Yes, Zev '23, the next one after Morvich '22 is the one I that I meant, I was flipping through Hunter's book too fast I guess. Zev was apparently a big underdog but went wire to wire, he then won the WIthers, Belmont and QUeens Cty Hdcp and then a couple others before the match race w/ Papyrus. So maybe he was in top form, just no one knew it.

By the way can you explain what this is supposed to mean:

"I guess I'm supposed to consider him the #1 horse of the century because he once ran a 1 1/4 in 2:01 4/5ths? ... Oh yeah, we also have to assume the tracks were 20 lengths slower back than"

What exactly is the pt? You've basically explained the fallacy in your reasoning in the same passage, or maybe not..?