The thing is, from me, you haven't heard talk that Charlatan is a great horse. I'm not looking to put him in the hall of fame. I wouldn't dare compare him to even the better horses we've seen in the last few years, horses like Gun Runner and American Pharoah. For me, this was never about his standing as a great horse. It's only been a question of whether or not he could be the best horse of this year.
I agree with you that in order to be a great horse, the more different things you can show, the better. At the same time, I don't think you can discount a horse's brilliance simply because of the lack of certain things on the resume. Nobody that watched Gayle Sayers disputes how great he was even though he didn't have the longevity that Emmitt Smith had. Sandy Koufax didn't have the career that Bob Gibson had but people say he was every bit as good if not better. Most veteran observers of football say Pat Mahomes is one of, if not the most talented quarterbacks they have ever seen even though his resume will likely never match Tom Brady's or Peyton Manning's
There is actual and there is speculative. I've never put Charlatan in the great category in comparison to all-timers. But I don't think he'd have to be in order to be the best of this year.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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