From Standardbred Canada's blog, Beach trainer Brent Macgrath posted that he "trained Beach today in 2:05, scoped clean immediately following the trip. His white blood cell count is down and everything seems positive. We plan to head to Kentucky at the first of the week."
I believe his first race is the Tattersalls on the 27th. Let's see if he can break the beam in 46 or lower. If I was a betting man, holy smokes I am, I would make it 3-5 that he goes faster than 46 in a race or TT.
I remember back as a kid. I was stoked because ESPN was covering the Hambletonian in 1985. Sure it was going to be fun to watch Prakas and a few other good trotters, but I, like everyone wanted to watch Nihilator go for the World Record. I remember after the half being on my feet. Then the three quarters came. I waited for the track announcer "It's Nihilator against the clock", with that pause for the final time..... it was so cool. I remember like it was yesterday.
If the same thing happens this time and you have a son or daughter that is a harness fan, make sure you watch that race with them. If they are anything like me, they might remember it forever.
I have that race on VHS and watch it from time to time. Now with Youtube it makes it easy. If you have not seen it, it's here.
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3 comments:
I love that race. I always laugh, from about the 1/4 on the announcer dosent mention any other horse other than Nihilator and Falcon Seelster.
People can say the dont care about records all they want but if SBSW get get the the 3/4s sub 1.20 you will hear cheering from Truro to Kentucky, and everywhere in between. IT will be one of those moments only harness racing can deliver.
All other things being equal(weather, pre-race, driver, training program, etc..) how much slower were the sulkies used back then compared to today?
3 seconds?
Watching it wobble back and forth in the lane was kinda freaky, I was actually worried Billy O was going to fall out, despite it being a tape of something that happened 20 years ago.
regards,
Louis
Anon,
This is a great line: "IT will be one of those moments only harness racing can deliver."
So true. Jack Trout, a marketing guru, talks about uniqueness in his book Differentiate or Die. Speed and speed records is what differentiates us from thoroughbreds and many others sports. I watch thoroughbreds and could not tell you when a horse sets a track or world record for a mile. Hard-core players care more about Beyers than final time. We in harness know the records and it is something we cherish to watch.
Louis,
Not sure about the technology. But one thing that was cool about the Nihilator mile that you cant see as well on that is that Billy O almost lost his whip. ESPN had several camera angles and one was a close up. You can kind of see mid lane Billy O fumbles. He was really close to losing the whip.
Another thing I get from that race is how physically close Nih and Beach are. Long striding horses.
PTP
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