Affirmed vs. Alydar - 1978 Belmont Stakes (9th Meeting)

Affirmed and Alydar stage a duel for the ages in the final jewel of the Triple Crown.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Thoroughbred
• Horse
• Racing
• 1978
• Belmont
• Stakes
• Affirmed
• Alydar
• Harvey
• Pack
• Chic
• Anderson
• Elmont
• New
• York
• United
• States

[XxXYoUrNaMeXXXXx4456]

Anyone know what the yellow number mean that are at the bottom of the video?

[cf1970]

They are the assigned numbers of given horses (i.e. Affirmed #3, Alydar #2), and what position they are in at different points of the race; in this case the first time past the start/finish line and at each successive quarter pole. Hope that helps.

[macbeth361]

This is not only the greatest rivalry in horseracing but maybe one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.

[thegrouper1]

race was won in the first quarter,it was over with those fractions .alydar ran a monster race. he had to race closeup and force the pace,which was not his game. affirmed was a great horse and was not going to lose after a25 first quarter and a half in 50.but it was a different story when he ran against seatle slew,who had speed to spare and would never allow affimed to set such a slow pace. pace makes the race, it sure did here

[Dannykeith46]

@xmi11 - It would have been a coin toss. Sham was equally as fast as both Affirmed and Alydar and all 3 would have tested each other right to the wire. Unfortunately for poor Sham, in 1973 he was matched against the greatest race horse ever who chose the 3 TC races to display his most remarkable unparalleled performances.

[xmi11]

@eckythimble Disagree they lose to Sham, '73 race tracks were known to be faster than other years so you can't go by time, also other considerations such as Alydar being stuck in traffic in the derby affected his finish and time, with a clear trip he would've pressed Affirmed resulting in a faster time.

[jmom54]

My crowning glory in handicapping. I knew Affirmed would win the triple long before the Derby.

[eckythimble]

@MelC54 Put them up against Sham and they lose also, at least in the Derby (official time) and Preakness (unofficial time) and probably even the Belmont, if Sham runs his natural "stalker" style instead of being forced into a front-running style he's not used to. This was still a great race though! Even though Alydar placed second he clearly covered more ground being on the outside and his average speed here must have been - ironically - slightly higher than Affirmed.

[MelC54]

Not likely to ever see as exciting a chase for the Triple Crown as this turned out to be. For pure excitement and closeness of all 3 races, this had to be the best ever. Secretariat's was great for his absolute dominance, but his was more of Secretariat vs. the clock. This one was absolutley the most competitive.

[JustAintthatWay]

@bigjoetube well said friend, alydar earned the right to be remembered 

[BarbaroFan08]

Seems like this Triple Crown was the hardest ever!

[joelok48]

@bigjoetube I agree completely. To this day still the best race I've ever seen. With every birthday I appreciate this race even more. If this doesn't get your heart beating fast nothing will!

[hexiconned]

I loved Alydar, that TC was a brutal one for me, but amazing. I remember people at the time saying winning the Triple Crown was going to happen so often it would lose meaning... which was understandable when when we'd seen 3 of them in 6 years, but seems quite funny now.

[bbmtge]

@thegrouper1 I realize your comment is from quite a while ago, but...you must remember that Affirmed was 3YO when Slew was 4YO...huge difference. Check Affirmed's accomplishments as a 4YO...they were really great.