The Immortal Secretariat

Westerly Wood

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Sandy, can you give more story your time as a 4 year old and around Affirmed? Did you live in upstate NY or was Affirmed some place else? pretty fascinating.
 

twocorgis

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Sandy, can you give more story your time as a 4 year old and around Affirmed? Did you live in upstate NY or was Affirmed some place else? pretty fascinating.

No Affirmed was at Belmont Park from the spring of 1979, until he retired that fall. Remember that Laz Barrera (his trainer, and another Cuban like frank Martin) was primarily based in California, which was where Affirmed started out each or the two years of his racing career. Now that I double check, it was more like five months that I was with him as a four year old, all at Belmont Park. He didn't race at Saratoga as a four year old, but did at 3, where he was notoriously disqualified in the travers Stakes that year, giving Alydar the win. Here's one of the better lifetime past performance charts you'll ever see. The only time Affirmed finished out of the money was in the 1977 Jockey Club Gold Cup when his saddle slipped. He wouldn't have beaten Exceller or Seattle Slew that day anyway, as they were 15 lengths ahead of the rest of the field, and three year olds historically don't fare that well against older horses by the fall of the year. It certainly didn't help that both Exceller and Seattle Slew were in peak form then, and Slew in particular was a monster.

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To this day, I've never seen a tougher, gamer racehorse. When he made the lead (and you can see from the PPs that he was either on or near it most of the time), he was near impossible to pass, and always managed to find another gear. They even packed 132 pounds on him in the 1979 Hollywood Gold Cup (which is a lot of weight going that far, and something Racings Secretaries won't do anymore), and he beat a string field on the lead the entire way. Horses just aren't made of stuff like that anymore, and the good ones rarely even run at four anymore, which explains a lot of the sport's decline, as well. I left the track in 2005, and I'm glad I did. I loved the game, the people, and the horses, but it was a terrible way to make a living.
 

Westerly Wood

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very interesting. my cousin Paige has done a lot of work with horses in saratoga springs, belmont and that area of NY state. she been there for decades. i think she has her own small riding stable place now, sorry, i know very little about horses. i did like the Seabiscuit movie a lot, one of my fave movies of all time. but i have heard of Affirmed for sure...
 

CA-35

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Looking at the lives of the different race horses it occurred to me just how short their life spans are. Seattle Slew died in his sleep at 28, Affirmed was euthanized at 25, Secretariat was euthanized at 19, and Alydar (albeit suspicious) was euthanized at 15. Does racing take the life out of them? Does racing increase the chance of laminitis? What is the life span of a wild horse and what is the life span of a non-racing horse?
 

GuildFS4612CE

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"Looking at the lives of the different race horses it occurred to me just how short their life spans are. Seattle Slew died in his sleep at 28, Affirmed was euthanized at 25, Secretariat was euthanized at 19, and Alydar (albeit suspicious) was euthanized at 15. Does racing take the life out of them? Does racing increase the chance of laminitis? What is the life span of a wild horse and what is the life span of a non-racing horse?"


Horses are classified as 'aged' at 10...most don't make it to 20 or past, even those pet horses given the best of care...at least they make it longer than most dogs and cats...yes there are exceptions...not many tho.

Your laminitis question...any activity can increase the chance of laminitis...1500lb animal walks/runs literally on it's tippy toes...even a horsie pounding around happily out in it's pasture can become a victim...no real treatment, no cure, when it reaches the point of 'founder' when the coffin bone rotates/drops it is a very painful condition for the horse and the kindest thing to do is to put it out of it's misery...a horse that cannot walk cannot survive...part of the horse's circulatory system is actually in it's feet...the 'frog' in each foot acts like a small extra heart pump...horses are magnificent animals...and oh so fragile physically.
 
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twocorgis

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Just saw this and was going to answer, but I don't think I can improve on Jane's response much. As for racing shortening their lives? It certainly can if they suffer a catastrophic injury like a broken leg or shoulder, but otherwise, I'd say that race horses are treated better as a rule than horses in just about any other discipline. they're bedded down deep in the best quality straw, and fed only the highest quality hay and oats as well.
 
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