Defining a great horse

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by CSC

This a point that isn't brought up enough in my opinion, Skip Away beat Cigar by a head that day while getting a 5lb advantage. If that is the best he could do with a Cigar probably past his prime, one must wonder how he would have fared against Cigar when he was at his best. Not as well, one would surmise.

The problem with this is that Cigar was just as good at the end of 1996 as he was at the end of 1995. His races in the Woodward, JCGC, and BC Classic were every bit as good the seconed time as the first. The difference was the competition. Whereas in 1995, he was facing the likes of Unaccounted For and L'Carriere, the next year it was Skip Away, Louis Quartorze, and Alphabet Soup. Had he had the same comp in 1996 as he did the previous years, he would have won the races again.