All our supposed genius at breeding

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Frankie

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Secretariat. He was something. :clap:

Maybe they have bred another one like him and he died or got sick or got hurt or was mismanaged or any number of other things that prevent an animal from performing to their genetic potential?
 
sooknortex":2ovoe6ec said:
From the post that eat beef had was this picture:

kinochtry_heifers.jpg


These are Angus heifers from the 1870s!

Also if humans are such good breeder's how come the horsey people haven't been able to breed another Secretariat?
-

sooknortex-

In answer to your question above, - - I would suggest the "vagrancies of Genetic heterozygosities and inconsistencies" - which is why it seems impossible to duplicate so-called "perfection" in ANY species - even through cloning - which does NOT produce EXACT, IDENTICAL replications of specific individuals, which case is incorrectly assumed by many people.. Comes close - but NO CIGAR!

DOC HARRIS
 
You guys may have had Secretariat who was a great horse of his time, but we had Pharlap who carried a massive 10st 10lb (68.5kg)in his last Melbourne cup run where he finished 8th. 1931 was Pharlaps finale race in Mexico he smashed the track record while carrying 129lbs (58kg) where he later died at Menlo Park, California. Now we have the great Makybe Diva the ONLY mare & only horse to have won the Melbourne cup 3 successive times (03,04,05).
 
When ESPN did it's 50 greatest athletes of the century about 10 years ago I taped the one on Secretariat, the only animal in the bunch. Once in awhile I get it out (usually around Kentucky Derby time) and I still get all goose bumply when I watch it. I highly recommend it if it's still possible to get ahold of it. I always found this part of the Secretariat story fascinating:

Today, the normal weight of a horse's heart is 8.5 pounds. Even though Secretariat's heart was not weighed at autopsy, Dr. Thomas Swerczek, head pathologist at the University of Kentucky, estimated it at 22 pounds after finding the second-largest heart in Sham (Secretariat's Triple Crown rival) and weighing it at 18 pounds.

"I have done thousands of autopsies, and I had noticed differences in heart size in horses before we did Secretariat," Swerczek said. "I had picked up the difference in the male and female hearts and noticed that some were bigger than others.

"But I didn't pay much attention until Secretariat came along. He was completely out of everybody else's league. Looking back at what he had done, it was easy to put a connection to it. The heart was what made him able to do what he did. It explained how he was able to do what he did in the Belmont Stakes – a mile and a half race (Secretariat won by 31 lengths in track-record time). You would have to have a large heart to do what he did. It would be impossible for a horse with a small heart to do that."

Recalling the moment Secretariat's heart was uncovered, Swerczek said, "We just stood there in stunned silence. We couldn't believe it. The heart was perfect. There were no problems with it. It was just this huge engine."
 
lol... he said "GOOSE BUMPLY"!!! .. LOL :lol:
 
VanC":2dmqf7g6 said:
When ESPN did it's 50 greatest athletes of the century about 10 years ago I taped the one on Secretariat, the only animal in the bunch. Once in awhile I get it out (usually around Kentucky Derby time) and I still get all goose bumply when I watch it. I highly recommend it if it's still possible to get ahold of it. I always found this part of the Secretariat story fascinating:

Today, the normal weight of a horse's heart is 8.5 pounds. Even though Secretariat's heart was not weighed at autopsy, Dr. Thomas Swerczek, head pathologist at the University of Kentucky, estimated it at 22 pounds after finding the second-largest heart in Sham (Secretariat's Triple Crown rival) and weighing it at 18 pounds.

"I have done thousands of autopsies, and I had noticed differences in heart size in horses before we did Secretariat," Swerczek said. "I had picked up the difference in the male and female hearts and noticed that some were bigger than others.

"But I didn't pay much attention until Secretariat came along. He was completely out of everybody else's league. Looking back at what he had done, it was easy to put a connection to it. The heart was what made him able to do what he did. It explained how he was able to do what he did in the Belmont Stakes – a mile and a half race (Secretariat won by 31 lengths in track-record time). You would have to have a large heart to do what he did. It would be impossible for a horse with a small heart to do that."

Recalling the moment Secretariat's heart was uncovered, Swerczek said, "We just stood there in stunned silence. We couldn't believe it. The heart was perfect. There were no problems with it. It was just this huge engine."
good info. right there.. no doubt his lung capacity must have been bigger two
 
Secretariat was a great horse I can only imagine what Man O' War was like.One comparison is the stride lgth.At the Ky.Horse Park by MOW's grave is a starting line with three poles beyond it.The first pole out at an amazing distance especialy for a small horse marks War Admirals stride lgth,well beyond that is the pole that marks Secretariat's stride.Take another 5 or 6 big steps and you might make MOW's pole.Also of intrest is the fact that the Man O War sire line has begun to flourish again.It barely hung on by 1 stallion in each of four generations and now has several stallions doing well including Tiz Now who was #2 on the sires earning list last year.
 
"Loch Valley I really loved the movie they did on Pharlap. I do wonder how accurate it was.
I have a dvd of Pharlap's actual races & interviews with the owners, trainers, very interesting to watch. After watching that I would say the movie was pretty much spot on. I also know that the horse that played Pharlap was never able to work in movies again as he was always "Pharlap".
How accurate was the movie Sea Biscuit? I have that dvd as well I loved that, ever seen
 
Loch Valley Fold":mrmcbk85 said:
You guys may have had Secretariat who was a great horse of his time, but we had Pharlap who carried a massive 10st 10lb (68.5kg)in his last Melbourne cup run where he finished 8th. 1931 was Pharlaps finale race in Mexico he smashed the track record while carrying 129lbs (58kg) where he later died at Menlo Park, California. Now we have the great Makybe Diva the ONLY mare & only horse to have won the Melbourne cup 3 successive times (03,04,05).

So you're a New Zealander too - we sure did have Pharlap :D

Goddy
 
I know there had to be others, but Ruffian is the only really great filly I can remember.
 

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