Who, what can top this athletic perfection?

[Rash]

Secretariat at Belmont....

http://youtu.be/MVIw-xHsnjc

Wins the mile and 1/2 race at 31 Lengths.  It's only been raced since 1867.  2 seconds faster then another horse?

[Devil 505]

Sorry but riding a horse is not athletics.

[Major Biggles]

Sorry but riding a horse is not athletics.

the horse dummy!

[IrishOne]

      cool vid

[Rash]

Sorry but riding a horse is not athletics.

Lets get set, on mark and go on hoof/foot and see who wins.  I didn't say anything about  the rider Turcotte did I?

[Rash]

Go big red.

[Hap]

1973 Grand National 4.5 miles long . . . incredible race . .  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGaX0d_Pjk&feature=player_embedded

[Pigslilspaz]

Lets get set, on mark and go on hoof/foot and see who wins.  I didn't say anything about  the rider Turcotte did I?

If it's for distance, the human wins.

[morfiend]

Go big red.

 Rash,

 My mother inlaw is into horses,she had a horse that was from Big Red's lines but that doesnt mean much as he was studded out likely more than any other horse,well maybe Northern Dancer might give him a run for that crown.

  Mom was crossing thouros with arabs to make eventers,horse that run 100 mile races..... If you ask me they're just hay burners that are dumb as stumps.....


  Big Red was truely a sight to see,I never saw him live but I watched him run for the tripple!!!



   

[PFactorDave]

Sorry but riding a horse is not athletics.

You clearly haven't spent much time riding a horse aggressively. 

[Pigslilspaz]

Horses freak me out personally, it's their damn eyes, cows have the same effect. 

[NaTorino]

dang glue sticks

[SmokinLoon]

Sorry but riding a horse is not athletics.

Oh, I dont know about that.  Not everyone can ride a horse and certainly not just anyone can run a horse.  Oh, and it takes special talent to get thrown off a Tennessee Walker and survive. 

[saggs]

Sorry but riding a horse is not athletics.

The horses are the stars and the athletes, and there is no rider/jockey that can make a slow horse go any faster.  But it does take athleticism to do what those jockeys do, they have to have incredible balance, strong legs and be able to stay in rhythm with the horse's strides, which is much harder then it sounds.  I've ridden at full run in a western saddle on a quarter horse many times, but I'd be scared to death sitting on a thoroughbred with that little piece they call a saddle at full run with a steel rail on one side an another horse on the other.  Being a jockey is a dangerous occupation, just ask Ron Turcotte (Secretariats jockey)  he is now a paraplegic from a fall in a later race.

I'm also a big rodeo fan, which is all about animal athletes vs. human athletes. More often than not the animals win.

[icepac]

Many in secretariat's bloodline were undefeated and it seems all of the great race horses of today can be traced through pocahantas, then through eclipse....all the way to Hautboy, the byerly turk, the goldolphin arabian, and the darley arabian.

Something interesting happens when sampson's not fully throughbred bloodline shows up and the horses get stronger and larger.

Secretariat was a long time coming and has the horses mentioned above crossed many times in his bloodline.

If jockeys are not athletes, then why do the same guys win the majority of the races?

Surely, the jockey is just a passenger......LOL