Talk:Sham (horse)

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I chuckled at the entire section devoted to Sham's heart.

Broken Leg - Belmont?

Added by another user is this comment: "After the race, it was shown that Sham had broken a bone in his leg during the race." Where is the citation for that? I've never seen any evidence of such and at the least "broken" is an extreme descriptive.

He had a hairline fracture uncovered when preparing for his next start. Any objections to the removal of the "broken bone" comment for the post-Belmont inspection? --Kellsboro Jack 15:14, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Stood at Stud —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kellsboro Jack (talk • contribs) 13:58, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Actually Sham retired to Spendthrift Farm upon his retirement and stayed there until near the end of his life, when he moved to Walmac. I saw him at Spendthrift Farm in 1989, the day after I visited Secretariat at Claiborne.---Susan Nunes 9 September 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.228.61.188 (talk) 03:09, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

It has been pretty much established that Secretariat's heart, while not officially weighed, was the largest ever noted in a thoroughbred at an estimated 21-22 pounds. Phar Lap's heart was far smaller at about 14 pounds. By the way, Sham's heart WAS weighed following his death, and it was at around 18 pounds, the second-largest ever noted.--Susan Nunes 2 November 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.228.60.157 (talk) 16:52, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm removing the following because it is out of style with the rest of the article. It was contributed by an IP, but WP:Goog faith, I'm assuming it is not vandalism and merely needs to be verified, so I'm placing it here.

It was not in mid-July! Sham was operated on for a pin to be placed in the right front cannon bone on July 6th! EVERYONE involved agreed that it appeared to have happened in LATE June. They couldn't tell if it happened in the Belmont Stakes or shortly after.

If this is correct, someone please add the citation. MMetro (talk) 01:33, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Just a quick note Just a quick note on this wonderful colt: in the Kentucky Derby of 1973, a race I have clocked many times using video timing equipment, Sham finished just a shade under two fifths behind Secretariat. In fifths, his time would have been 1:59 3/5s. In tenths it would have been just a shade under 1:59 4/5s, something like 1:59.7. It was through this race that I learned that 1/5th is not equal to a length. Rather a fifth is much closer to 1.35 lengths depending on a horses velocity. Sham today holds the second fastest time in Derby history, a super accomplishment. He completed the last quarter in some 23.4 seconds, equal to or better than what Barbaro finished it in. And at the end of the season, he received the same experimental weight rating that Forego did, both at 129 pounds. As we know, Forego went on to win multiple Eclipse titles over the next 4 years. Sham would have given him all kinds of trouble had he continued to race. Rest well Sham. Secremano —Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.154.235.52 (talk) 20:08, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, while this is quite possible, the problem is that this sort of video timing isn't reliable enough to generate the time of a horse race. The 1973 Derby was filmed and videotaped on equipment that was not designed for timing purposes; there could have been slight changes in the frame rate during recording or stretching or shortening of the the tape or film over time. (And you can't solve this problem by timing from the gate, because to time a thoroughbred race you have to know when they passed the pole, which is almost impossible to figure out off a video at Churchill Downs.)

So all we are left with is the idea that Sham's time was very fast, but we don't know for sure whether it was faster or slower than Monarchos' or Northern Dancer's because the Derby wasn't electronically timed until recently and we still don't have electronic times of nonwinners even now. talk —Preceding comment was added at 05:07, 2 April 2008 (UTC)