Thor's Echo at Laurel
 

He looked great again today. Surprised that not many people are talking about it here.

That give him 2 American G1 sprint races, and arguably two of the biggest ones.

Add his runnerup in Dubai -- and he's got a great 2006 resumé!

Any thoughts?

I think, that even in beating a decent but not great field today, that he stamped his ticket as best sprinter in the US this year!

People are not talking about him because he won. If he lost we would be hearing about the track bias at Churchill was the only reason he won the BC Sprint. Even though he was no where near the rail that day.

good point too! i didn't intend to open up the whole bias debate at all in all honesty, though it appears that SCUDSBROTHER will wait for four pages of this thread and accuse me of stirring the pot like he did the last time i posted a thread!

so no thanks to you for brining bias into it!

but really, he ran another phenomenal race this afternoon and i haven't seen a single mention of it on here. I think he ran the exact race that he ran in the Sprint, sitting just off the pace and waiting for it to break just enough for him to pounce on it.

Visually it was just about the same. I really like this horse more and more as time goes by -- from March until now, he has become more and more impressive every time out.

I saw it, and he delivered again. I didn't think he could do it from that post.
Didn't get much noise cause of all the other stuff going on at the big tracks. That was quite a group of sprinters in there as well.
Thor's Echo has had an awesome year. Really impressive.

I see no reason why he isnt the Eclipse winner. But he ran a great race today like he has done his last two races before today. I am just waiting for the people who believe in "bounces" to chime in. I mean he has to bounce at some point.

i know it's easy to overlook him today after the absolute show that discreet cat put on this afternoon.

it just took me til midnight to realize that nobody had pointed it out.

cheers to o'neill and nakatani -- i hope their guy gets the Eclipse...but award or not is not what i was after here so much.

moreso, a fine fine fine performance in a Grade I race that has gone much overlooked this afternoon!

Could Thors Echo run 6f in 1:07 and change and pass Discreet Cat?

I mean for best sprinter. But I dont think he could beat Cat

I don't think so. He'd never catch Discreet Cat.

DC could start backwords in the gate and still beat him going 6F

I saw the race,and thought Diabolical was best.I knew nobody wanted to read that (so I didn't write about it.) Diabolical was full of run,and for the most part the jock wasn't able to use it. I would imagine the figure for this race will be quite a bit lower than the one Thors got in the B.C. HE BEAT NIGHTMARE AFFAIR by less than a length today.He beat that same horse by 4 1/2 lengths with the inside bias on B.C. Day.THORS ECHO is a good horse,but the reason he drew off to win so easily in the B.C.(AND LESS EASILY IN THE DE FRANCIS) was the inside bias that he enjoyed on the BACKSTRETCH AT CHURCHILL.

with all due respect.

blah.

blah blah.
blah.

blah.

blah blah.
blah blah

and same to you.T.E. is a hard trying blue collar horse.I think PT TOO was the best sprinter this year,but didn't race enough.So,(as usual,) T.E. shows up for the fight,and should be rewarded for it with an Eclipse Award.

blah blah not even close to the best sprinter blah blah blah:p

as a matter of fact I would take about 15-20 horses in a match race at 6F over this donkey

blah blah blah, rail bias blah blah blah, horse is a freak blah blah blah, best interest of the horse blah blah blah, good night i'm going to bed.

for the sake of being sporting -- go for it and name even 10 horse who would beat this one in a match race at 6f.

see how i said 10, you said 15-20.

i'm only asking for 10...you stand no chance of finding 10 horses who could hold a candle to our 2006 Eclipse winner.

Which means I'm only asking you to be 66% correct, and I'm sure I'll still be ahead of you

I played Diabgolical and didn't see the race. I expected Thor's Echo to bounce. Thor's echo and Henny Hughs had about the same splash this year.

With no traffic any of these would smoke TE
 

Henny Hughes
Silver Train
Discreet Cat
Kane Hekili
Agnes Jedi
Silent Whitness
Takeover Target
Proud Tower Too

and for s hi ts and giggles he couldn't of beat badge of silver yesterday, and as a matter of fact diabolical was best in the race thor's echo won.

