Which just proves that you really have no clue what you are talking about.

 

I almost quit reading after this line; I'm curious to know why you say I have no clue. I'm a very avid follower of horse racing and read up on pretty much everything I can about it and breeding, so you have no call to dismiss me in such a way just because I don't agree with your stance.

 

Whether the Jacksons have more money than they need or not doesn't really matter. Wal-Mart has more money than it needs, but it will still take every possible petty step to try and squeeze as many pennies out of its properties as possible.

 

If it's not stud fees, then what good reason is there to put a horse through a whole year of suffering from an injury that is always fatal? The Jackson family has been around the game long enough to know there was next to zero chance the horse could live any kind of pleasant life after the injury. To keep him alive and suffering like that is simply cruel. Perhaps not cruel in the interest of a buck, but cruel nonetheless.

 

If you do a little research .. you will find out that the Jackson's have more money than they will ever be able to spend. They are millionaires 100's of times over. They come from very old money (the exact family name escapes me--but it is a name that is extremely well known). Stud fees would have been great ... but Barbaro was insured for over 40 million ... which means that the pay day will still going to be pretty solid. So--I would say that your theory holds no weight.

 

Barbaro is about something different for people. I do agree that there are extremist--who don't understand that this happens every day in horse racing (or who want racing to end for this reason).

 

I see it as something different. I see it as the first athlete and "team" (or group of people) who did everything possible to win. The horse was nothing but a winner--and his fighting spirit is something that will always stick out to me. His connections did everything possible to give the horse a chance to live (regardless of whether you think it was for stud fees or not--which is pretty funny--because there are only a handful of horses--most of which are NOT derby winners or even classic winners which command huge stud feeds). Even with huge syndication fees--no one could say that it equaled more than the insurance policy).

 

I sit here every day ... and have to listen to stories about losers like Chad Johnson. People defended that idiot forever--until he finally went far enough to get people to turn on him. Well, Barbaro never did any of that. The horse was bred to be a winner. In that time period, we also figured out that he was a not just a winner--but a fighter. And when you see people band together to do everything possible to give any living thing a shot ... it is going to stick with some people. You can put things however you want ... but you can't get around that.

 

My advice to all of you that don't want to hear about Barbaro ... quit listening. There are a lot of things that you probably like .. that I don't (as well as other people). I don't see anyone complaining about that kind of stuff.

 

Barbaro is one of the last "real" athletes that we will ever see, or at least--be fortunate enough to know about. This age of professional sports is too far gone for an actual human to take a Barbaro type "role". If you don't have respect for that ... that is your decision.

 

I am fortunate enough to be in the public eye on occasion. For me--it is, and will continue to be an opportunity to speak about my inspiration for continuing on in the pursuit of athletic excellence. Meaning--I plan to keep Barbaro in the public eye for as long as people ask me why I am in the business that I am in. So you may as well get used to it.

I just don't understand where Barbaro fits in being a major part of this upcoming Derby movie, or so I hear. I mean, a blurb is understandable, but anything more is a little overdramatic IMO.

 

Wasn't Barbaro's Derby win the longest in length in like 50 years? Dead or not, he would deserve a large inclusion in any Derby talk.

Wasn't Barbaro's Derby win the longest in length in like 50 years? Dead or not, he would deserve a large inclusion in any Derby talk.

Biggest lead since 1946. However, Barbaro had only the 14th fastest finish for a win in Derby history. Says more about Barbaro's competition than about Barbaro. He finished almost 2 seconds behind Secretariat. And Secretartiat ran each qtr mile faster than the last. He was still accelerating at the wire.

Which just proves that you really have no clue what you are talking about.

 

If you do a little research .. you will find out that the Jackson's have more money than they will ever be able to spend. They are millionaires 100's of times over. They come from very old money (the exact family name escapes me--but it is a name that is extremely well known). Stud fees would have been great ... but Barbaro was insured for over 40 million ... which means that the pay day will still going to be pretty solid. So--I would say that your theory holds no weight.

