Dude, she's not even Italian.

-

I am as pretty as pretty gets.

Obviously Damascus was great no matter what - but like I said, he was invincible with the rabbit to set him up. Does that statement make him less of a horse?

I will only become a politcal analyst if I can bring Cannon along as my expert on Pakistan.

[quote=The Indomitable DrugS]Obviously Damascus was great no matter what - but like I said, he was invincible with the rabbit to set him up. Does that statement make him less of a horse?

I will only become a politcal analyst if I can bring Cannon along as my expert on Pakistan.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that's a good idea. Especially if he wears that pork pie hat and adds a monacle. Sh*t would get straightened out right quick.

personal ensign absolutely. the rest....good to very good, but not great. altho i am on the fence about davona dale.

If Princess Rooney isn't great - your bar for greatness is set way too high.

you have to draw a line somewhere.
but your comment sent me to the bookshelf, and my bloodhorse top 100. davona dale is there, but not the princess.
lady's secret is in there, and i'm not sure i'd call her great either. but, i am stingy with the appellation. besides, the more you call great, the less special it becomes.

Just read through the thread. You all make wonderful arguments for many.
After reading this I keep coming back to one thought....

Will we ever see another great one??

And I mean one that we can all agree on. A Secretariat, a Man 'O War, A Seattle Slew. Many of us are too young to remember the "real" great ones.
I've been in this game since 1987 and I can't really say I've seen a real great horse. I've seen plenty that you folks have already mentioned that have had a great day or a great six or seven months, but nothing that compared to the real great ones.

I think Ouija Board was great, and while I may get murdered here for saying so, I also think Skip Away was great, although a less flashy, less brilliant embodiement of it. Certainly, neither are on the same level as the obvious past greats, but I have no problem using the word for them.

Those are the only two horses that I've seen in my life that I would qualify as great.

Ouija Board in the paddock prior to the Breeders Cup at Churchill was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen in my life... they had the biggest video camera in the place 6 inches from her face and she couldn't care less. It was almost like she was saying to everyone, "yeah, i'm the Sh*t, and I'm gonna win"... I remember saying to anyone who would listen that she was best racehorse on the grounds that day, and still believe that. Been a racing "fan" for 15 years, but only closely following it for the last 3 or 4, and Ouija Board was a great horse. A race anyone, anywhere "great" horse...

and for the record, if Frankie doesn't get her pinned on the rail I think she beats Deep Impact in Japan in his last start...

Davona Dale was before me - and I have seen very little of her - she was 11-for-18 with 2 seconds and 1 third - and basically had only one strong year.

Princess Rooney was 21-17-2-1 - she had an amazing 2yo year old season, won the Ky Oaks at age 3, and won the Breeders Cup Distaff by open lengths at 4 with a 119 Beyer.

The bloodhorse top 100 was a bozo production.

Easy Goer was great. :p

Skip Away was obviously great. I think he'd be in everyone's top 3 from the 90's. I think he was the best horse of the 90s...no idea why you'd get murdered for that.

Ouija Board, on the other hand, calling her great is a huge reach in my opinion. She lossed 12 of her 22career starts - and her two BC Filly and Mare Turf Wins both came at the expense of 2nd place finisher Film Maker.

Film Maker never won more than a single Grade 3 stake in those two years.

I need to watch that race again - as I remember it, she was not beating Deep Impact with any kind of trip that day.

I'd put Silver Charm in the 'great' category as well.

You need to read up on racing history.

Opinions are like a$$holes. He impressed me.

He impressed you therefore he's great?

I was wrong, it's not history you need to study, it's the dictionary.

Only if my funds are paid in a foreign currency directly into an offshore account. I had a good 7/11 joke but I dont want to be considered racially insensitive if I'm going to work for Drugs

[quote=SentToStud]We would shake things up

Greats
 

Three horses who never got a chance to show how great they might have been: Danzig, Hoist the Flag, and Roberto. All were pretty good in the breeding shed though....

Great horses that i remember from my early days in racing

Forego - carried the weight. Loved to go to Belmont and see him give 10-15 lbs to Quiet Little Table and others...
Affirmed, Alydar, Seattle Slew come to mind right away of course....

Pearl Necklace would not be a great horse but the Roger Laurin trained filly was my first real love in horse racing in New York.... Always competed against Greentree, Darby Dan and Rokeby horses. The good old days...

Loved when Pebbles came to Aqueduct to win the Breeders Cup race from overseas....

Curlin might become great if he is allowed to race. We shall see....

Ghostzapper was fast real fast, have to call him great....

PSH

That's funny you brought her up. I was a big fan of her's as well and I was recently telling someone about what a wonderful horse Waya was and how she dusted Pearl Necklace in that record setting Diana......which was quite an accomplishment.

We'll just see about that! ;)

Great to hear that
 

Believe she was by Ambernash (spelling) - Another Jane and Jeffrey Fell use to ride her? Whatever happened to Jeff Fell???? Maryland bred.

The last "great" horse.....how about the "Bid" , I recall he was in the last "walk over" in a major race.

Wow! That's impressive. Exactly right.....even the spelling.

She ran 48 times with 21 wins, 11 seconds, 6 thirds and won $737K in the 70s which is quite an accomplishment. She won 9 graded stakes races.

What a horse.

She was certainly a better horse than Jeffrey Fell was a rider. I have absolutely no idea what happened to him.

Easy Goer would be in my top 3 from 1987- present.

Okay, Andy. My OPINION is that he was a great horse. The last time I checked there wasn't a definition in the dictionary categorizing what a 'great' horse is. Perhaps I need to get the edition that you have?

I agree. I still question in my mind if he was the best I saw. the 70s were ridiculous with Secretariat, Forego, Ruffian, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Alydar then the Bid to close out the decade although his otherworldy year was in 1980. I grew up thinking all time greats were produced one or two a year!! I'm quite positive I'll never, ever see anything like the Bid in 1980 again. Because reality is if we ever do get anything like him, they won't run as much as he did.

In my personal opinion I'm a better basketball player than Michael Jordan, a better baseball player than Alex Rodriguez and a better hockey player than Wayne Gretzky.

Hard to believe? Maybe.....but it's my OPINION.













I just bought your dictionary. It was very enlightening.

john henry ran past when the bid retired, and was a great horse. i also would include personal ensign as a great one, as not only did she retire undefeated, she defeated males(one who received year end honors at that) and did much of her racing after breaking a leg.

but when people start talkiing great, i automatically think of those who transcend time.

is skip away dr fager/damascus/citation great? does he match up with kelso, forego, native dancer?

or does he compare more favorably to sunday silence and cigar?

to me there's great-man o war, war admiral, secretariat, ruffian.

then there's cigar, tiznow. no way i'd try to compare them to affirmed, slew, the bid. i just think there's a definite gap there.

Way back when, Jeffrey Fell won an Arkansas Derby, defeating a colt called linkage.,who was like 2/5, With a horse i cant remember his name.He got me out for the weekend with that horse. He paid about 30.00. I remember that because i was dead broke ! I am pretty sure Jeff is in the Canadian Hall of Fame.

Hostage.

Talk about instant answers...lol
faster than google.

I recently took a course at NYU on the history of the Arkansas Derby.

I signed up to meet girls.....and tell the truth about Smarty Jones.

It doesn't get much better from 1973 to 1980.....unfortunately, I really wasn't into playing the horses until '86, but remember those horses well.

and just WHO would be the other; two

He made two starts as a 4YO.

He was better than Silver Charm.