How can they give the sprint eclipse to a horse that hadn't won a race since Aug 05 before the BC. That is just funny!

Now thats the resume of the worlds best sprinter, he got beat at hoosier praire meadows, and sunland park LMAO!!!! he didn't even beat statebreads!!!

Track Date Race Class Distance Condition Jockey FP
Laurel Park 11/25/06 10 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash S., Gr. 1, STAKES [3U] Dirt, 6F wf Nakatani, C 1

Churchill 11/04/06 6 TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint, Gr. 1, STAKES [3U] Dirt, 6F wf Nakatani, C 1

Oak Tree 10/07/06 9 Ancient Title Breeders' Cup S., Gr. 1, STAKES [3U] Dirt, 6F wf Cohen, D 2

Del Mar 08/16/06 7 STAKES [3U] Turf, 5F sf Nakatani, C 4

Santa Anita 02/19/06 7 STAKES [4U] Dirt, 6 1/2F Nakatani, C 2

Gulfstream 01/28/06 6 STAKES [4U] Dirt, 6F wf Bailey, J 4

Santa Anita 12/26/05 8 Malibu S. (Grade 1) Stakes [3] 7 Furlongs Fast Espinoza V 3

Oak Tree 11/06/05 7 California Cup Sprint H.Stakes [3U] 6 Furlongs Fast Espinoza V 3

Hoosier Park 10/01/05 9 Indiana Derby (Grade 2) Stakes [3] 1 1/16 Miles Fast Martinez F F 3

Del Mar 08/12/05 7 Real Good Deal S.Stakes [3] 7 Furlongs Fast Nakatani C S 1

Prairie Meadows 07/01/05 8 Iowa DerbyStakes [3] 1 1/16 Miles Fast Nakatani C S 3

Lone Star 05/14/05 9 Walmac Lone Star Derby (Grade 3) Stakes [3] 1 1/16 Miles Fast Martinez F F 5

Hollywood 04/24/05 9 Cal National Snow Chief S.Stakes [3] 1 1/8 Miles Fast Nakatani C S 4

The much over used term "LMAO". The owners went to the bank with winnings and your broke *** is "LMAO!!!!" Now that's funny.

Look this is silly. Thor's earned an Eclipse yesterday and its no knock on anyone.
Discreet's connections chose the practical and cautious route(which I applaud, this a fantastically managed and trained horse, my hat is really off to Mettee, Ferguson, Sheikh Mo).
They have now built a base with this horse that may springboard him to alltime great status at some point in the future. They chose a cautious route and it worked superbly.
But they passed the true sprints, and the BC, and Thor's didn't and he validated it yesterday with a nice win.
The Eclipse awards are about accomplishment, not whose faster than who and who has more talent.
Its about who wins the key races. DC never ran in a true sprint stakes race. Thors won the BC and this grade one.
Bordonaro is certainly deserving as well, but Thors 1-2 punch of 6f grade ones including the BC gets the nod from me.
This has nothing to do with Discreet cat, his talent or his ability, but he won one grade one and it was at a mile. he had his chance to sprint in the Vosburgh or BC and they didnt. Therefore no award as far as I can see.

for the record i will forever dislike Thor's Echo for winning the BC sprint (soundly defeating my boy HH who never lifted his feet)...I thought his win was a fluke (not a product of rail bias, just a fluke)...I gave him little chance of winning yesterday...
Having said that I am very glad that he won...and validated his win in the Sprint...I think it's important for the sport, that horses who win on that day can follow it up with another win (or at least very good showing) soon after.

I had Diabolical. Read in the drf his jockey thought he had it won. Guess it's good he keeps trying, but no way he was best yesterday. jmvho

You didn't expect any of the detractors to turn around and say his BC win was a legitimate outstanding performance, did you? No, they prefer to continue to belittle the horse and the significance of what he's accomplished this year.

I only hope they continue to bet against him.

--Dunbar