Of course things like consistency, longevity, and competition matter when evaluating which horses have the better careers or seasons. Essential Quality and Hot Rod Charlie both had better seasons than Life is Good and especially better than Flightline. However, I don't think either of those horses are in the same zip code as Life is Good and Flightline when it comes to actual talent.
Horses like Spectacular Bid and Precisionist are hall of famers and mentioned among the greats because of their versatility and consistency. If Flightline never runs again, it would be foolish to mention his career with theirs. But one of my favorite things about this sport is that you never know when the next great one is going to come along and part of the fun is in the evaluating, projecting, predicting, and yes, hoping that you're going to see something special.
No, we can't agree that Flightline SHOULD run in the Triple Bend or Carter. Why should he? Would I love to see it? Absolutely. I'd love to see him 10 times next season. But since I know that's not going to happen, I'm not going to let that stop me from enjoying the times I do see him. I just don't see where being pessimistic about him is any fun.
__________________
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
|