualified for a bad drug test. Tell me, NOBODY would be dumb enough to try to slip bute by for the Derby!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354056,00.html - INTERESTING possibilities of foul play.
Dee

[dressagetraks]

Spectacular Bid, definitely.

Little Current - fought through the largest Derby field ever in 1974 (23 or 24 horses, I forget which, but over 20) to just be a bit too late. I cannot believe the Cannonade was actually the best horse in that field, just the luckiest that day. LC had impressive wins at the Preakness and Belmont after.

Point Given, Risen Star, Native Dancer.

[findeight]

Real Quiet, Silver Charm were both Bafferts and pretty close to consecutive years. Point Given out of his barn too.

He has to be the expert on this thing...

[DLee]

Afleet Alex and Funny Cide. Gosh, there's a lot.

[findeight]

Smarty Jones??? Or did he just get the Derby?

[Beezer]

Add me to the Little Current camp. :yes: Just loved that horse, and he was mugged by the field.

Had Riva Ridge not caught a muddy track in the Preakness -- Riva hated mud -- he would have beat Secretariat to the TC punch a year earlier. He was so very good, yet had the bad luck -- much like Sham -- to be born into Secretariat's immense shadow.

Alydar has to be on the list, too, as well as his son Alysheba.

[Glimmerglass]

1958's Tim Tam (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=151). Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, despite all the fan and media focus at the time being on Silky Sullivan.

The Calumet runner with heart and determination finished the Belmont in 2nd place - despite having fractured his sesamoid bone well before the finish line. With grit he continued on for yards with the injury and crossed the finish line.

[riverbell93]

Smarty Jones??? Or did he just get the Derby?

He won the Preakness and then lost the Belmont.

[ShowMeTheGlory]

Smarty Jones

[NMK]

Spectacular Bid and perhaps Hoist the Flag.

[Montanas_Girl]

Silver Charm and Real Quiet coming back to back like that for the same trainer had to have been heartbreaking.

My vote goes to Charismatic, though.

[GB Trail Rider]

Real Quiet. Lost by half a nostril.

[Kim]

Long before my time, but NASHUA.

Won Preakness and Belmont, was second to Swaps in Derby, but went on to beat him in a match race.

(Of course, I am partial to him, as he was my mare's grandsire!)

[sspeight]

Definitely Charasmatic! That broke my heart...

[grits]

Just because nobody has mentioned him, how about War Emblem? He'd have won the Belmont if he hadn't stumbled badly coming out of the gate.

[Glimmerglass]

Worth citing that while in the picture "The Fish" (aka Real Quiet) - named by Baffert for his very narrow body - looks to have lost the TC by a thinest of margins (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/horseracing/events/1998/belmont/news/1998/06/06/belmont_stakes_update2_06/lg_photo_ap.html), the reality is that he would have most likely been DQ'd for bumping in the stretch and not holding position in his lane.

Flashback: SI/CNN June 7, 1998 "Victory Gallop solved DQ question by a nose" (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/horseracing/events/1998/belmont/news/1998/06/07/belmont_stakes_folo_07/)

The stewards posted an inquiry because Real Quiet had drifted out and bumped Victory Gallop twice in the deep stretch of the 1 1/2-mile Belmont. But the order of finish saved them from making a decision on disqualifying Real Quiet.

"I'm glad the stewards didn't have to make a decision," said Bob Baffert, trainer of Real Quiet, who thought he knew what the decision would have been.

Baffert said he told dejected jockey Kent Desormeaux, "It would have been worse if you had won and your number had been taken down."

The inquiry was flashed immediately after the finish and before it was known who had finished first.

Asked about disqualifying a Triple Crown winner, the three stewards said in a statement, "The judgment can't really be interpreted because of the Triple Crown. The facts speak for themselves."

Baffert said Gary Stevens, Victory Gallop's jockey, had told him that he had told the stewards he intended to claim a foul if the photo showed he had finished second.

"Gary rarely calls a foul," he said of the jockey who rode Silver Charm when that Baffert-trained colt missed winning the Triple Crown last year, finishing three-quarters of a length behind Touch Gold in the Belmont.

Video replay: 1998 Belmont Stakes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIRP4UbrCg8)

[InVA]

Smarty Jones??? Or did he just get the Derby?


Smarty Jones for sure!!! won the Derby, romped in the preakness and led all the way in the Belmont only to be nipped at the end!

Hard Spun is my second choice.. he was 1, 2 or 3 in all the big races last year..

[HuntrJumpr]

Charismatic -- Finishing third on a broken leg? Yeah, if only if only.
Man o' War as well -- not really a cruel twist of fate, since he wasn't entered, but he could've maybe done it.

[bobbybobby]

charismatic with any other rider wins easy

[MunchingonHay]

as a little girl watching racing growing up I always had a soft spot for Sunday Silence. He was the first 2 and lost it in the belmont, didnt he?

[Glimmerglass]

I still get a kick - don't ask me why - of the headline for the NY Post that Sunday after the 2004 Belmont of: "Smarty Groans".

Still a Birdstone / Zito / Prado / Marylou fan for crashing the Smarty party and showing (IMHO) the emperor had no clothes. While Birdstone would triumphantly go on to win the Travers Stakes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg-TQS12M3c) in dramatic fashion during an approaching electrical storm and severe rains. The Smarty crew had already taken the money, cashed the checks, and ran from racing.

[Wilco]

Sham, by sheer fact that he ran up against a big red machine called Secretariat, thus eliminating what in any other year might have been a real chance at Triple Crown glory.