 

Barbaro is about something different for people. I do agree that there are extremist--who don't understand that this happens every day in horse racing (or who want racing to end for this reason).

 

I see it as something different. I see it as the first athlete and "team" (or group of people) who did everything possible to win. The horse was nothing but a winner--and his fighting spirit is something that will always stick out to me. His connections did everything possible to give the horse a chance to live (regardless of whether you think it was for stud fees or not--which is pretty funny--because there are only a handful of horses--most of which are NOT derby winners or even classic winners which command huge stud feeds). Even with huge syndication fees--no one could say that it equaled more than the insurance policy).

 

I sit here every day ... and have to listen to stories about losers like Chad Johnson. People defended that idiot forever--until he finally went far enough to get people to turn on him. Well, Barbaro never did any of that. The horse was bred to be a winner. In that time period, we also figured out that he was a not just a winner--but a fighter. And when you see people band together to do everything possible to give any living thing a shot ... it is going to stick with some people. You can put things however you want ... but you can't get around that.

 

My advice to all of you that don't want to hear about Barbaro ... quit listening. There are a lot of things that you probably like .. that I don't (as well as other people). I don't see anyone complaining about that kind of stuff.

 

Barbaro is one of the last "real" athletes that we will ever see, or at least--be fortunate enough to know about. This age of professional sports is too far gone for an actual human to take a Barbaro type "role". If you don't have respect for that ... that is your decision.

 

I am fortunate enough to be in the public eye on occasion. For me--it is, and will continue to be an opportunity to speak about my inspiration for continuing on in the pursuit of athletic excellence. Meaning--I plan to keep Barbaro in the public eye for as long as people ask me why I am in the business that I am in. So you may as well get used to it.

 

 

Nice post! :thumb: It explains how a lot of us feel.

Biggest lead since 1946. However, Barbaro had only the 14th fastest finish for a win in Derby history. Says more about Barbaro's competition than about Barbaro. He finished almost 2 seconds behind Secretariat. And Secretartiat ran each qtr mile faster than the last. He was still accelerating at the wire.

 

Is the runnerup to Secretariat still the second fastest derby time?

Is the runnerup to Secretariat still the second fastest derby time?

Yes and no. Sham finished behind Secretariat in between 1:59 4/5 and 2:00. They didn't keep time in the hundredths of seconds in 1973. Moncharos won the 2001 Derby in 1:59.97, the only other horse to break the 2:00 mark. Northern Dancer was the first horse to hit 2:00 in 1964.

Biggest lead since 1946. However, Barbaro had only the 14th fastest finish for a win in Derby history. Says more about Barbaro's competition than about Barbaro. He finished almost 2 seconds behind Secretariat. And Secretartiat ran each qtr mile faster than the last. He was still accelerating at the wire.

 

Barbaro's 3-year-old class was the last of the crop of foals affected by the mare reproductive loss syndrome, which had a big affect on the overall quality of the class. Much more depth in last year's group, with Curlin, Street Sense, Hard Spun, etc.

Quickslick, I admire a lot of what you said. However, you bring up an interesting point comparing Barbaro to Chad Johnson. Are horses athlets? I would say yes. Should they be compared to human athletes? I think not. Saying Barbaro is one of the last 'real' athletes in professional sports is crazy talk. Like Jim said, was Barbaro really that great or just in a weak class?

 

What really gets me is when you talk about how Chad Johnson and these other athletes go too far and blah, blah, blah, which they do. Then you say "Barbaro never did any of that." HE'S A HORSE!!!!!!!!!!! THEY DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH!

All I keep coming back to is the fact that the Jacksons put that horse through a year of unnecessary suffering of an always-fatal injury in the hopes of cashing in on stud fees (or something else, since some of you think rich people would never exhibit an interest in greed). Like ram03 said, in the grand scheme of things, there are far better Derby-related stories than this one, which never should've become a story of the magnitude it did in the first place.

 

Jim, keep in mind that the Jackson's did eventually euthanize the horse.

