Hi. I'm new to this board and hence I am sorta late in getting in my thoughts on this thread.
Melair was talked about in depth, so I won't go over her again. Akinemod was briefly mentioned, and I believe that before all of her physical ailments got to her, she was cut out to be an all time great filly.
The absolute ease with which she would gallop out on the lead with other pure blazers was something astonishing to watch. I believe in her second to last start before the nearly two year layoff, she was in a three horse speed duel with two high quality speed fillies. One was Linda Card, and I've forgotten the other one now. She was in the middle, and while the two on her inside and outside were being hard ridden, it looked like Akinemod was in a breezing workout. She easily put them away and waltzed home in about 121.
She then stretched out for the first time in her next start, which I think was the 2nd leg of the la brea series. She won that by something like 18 lengths in 140 or 141 for 8.5f. The track was off that day as well, which Neil Drysdale cited as the reason for scratching Gorgeous from the race. Personally, I felt the reason was that he knew he couldn't touch Akinemod with that great and well named monster filly of his.
Some other ones I didnt see mentioned would be Sharp Cat (once she put it all together) and Winning Colors, prior to her assasination attempt in the Preakness by Woody Stephens and Pat Day.
Lakeway, in her 2nd or 3rd start of her life, I think in January of her 3yo season ran the same distance on the same card as the previous years sprint champ, Cardmania. Lakeway, in an easy win, ran about .05 to .1 seconds slower than the hard nosed veteran did just a couple of races apart. I knew watching her that day I was watching a freakish superstar in the making.
I believe she was the most gifted filly of that crop, which included, besides her, sardula, phone chatter, inside information and heavenly prize.
For lovers of pure speed, there was a turf sprinter based in socal in the 90s. I cant remember her name, but she was by gone west out of a minstrel mare. i believe she was a frankel/judd filly. She wasnt the greatest filly ever, but it was quite a sight watching her get 5 going down the hill every time.
If you want to count final times as fast, then on turf you'd have to mention miesque. Also on turf, a filly that didnt have any early speed but had an insane turn of foot was the extremely underrated mare toussaud, best known for her success in the shed.
If she'd have had her head on straight, people would have remembered her as a great racemare as well.
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