cigar tying the streak at arlington is my obvious choice!!!!!! it was the first year i started going to the track and that, horse and race and arlington itself all in that same day made me fall in love with this game!

Not necessarily the best race from a competition stand point, but for sheer atmosphere, it was Smarty Jones in the Preakness....

Best race....'06 Azeri Breeders Cup....Round Pond vs Happy Ticket from gate to wire....was a great race.

I was at the 78 Travers but I don't remember it although I vividly remember knowing Affirmed was a champion while I watched his last few races on the Channel 9 Frank Wright show.

The two most important races I've seen in person were the 1994 Travers where there was a cause for Concern but he held him off. The other was the 1997 Travers when Deputy Commander nosed out Behrens.

That 1997 Travers was an excellent stretch duel. Behrens lost a couple tough ones in the lane at Saratoga.

Or Spectacular Bid winning the Florida Derby on sheer horsepersonal determination.

Ronnie Franklin got him stopped two or three times, and almost fell off.

But, Spectacular Bid still won the race.

I was trackside by the winner's circle for that one, as the late afternoon thunderclouds had darkened the South Florida sky prior to post.

Kudos for finding and remembering an Ohio race to rightfully toss into this circle!

Whodathunkit!

(I cut my teeth on the old Akron-Cleveland area tracks......most of which disappeared and were consolidated into "modern day" Thistledown just before you were born)

Smarten....definitely one of the more underrated stallions of the last 25 or 30 years.

Mine would be the Breeders Cup race between Johar and High Chapparel, the day was already unbelievable , once in a lifetime deal , but watching Johar and High Chapparel hook up inside the 16th pole and grind it out to the wire was just heart stopping. To be honest all the races that we ran in that day were like nothing I had seen before ,never did I think in my whole life would I ever get to be a part of something that most likely will never be repeated.

I assume you were involved with team Bobby Frankel---and are talking about his amazing accomplishment of starting four beaten favorites in the Breeders Cup that year.

Mandella had a little better day I guess.

Empire Maker's win in the FL Derby. Loved it!

buffy i like ya but EMPIRE FAKER LOL.........cmon now!!!!!!!!!!!

Why would I be talking about Bobby Frankel?

I think that it would probably be Gorella's victory in the Beverly D. at Arlington this August. I love the move she made, and it was electrifying in person.

A close second, would be the other race visually scorched into my memory with the same move....Vacare's maiden race at Arlington this summer. Breathtaking move.

Surely Brian you have seen more than a few breathtaking races at Portland Meadows in your day.

Hey, Slewicide Cruise turned in a pretty wicked performance on opening day of 2005.

That's the most memorable of all the races I ever saw there. Nothing breathtaking, but you already knew that.

I remember that one well. "...and You's in sooo tight." "It's a photo finish that doesn't deserve a loser."

Another Carson Hollow race--this one against Xtra Heat in the fog at Laurel. It wasn't an especially close race, but it was one of the prettiest races I've ever seen. The fog was so thick that Dave Rodman declared he couldn't call it. We saw Heat and Hollow get lost in the fog into the first turn. It was an otherworldly sight--quiet and ghostly-- seeing Xtra Heat emerge when she rounded into the final stretch, well ahead of Carson Hollow. It was like seeing spectral images of horses. Very magical.

I always tried to beat You when I bet and I never seemed to guess right on her.

Just thought of another..Kona Gold's track record sprint in the BC at Churchill had the crowd buzzing afterwards.

Val Royal's BC Mile is honorable mention. What a beast that day.