 

As I pointed out to OR, we won't hear much about Barbaro this Derby. Im sure you read bloodhorse or thoroughbred times and I have not seen a Barbaro article on their in months. And you can't honestly say that the Barbaro story shouldn't have came a story in the first place. America was captured by what happend to the horse.

Biggest lead since 1946. However, Barbaro had only the 14th fastest finish for a win in Derby history. Says more about Barbaro's competition than about Barbaro. He finished almost 2 seconds behind Secretariat. And Secretartiat ran each qtr mile faster than the last. He was still accelerating at the wire.

 

Its hard to compare times in horse racing. First off, Barbaro had the Derby won at the 1/8 pole so there was no reason for Prado to let him run any faster the last 1/8 of a mile. Secondly, Barbaro raced against 19 other horses and tracked a fast pace sitting third or forth most of the trip. I am not saying Barbaro was a better horse than Secretariat, but you cant just compare times. There are many variables that you must account for. Smarty Jones had a very slow Derby time, but he was one of the greatest horses in the last 20 years.

What really gets me is when you talk about how Chad Johnson and these other athletes go too far and blah, blah, blah, which they do. Then you say "Barbaro never did any of that." HE'S A HORSE!!!!!!!!!!! THEY DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH!

 

:laugh:

Quickslick, I admire a lot of what you said. However, you bring up an interesting point comparing Barbaro to Chad Johnson. Are horses athlets? I would say yes. Should they be compared to human athletes? I think not. Saying Barbaro is one of the last 'real' athletes in professional sports is crazy talk. Like Jim said, was Barbaro really that great or just in a weak class?

 

What really gets me is when you talk about how Chad Johnson and these other athletes go too far and blah, blah, blah, which they do. Then you say "Barbaro never did any of that." HE'S A HORSE!!!!!!!!!!! THEY DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH!

 

You can't say Barbaro was good because the crop was down. Lawyer Ron, Bluegrass Cat, Showing Up, just off the top of my head came back to be Grade 1 winners. How can you say Street Sense and Hard Spun were any better than Bluegrass Cat and Lawyer Ron. If you look at their 4 year old campaigngs I would take the '06 group. Of course, Hard Spun and Street Sense were retired and Curlin may turn out to be the greatest horse of this century, but the '06 class was not bad.

Quickslick, I admire a lot of what you said. However, you bring up an interesting point comparing Barbaro to Chad Johnson. Are horses athlets? I would say yes. Should they be compared to human athletes? I think not. Saying Barbaro is one of the last 'real' athletes in professional sports is crazy talk. Like Jim said, was Barbaro really that great or just in a weak class?

 

What really gets me is when you talk about how Chad Johnson and these other athletes go too far and blah, blah, blah, which they do. Then you say "Barbaro never did any of that." HE'S A HORSE!!!!!!!!!!! THEY DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH!

 

What language do they speak?

What language do they speak?

They speak in whispers because everything they say is pretty neigh-gative.

Jim, keep in mind that the Jackson's did eventually euthanize the horse.

 

As I pointed out to OR, we won't hear much about Barbaro this Derby. Im sure you read bloodhorse or thoroughbred times and I have not seen a Barbaro article on their in months. And you can't honestly say that the Barbaro story shouldn't have came a story in the first place. America was captured by what happend to the horse.

 

They did euthanize the horse, but a year (roughly) too late.

 

Obviously, sources such as Blood Horse and T-Bred Times and DRF aren't doing Barbaro stories. They did them already, and recognize that it's been beaten into the ground, and avid racing fans such as ourselves don't care to hear about it anymore.

 

But casual fans who only watch the Derby and the other TC races are the ones who have gotten caught up in the story and can't get enough of it. Guarantee you'll see a Barbaro feature Saturday on NBC, and you will see one Preakness Saturday and Belmont Saturday. I'm sure ESPN has something lined up for Friday and Saturday. There's probably an AP story on the wire about it. Trust me, it will be overkilled some more.