Actually the bigger insult goes to War Admiral than to Seabiscuit in the Bernardini-Lava Man comparison.

Take a close look at Seabiscuit's race record...a lower winning percentage for his career than Lava Man at this time and probably if you look at the stakes races, fewer Grade 1 equivalent wins than Lava Man over a longer career. The Grade 1's that I see for Seabiscuit are the HGC, SA 'Cap, Pimlico Special and maybe the San Juan Capistrano when it was run on dirt.

What separates Seabiscuit from Lava Man and potentially any other handicap horse in this era are the times of his races and the weights that he carried. Those factors made him wildly special (plus beating a Triple Crown winner mano-a-mano) and an absolute legend for all-time.

To compare Bernardini to War Admiral at this stage of Bernardini's career is just plain nuts in my opinion. War Admiral won the equivalent of at least 6 of today's Grade 1's and probably 7 as the Widener was Hialeah's signature race during its golden era as well as being a Triple Crown winner.