[sportinghorsepolo]

Swale, as his story is awfully tragic!

[Foxtrot's]

Real Quiet - a heartbreaker.

[rcloisonne]

Sham, by sheer fact that he ran up against a big red machine called Secretariat, thus eliminating what in any other year might have been a real chance at Triple Crown glory.
Except he finished dead last in the Belmont. :rolleyes:

[GreenMachine]

The Smarty crew had already taken the money, cashed the checks, and ran from racing.

Smarty's retirement ranks right up there with Point Given's as the one that disappointed me the most in recent years. I would have loved to see what both could have done as four-year-olds, specifically whether maturity would have made Smarty Jones more rateable and what Point Given could do in the handicap division. Well, who needs wins on the track when you've got multi-million dollar stallion deals? :rolleyes:

[Glimmerglass]

Smarty's retirement ranks right up there with Point Given's as the one that disappointed me the most in recent years. I would have loved to see what both could have done as four-year-olds ...

I think I would've settled for him running in the Haskell, Travers, Jim Dandy, Jockey Club Gold CUp, or any one of a number of typical races the big graded stakes 3-yr olds are pointed to. Instead of just the "thanks for the less then 10 lifetime starts career" ;)

[Roxy SM]

Maybe this doesn't count because he didn't win the first two and then lose the third like many of the horses mentioned, but IMO Barbaro was more than a class above all the other horses of his 3 y/o year. All you had to do was look at him standing still. He was more physically mature than most of them and his stride was just so much easier and more powerful than most horses I have seen run those 3 races. I am relatively young so I can't compare him to those who raced decades earlier, but compared to most of the horses that have ran in those races in the past 10 years, I think he was way above them in quality and ability and I am quite confident that he would have beaten them all had they been 3 the same year and raced eachother. Again I can't comment on how he'd stand up to the greats of earlier decades, but he was the one that really stood out for me these past 10 years.

[danceronice]

Silver Charm for sure, and I was another kid watching Sunday Silence in the Belmont as was just heartbroken (though I'm a big Easy Goer fan, too.) And while I love a good surprise finish and still remember yelling "Look out for Birdstone!" at the TV, Smarty Jones..really they're all heartbreakers when they're nipped at the wire.

Didn't know about the inquiry on Real Quiet. Which is a shame as having a $17,000 horse win it all would have been great.

[Wilco]

Except he finished dead last in the Belmont. :rolleyes:

Yes, that's correct. Sadly, Sham never ran again after his Belmont defeat though his retirement was not decided until mid July Saratoga prep when a front leg hairline fracture was discovered.

[knowonder]

I'm still upset over the Genuine Risk/Codex match-up--that was a filly that could have won the TC...sigh, and as fate would have it did not do well in the breeding shed to pass on those tough genes.

[WhiteCamry]

Except he finished dead last in the Belmont. :rolleyes:


Only because he threw in the towel.

No, Sham wouldn't have won the Belmont, but he just quit racing on the far turn. Were it not for That Other Horse, he would have had the TC locked up.

[Glimmerglass]

1958's Tim Tam (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=151). Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, despite all the fan and media focus at the time being on Silky Sullivan.

I stumbled across an old article by Whitney Tower in Sports Illustrated on the eve of the 1958 Belmont Stakes when it looked like the world was about to see the next TC winner and it would be another Calumet horse .... SI May 26, 1958: "Blast-off—and Flame-out" (http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1002289/index.htm)

It seems more than likely that U.S. racing has found in Tim Tam the ninth Triple Crown winner in history, and the first since another Calument colt named Citation turned the trick just 10 years ago. "We've got a good shot at it now," said a jubilant Jimmy Jones after the race. "Even if Tim Tam wins the Belmont [June 7], I wouldn't want to compare him to Citation—how can you compare any horse to Citation?—but even right now I've got to put this colt down as one of the most honest tryers I've ever seen."

[pAin't_Misbehavin']

charismatic with any other rider wins easy

Care to explain that statement?

[eyesontheground]

charismatic for sure...:no:

i second paint misbehavin...explain bobby?

[kcmel]

From my recollection of the Belmont, Charismatic was already beaten when he broke down. Of course, in terms of outcome, it was very heatbreaking. I loved Touch Gold nailing Silver Charm; I never bought the whole "he never saw him coming" excuse. Now Touch Gold's Preakness, that was heartbreaking. He looked like the best horse that day as well. For me personally, the biggest TC heartbreak was Sunday Silence, but I offer up no excuses! Definitely beaten by a better horse that day.

[dressagetraks]

Without referring to the video, I seem to remember that Charismatic and Silverbulletday (? A filly, anyway) got into a bit of a battle toward the front end, not the best strategy in the Belmont. On the other hand, not sure different jockey would have fixed it. Some days, the horse just is feeling full of himself. And he might well have been beaten anyway. Who knows?

Was that the Belmont where the two first finishers were locked in a ding-dong battle, and then right after the wire, the jocks did a high-five while still side-by-side? I LOVED that moment. That, to me, is one of the mental "shots" that illustrates the highs of racing. Not sure if I'm in the right Belmont, though. Too many tucked into memory to keep all of them quite straight.

[Tucked_Away]

I adored Lemon Drop Kid, but Charismatic was gaining again, late in the stretch...I think he'd have had that race if he'd been running on four good legs.

[bobbybobby]

misbehavin,,,,watch the ride and you can see...he tried to change his style for this race....like his trainer said ,he thought he was on secretariat....did not follow instructions...did not save the horse by jumping off and holding leg,looked good for tv....he screwed up plain and simple !!!!!!!!!!!!