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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
He easily wouldn't have been top 5 if he retired after age 2.
Pretty much for the same reason why dominant 2-year-olds never get considered for Horse of the Year honors when there is a 3yo or older horse out there with a real strong resume.
The vase majority of the winners of races like the Breeders Cup Classic and Dubai World Cup have been extremely elite horses.
If you look at winners of a race like the Breeders Cup Juvenile ... you see a whole lot of names of horses who otherwise never achieved very much.
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Very rare a horse has been great at 2, carried it onto a 3 yr old season and came back at 4 on top of their games. Off the top of my head I can't think of any horse that has done that. Seattle Slew, Affirmed maybe...but I would have to look at their race records. Ghostzapper was brilliantly fast but raced far too sporadically for me to love him as a horse. Respect what he has done yes, but not to the same degree of what Cigar did in terms of longevity and putting himself out there to be beaten.