Thursday has two very-decent cards for you to have fun and — hopefully — profit with…

So on Wednesday, Ralph and I got to talking about Seattle Slew.  And in the context of the Triple Crown — he asked, “what great horses did he beat?”  But the correct answer really has to do with looking at Seattle Slew from the end of his career forward and then we see that he beat Affirmed twice, he beat Jumping Hill who had set track records all over the place and finished less than a nose behing Exceller in the most courageous effort I have ever seen.  And it might be noted, that Exceller was also a Triple Crown winner but that was in Europe.   During his Triple Crown campaign he beat Cormorant, Iron Constitution, Sanhedrin, Run Dusty Run and Bob’s Dusty.  They were all excellent horses, maybe not great, but top notch.  And in the end — in almost every season — the best horses are pretty darn good, some years they are a little better and some years there might be a few more of them.  Naturally, this brings to mind the Affirmed year with Alydar, Believe it, Sensitive Prince, Darby Creek Road and a bunch of other that were first rate handicap horses.  Clearly, Affirmed and Alydar were both Great horses ans was Sensitive Prince.   But over the course of time, they do become a little hazy in our memory.

But I doubt we will ever see two Triple Crown Champions – face off two times — again.  To be able to beat Affirmed at 1 1/8 mile by open lengths and while spotting his younger rival a couple of pounds is the only thing necessary to proving how great a horse Seattle Slew actually was….  Because I have never seen a horse to compare with Affirmed since 1978.   Interestingly for me, the two best horses I have ever seen popped right up in the first two years of my love affair with horse racing…