Rough Day

There are days in history that will go down in history as the worst days in US History (the two most famous December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor bombing) and September 11, 2001). September 28 could go down as the worst Horse Racing day news wise. That because we heard of a death of a champion in Real Quiet, a pension of a champion sire in Kingmambo, and the latest blow, the retirement of one of the greatest fillies in modern times in Rachel Alexandra. I'll be focusing on Rachel in tomorrow's post, so today I'll be focusing on Real Quiet and Kingmambo.

In 1998, Bob Baffert who was coming off his first Derby win with Silver Charm the year before. He had two chances in 98 with Santa Anita winner Indian Charlie and The Fish, better known as Real Quiet. Charlie did well finishing third, but it was the Fish who won the Roses at the end. Real Quiet passed away yesterday suddenly in his paddock, he was 15. As a sire he had Wonder Lady Anne L, Pussycat Doll and Champion Sprinter Midnight Lute as his top horses. I orginally had planned to do a longer post on Fish, but Rachel's reitrement and Kingmambo's pension came today as well, so I thought I would talk about Kingmambo today and Rachel tomorrow.

When you think of the BC Mile many names come up: Da Hoss, Lure and Goldikova. Those three have something in common as that they won multiple Miles (Lure and Goldi back to back and Hoss winning in non-consutive years). However, the first of horse to win multiple Miles (and go back to back) was the American born French raced Miesque. Ridden by Freddie Head (who now trains Goldikova), Miesque won back to back BC Miles. One of her sons, Kingmambo was pensioned today due to a neck injury. Internationally, he was one of the best sires out there. In the US, one of his most famous foals is 1999 Belmont winner Lemon Drop Kid. Of course he denyed Charismatic the Triple Crown that year. He is also the sire of Henrythenavagator who was runner up in the 08 Classic.

And of course the last blow of the day was the retirement of Rachel. Tomorrow's post will talk about how by watching her, I was able to remain in love with horse racing.