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Originally Posted by ateamstupid
Well done list, but War Pass was the best 2-year-old male of the decade? No mention of Vindication?
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Absolutely War Pass was the best.
I wasn't a big fan of his going into his 3-year-old season .. but that was more because I didn't like the way he projected as a triple crown series prospect.
However, it would be extremely foolish to deny him the honor of decades top 2yo. I think he's one of the easiest choices.
He was undefeated, his win in the Champagne was sizzlingly fast. He won the Breeders Cup Juvenile in 1:42.67 - Indian Blessing needed 1:44.73 to soundly defeat Proud Spell that same day.
Respectable precocious middle distance horses like Kodiak Kowboy and Tale of Ekati ran 3rd and 4th .. beaten 16.75 lengths and 17.50 lengths .. in an 11 horse field.
Just a mind boggling performance against the clock. War Pass's 113 Beyer that day was higher than the 112 Beyer Hard Spun ran for finishing 2nd in the BC Classic that day .. both races used the exact same variant.
As for Vindication .. he's in the discussion for the 3rd or 4th spot.
Like War Pass, he was also 4-for-4 at two, and with two stakes wins. He won the Grade 3 Ky Cup Juvenile over a terrible field in very slow fashion - but had to overcome some trouble.
In the Breeders Cup Juvie ... Vindication had a great trip and needed 1:49.61 to score. By comparison, Storm Flag Flying won the Juv Fillies by a half length in final time of 1:49.60 - Hold That Tiger ran 3rd by 5 lengths to Vindy - but had an extremely tough trip.
I think Toccet had a good case to steal the Eclipse from Vindication. He won 4 Graded Stakes as a 2yo at or beyond a mile. He took the Champagne, Laurel Futurity, won the Remsen over Empire Maker, and beat Kafwain in the Hollywood Futurity. He was a complete no show in the BC Juvie though - basically fading after a few furlongs.