Legends of the Track: How Justify went from Maiden to Triple Crown winner in 112 days, “Dancing Brave is on the extreme left starting to motor, but oh so much to do!”

Tuesday Edition - March 5th, 2024 (Edition 21)

USASteeplechase

Mar 05, 2024

IN TODAY’S EMAIL

Horse of the Day: Justify- How Justify went from maiden to Triple Crown winner in 112 days (USA)
Classic Races: Dancing Brave (GB)
Legends of the Sport: Bob Baffert (USA)

HORSE OF THE DAY

Justify (USA)

Photo Credit - Michael Clevenger and Christopher Granger

How Justify went from Maiden to Triple Crown winner in 112 days

Maiden special weight, Feb. 18 at Santa Anita (Arcadia, California):Justify finally got on the track and was the 1-2 favorite in a field of five. Before the race, trainer Bob Baffert reportedly went into the office of the Santa Anita racing secretary just to confirm there would be enough other horses to have the race. Justify cruised to a 9 ½-length victory over Camby. Drayden Van Dyke was Justify’s jockey, marking the only time Mike Smith did not ride the horse in a race.

Allowance optional claimer, March 11 at Santa Anita (Arcadia, California): Figuring no one would want to race Justify after his maiden romp, the horse’s connections pulled a bit of a switcheroo after telling the public that the horse’s next race would be the March 25 Sunland Derby. Instead, they entered an allowance race and Justify rolled as the 1-20 favorite, beating Shivermetimbers by 6 ½ lengths on a muddy track.

Kentucky Derby contender Justify rears up while walking the shed row following his arrival at Churchill Downs. April 30, 2018. By Pat McDonogh / CJ

Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, April 7 at Santa Anita (Arcadia, California):Baffert originally planned to send Justify to the Arkansas Derby, but that changed when McKinzie suffered an injury and Baffert decided to keep Justify in California. The Santa Anita Derby figured to be a match race between Justify and Bolt d’Oro, and the two led the field the entire way. But Bolt d’Oro was no match, as Justify claimed a three-length victory at 9-10 odds.

Read the Full Article at courier-journal.com

*The content and images featured in this article were originally produced and sourced from the courier-journal.com. We acknowledge and credit the original creators for their work.

Watch Justify clinch the Triple Crown with his win in the Belmont Stakes

Good Read

Want to read more about Justify? Dive into Justify: 111 Days to Triple Crown Glory! by Lenny Shulman (Author), Steve Haskin (Foreword)
In Justify: 111 Days to Triple Crown Glory, veteran scribe Lenny Shulman (BloodHorsemagazine) provides an insider account of this Thoroughbred’s rise to greatness. Through extensive interviews and first-hand accounts, readers will discover the fascinatingly disparate cast of characters who were crucial to Justify’s success, including trainer Bob Baffert, whose innate ability to identify equine talent also produced American Pharoah.

Now available at Amazon #AffiliateLink

Derby Memories: Dancing Brave defeated in Derby (UK)

Dancing Brave (left) finishes quickly but could never quite overhaul Shahrastani

Keith Melrose looks back on the 1986 Epsom Derby and Dancing Brave's narrow defeat...

'No one remembers who finished second except the guy who finished second.'A famous quote attributed to champion racing driver Bobby Unser. His motives are given away in his grand billing: the winner-takes-all attitude is perfectly applicable in the case of a driven competitor, who is interested only in the glory, not the spectacle.

Take a sport fan's view and you'll get a different answer. They'll tell you that Federer was just as important to the 2008 Wimbledon final as Nadal; Nicklaus as big a part of the 'duel in the sun' as Watson; Crisp as firmly ingrained in the legend of the 1973 Grand National as Red Rum.

These sympathies extend beyond the classic events, too. No one, least of all the victorious Spaniards, will be able to forget Holland's part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final, the Dutch team's cynical tactics becoming the abiding memory of an essentially mediocre match. It'd also be fair to lay as much blame at the door of Peter Ebdon as Graeme Dott for the sustained bouts of tedium during the 2006 World Snooker Championship final.

It is rare, though, for the runner-up to be remembered ahead of the winner. Examples normally involve some sort of van de Velde-esque calamity and, although it would be unfair to compare the denouement of the 1986 Derby with a bizarre meltdown in the Barry Burn, it's hard to imagine that the race would have anything like such a prominent place in history were it not for the misfortune suffered by Dancing Brave.

Read the Full Article in betting.betfair.com

*The content and images featured in this article were originally produced and sourced from the betting.betfair.com. We acknowledge and credit the original creators for their work.

“Dancing Brave is on the extreme left starting to motor, but oh so much to do!” Graham Goode.

Watch the epic race courtesy of RacingTV

LEGENDS OF THE SPORT

Bob Baffert (USA)

Photo - Water Kobbe

The Greatest Ever?

A native of Nogales, Ariz., Bob Baffert grew up loving horses and graduated from the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program. After climbing to the top of the Quarter Horse racing world, where he trained four champions, Baffert began the transition to Thoroughbred racing in the late 1980s.

Baffert completed the move in 1991 when he gave up his Quarter Horse division and within a few years was one of the most successful trainers in Thoroughbred racing.

In 2015 he became the first trainer in 37 years to condition a Triple Crown winner when his American Pharoah tallied victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. In all, Baffert has 16 victories in Triple Crown races: six Kentucky Derbys, seven Preaknesses and three Belmonts. American Pharoah was the fourth Baffert trainee to move on to the Belmont Stakes with a shot at the Triple Crown following Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and War Emblem (2002). Justify became his fifth when he swept the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve and Preakness Stakes in 2018 and then completed the Triple Crown with a win in the Belmont Stakes.

Read the Full Article on Americasbestracing

*The content and images featured in this article were originally produced and sourced from the AmericasBestRacing.net. We acknowledge and credit the original creators for their work.

Watch Bob Baffert’s first ever Kentucky Derby winner, Silver Charm