I definately agree about the KD. I love Max, but his jockey just didnt control him. People who have little knowledge of horse racing needs to just shut up and understand that the horse was "cheating" or at least caused havoc within the stretch.
Imo, Zenyatta coming up short in the 2010 BCC should’ve been the number one most disappointing race of the decade because she had so more at stake than any of the other horses in all of the races in your list. Also, imagine seeing the horse who introduced you to the world of horse racing, the horse you had followed through the vast majority of their career (I discovered her in her first Apple Blossom Handicap victory), a horse you had seen win race after race for years be defeated by a mediocre horse in her 20th and final start in a race she had already won the year before, all because Smith held her back too long... 😐 Zenyatta’s loss and Mongolian Groom’s breakdown are the only times I’ve cried over a race. As for you saying her one loss spoiled your image of her, I can understand considering you’re so young and she didn’t win the only time you witnessed her step foot onto a track, but surely you know just how great she was and still is... On another note, this year’s KY Derby was one big clusterf*ck. I agree that most who defend Maximum Security know very little of the sport and are just blindly supporting him without knowing or understanding what actually happened in that race but those people are no different than the ones who blindly support War of Will and blindly hate on Maximum Security. Both sides are usually unaware of the video that was later released that shows the incident in another angle which clearly shows an out of control War of Will being ridden recklessly by Gafflione throughout the vast majority of the race, an impatient Gafflione attempting to force himself into a nonexistent spot which resulted in War of Will’s front legs colliding with Maximum Security’s hind legs repeatedly (approximately 5 times including a direct hit to his groin) until Maximum Security eventually veered out to get away from the pain he was experiencing which resulted in a domino effect, caused by War of Will, and then a reverse domino effect that was caused by an untouched Country House (the horse who Mott was squalling about being impeded when he obviously was not in any way, shape, or form) and all of that could’ve been prevented had Gafflione just been patient enough to wait for the rail opening which Code of Honor later got through... Gafflione even tweeted about him attempting to force himself into a spot, trying to defend his actions in the race, but he soon deleted the tweet do to what I assume was a lot of backlash from the ones who had seen what really happened. Furthermore, Gafflione NEVER claimed foul against Maximum Security. Why? Probably because he knew he was at fault for the entire thing. Mott overheard others claiming foul and told Pratt to do the same even though, again, Country House was not impeded. The jockeys of the other horses who claimed foul were most likely unaware of which horse was truly at fault for all of the impedance but since Maximum Security is the one who veered out of his lane, it sure looked like it was his fault. Afterwards, before the video that showed the true events was even released, it was reported that Maximum Security had suffered lacerations on his hind legs and was pretty banged up and sore. Hmm. Wonder why that was? Perhaps because War of Will (who was more than fine afterwards by the way) had been colliding with Max’s hind legs? This is why myself and many others are infuriated with the 2019 KY Derby. People put Maximum Security down but don’t realize that after having his hind legs beat to death, throwing off his run, he still managed to pull away from the rest of the field to cross the wire first and was then disqualified for supposedly impeding other horses when in reality, HE was the one who was impeded and the two horses responsible for his impedance and the impedance of other horses weren’t disqualified. Heck, one of the ones responsible has went down in the records as the “winner.” It must have been a hard pill to swallow for all of the loaded owners seeing a $16,000 horse blow past their $500,000-$1,000,000 ponies.
On my original list the 2010 Breeders Cup Classic was going to be number 1 but I knocked it down two places because I feel a horses death is way worse then loosing a winning streak no matter how inconvenient and disappointing it feels. Also I didn't know much about War Of Wills involvement at the time so thanks for teaching me about that I learned a lot from your comment.
Sketchy The Horse Guy I understand that and yes, a horse losing it’s life is far more devastating than a horse’s winning streak coming to an end, regardless if the horse who died was less known than the horse who’s winning streak was broken so I agree with you there... After all, Zenyatta is still very much alive and living a comfortable life in retirement. I guess I’m just biased because Zenyatta means more to me than any other thoroughbred racehorse in existence, even more to me than American Pharoah who I watched the entire career of and witnessed him achieve greatness... &As for Mongolian Groom’s death, the most heartbreaking thing about it is the fact that (as you mentioned in your video) many were concerned about the BC races being ran at Santa Anita and a horse breaking down was unfortunately highly anticipated throughout that Friday and Saturday and when we made it to the final race with no breakdowns, it really seemed like we had escaped what we all feared the most... And then in the final stretch, what we expected would happen happened... Mongolian Groom was just getting recognized as well considering he had beaten McKinzie in what I think was his previous start. “Them” remaining silent and trying to cover it up for as long as they did only made the situation worse too. Horse racing definitely took a major blow because of that mess. Everyone affiliated with every horse who ran in the BC races those two days deserve a good slap to the face for being aware that they were risking the life of their horses on a well known dangerous track. Mongolian Groom’s death could’ve been prevented and I’m honestly relieved that Maximum Security’s connections didn’t take him to the Classic. Thankfully he became ill with colic at the time that he did because if it had not happened, he would’ve been in prime shape to race there. All of those horses being ran on the tracks is a perfect example that most of the people involved with them do not care about their safety at all. They care more about the money than the life of their horse and the scariest thing is Mongolian Groom’s breakdown could’ve very well caused a catastrophic event which could’ve resulted in many horses and jockeys being injured or killed. Stupidity, greed, and carelessness are very much present in the industry. 🙄
