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Originally Posted by Bold Brooklynite
If Seattle Slew had been retired after hs 3YO year ... I would have had grave doubts about calling him "great" ... for the very reasons you cite ... namely pizz-poor opposition.
But his performance as a 4YO wiped away all doubt.
Now here's something which will start an argument ...
I do not consider Ruffian to be rankable among the greats ... I think she was the most electric and talented filly I've ever seen ... but I rate her actual career on the racetrack as "Incomplete" .... because ...
... she only beat an extremely weak crop of fillies her own age ... never beat older fillies ... and never beat colts. She "probably" could have done those things ... but woulda/shoulda/coulda doesn't count.
Just as Seattle Slew had to be doubted after his 3YO season ended early ... so too with Ruffian.
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Yeah, but Ruffian set or equalled stakes/track records every time out. She won at different tracks at different distances ranging from five and a half furlongs to 1 1/2 miles, and never lost. She won the filly TC. In the great match race, the jock was the regular rider of both Foolish Pleasure and Ruffian. He decided to ride Ruffian. They decided to race against Foolish Pleasure because he was the best colt in the country at the time. Lucian Lauren once said that she might even be as great as Secretariat.
If accomplishing all those feats isn't greatness, I don't know what is.
07-06-2006, 10:39 AM
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