Who is the 2nd worst Champion Older Male in the last 20 years?
 

Obviously, Gio Ponti is by far the worst.

It will be interesting to see who gets the nod between Lawyer Ron, The Wicked North, and Plesant Tap.

Even though Pleasant Tap was a likeable, honest, cool horse .. I'd probably give him the nod for 2nd worst.




What's most cool about him is that he was 2nd in both the Breeders Cup Sprint and Breeders Cup Classic - and never once went favored at a route distance the year he won champion older male.

From Eddie D to Gary Stevens. Nice pickup mount for the actor.

Curlin...

OOps.

There must have been worse than that.

Kotashaan

Not really ... until last year ... the collection of Champion older male winners have been dynamite going back as far as I can remember.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America...der_Male_Horse


It's almost amusing to think that a horse like Gio Ponti .. who has never even raced on dirt before,and has been beaten in each of his last 2 synthetic tries, and each of his last two turf tries is among them.

People are right when they say Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta are great. Without a doubt they are ... but the pathetic collection of quality older males around last year is what made them look like the two greatest female horses of all-time to many people.

I believe he won Horse of the Year but lost champion older male to Bertrando.

Pleasant Tap's figures are pretty comparable to Curlin's.

Curlin's big race at four came in Dubai ... but yeah, he was an overrated but obviously derserving champion at age 4.

Pleasant Tap's best day ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWp2Iftj9iA

I guess the question is what we're basing this on, figures or accomplishments. Obviously Curlin accomplished more than Pleasant Tap, but he wasn't much faster, if at all. Do you have access to The Wicked North's PP's? Because he had a way crappier year than Pleasant Tap by stakes results.

cant be pleasant tap, go with lawyer ron, left bank, the wicked north

Considering how Monmouth played in Route races Breeder's Cup weekend in 2007.
Curlins BCC was one of the best performances of the latter half of the last decade.

That was when he was 3. We're talking about older male seasons.

1. He was champion turf horse and HOY, not champion older horse.
2. He was one of the best turf horses of the last 30 years, period.

A combonation of all factors.

I'd give TWN a razor thin edge over Plesant Tap because TWN was an excellent sprinter, distance horse, and had a good turf race his only try on firm turf. Those California speed types often over performed when they'd go East but he never did.

In his Bing Crosby win he battled for the lead the whole way and beat defending BC Sprint champion Thirty Slews. He also was 2nd to defending BC Sprint winner Cardmania in the San Carlos.

Like I said to VJ, I thought we were only discussing their champion seasons. If that's the case, Pleasant Tap had a better sprint year than TWN too. He also had a way more rigorous campaign, ran in the BCC and was never out of the exacta, while TWN finished his year out of the trifecta in the HOL Gold Cup.

that is for sure, one beat macho again and the other beat a grass horse and a bunch of dirt horses that didn't belong on the surface. the hoopla and big race is alot of hype but the sport needs it. the two horses are part benefactors of older horse "apathy". thats how gio ponte won it........what could they say ,"none of the above"????

If you're just going on single championship year ... than yeah .. I think it's probably a Gio Ponti 1st and TWN 2nd cold exacta.

Left Bank surely warrants consideration. His champion older male year consists of two grade 2 sprints, 1 dismal met mile and one excellent whitney.

Only 4 races, but 3 Graded Stakes win, and two of the best performances of the entire decade.

Left Bank all juiced up for the final two races of his life ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j45tz3gPpis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k73A...eature=related

Black Tie Affair. Beat Farma Way in the Iselin and Summer Squall in the Washington Park Hcp, and finished second behind Housebuster in the Carter. But he waltzed along the lead to win the BC Classic. His other notable wins were in the Grade 3 Stephen Foster, the Cornhusker, and the Michigan Mile. Finished third in the Razorback. Demolished by In Excess in the Met Mile. Ask yourself who was more impressive in 1991. In Excess or Black Tie Affair?

Black Tie Affair was obviously a MUCH better horse with lasix. He was 0-for-5 in NY .. but lasix wasn't legal there at the time.

When allowed to race on lasix ... Black Tie Affair had a career record of 13-10-1-2

Two of those three defeats came in sprint races .. and the other one was off a layoff.

While he was unpressured on the lead in the BC Classic - he still won the race and did so with a 120 Beyer figure for his 6th straight win... all at the Graded Stakes level.

Look at Mineshaft before he got lasix ... he wasn't very much either.

I don't know what BTA received in the Husker or Met Mile, but his BSF for his other wins were Iselin-112, Wash Park-117, and Foster-104.

In Exces's BSF for some of his major wins were Suburban-120, Woodward-116, Met Mile-117, Whitney-116.

In Excess lost the championship when Jackson picked the wrong BC race. If he had entered the Classic, most likely he would have hounded BTA into defeat and then gotten picked off by one of the deep closers.

BTA won the BCC for one reason only.

Chris Mccarron gave away the race with his overthought ride on Twilight Agenda.

Why does Lemon Drop Kid remain unscathed? The only 3yo he managed to beat in his championship year in the BC Classic was Fusaichi Pegasus.

Possibly Black Minnaloushe, too.

He was moved up by the addition of blinkers ... showed more early speed and ran four nice races before tailing off.



I also think the crop of 3yo males in 2000 was hands down the best of the last decade. If you're tailing off in form and meeting those kind of horses - your forms going to get dirty.