All of a sudden the editors from Bloodhorse...

[cakes44]

Putting Pepper's Pride on that list is the equivilant of including Sioux Falls and/or Mount Union in the discussion of best college football teams of the decade.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

I'd be VERY hard pressed to imagine anyone putting up a list with Curlin and Zenyatta first and second ... and Mineshaft, Bernardini, Medaglia D' Oro, and Congaree all not included in the top 17.

It's as if the author slept through the part of the decade when racing was better in the two glamour divisions (3yo males going long on dirt & older males going long on dirt)

However - it wasn't a top 18 list ... it was a top 20 list... and Pepper's Pride was included over several horses who would have beaten her by double digits lengths on their off day.

How do you think Medaglia D' Oro would do racing against nothing but New Mexico breds his entire career? How do you think he would do matched up against this ....

Well, she was 38/1 against PP in that race you circled.

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

I'd be VERY hard pressed to imagine anyone putting up a list with Curlin and Zenyatta first and second ... and Mineshaft, Bernardini, Medaglia D' Oro, and Congaree all not included in the top 17.

Steve Crist saw fit to put Curlin 2nd in his best-of-decade list, and said Zenyatta would probably have been somewhere between 4th and 7th if he had made a full top-10. He also indicated that a good argument could be made for making Curlin #1.

Medaglia D' Oro and Congaree got no mention at all, though Bernadini did get 3rd best 3-yr-old of the decade. (Well, Crist isn't perfect either.)

Here's what Crist wrote about Curlin:

2. Curlin in many ways deserves top billing. He was the champion of the decade's strongest 3-year-old crop, returned with a championship season at 4, became the first two-time Horse of the Year since Cigar, and became the first horse to earn $10 million. In terms of quantifiable accomplishments, Curlin was the Horse of the 2000's - but I think there might have been just one better racehorse:

(bold emphasis added)

--Dunbar

[RockHardTen1985]

IMO Big Brown being on this list is the biggest joke of all.

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

IMO Big Brown being on this list is the biggest joke of all.

why is that.. he was clearly the best in his year..if he wasnt handled by people who arent liked he would have been a sensation.. and rags winning the belmont should be higher imo

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by hoovesupsideyourhead

why is that.. he was clearly the best in his year..if he wasnt handled by people who arent liked he would have been a sensation.. and rags winning the belmont should be higher imo

I dont care about Dutrow, Big Brown sucked that crop was so bad and made him look good.
Summer Bird and Quality Road are both better then Big Brown, Barbaro and Bernardini are both better. I would rather any of these 4 get on that list over Big Brown.

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

I dont care about Dutrow, Big Brown sucked that crop was so bad and made him look good.
Summer Bird and Quality Road are both better then Big Brown, Barbaro and Bernardini are both better. I would rather any of these 4 get on that list over Big Brown.

qr is better than big brown ok ill stop now and not waste my time i agree that bern should be in the mix

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by hoovesupsideyourhead

qr is better than big brown ok ill stop now and not waste my time i agree that bern should be in the mix

Dunkirk would have won Big Browns Florida Derby.

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Look who is #20.

Words cannot describe how absolutely ludicrous....how monumentally stupid....how....



She shouldn't be in the top 1000, let alone the top 20.

[miraja2]

The "race of the decade" question is an interesting one to think about.
Off the top of my head I'd give the 2004 Woodward the nod before SI's choice of the '07 Belmont.....but I may be forgetting some other obvious ones.

[Gander]

Originally Posted by miraja2

The "race of the decade" question is an interesting one to think about.
Off the top of my head I'd give the 2004 Woodward the nod before SI's choice of the '07 Belmont.....but I may be forgetting some other obvious ones.

Mine would be an easy choice...Casron Hollow and You in the 2002 Test Stakes at Saratoga. Hands down the best race I have ever seen.

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by Gander

Mine would be an easy choice...Casron Hollow and You in the 2002 Test Stakes at Saratoga. Hands down the best race I have ever seen.

Great Great race, but Im not sure race of the decade....
I think to be race of the decade it has to be a bigger race on a bigger stage.
Rags-Belmont, Curlin, Street Sense-Preakness, Zenyatta-Classic

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

Great Great race, but Im not sure race of the decade....
I think to be race of the decade it has to be a bigger race on a bigger stage.
Rags-Belmont, Curlin, Street Sense-Preakness, Zenyatta-Classic

You're kidding with that one right?
I'll take two future HOYs battling nose to nose down the entire stretch of Belmont Park in '04 over that race any day.

[cakes44]

That 2nd page is quite the steaming pile. Borel? The Assman had a better decade than Frankel? I'd like to see the Grade 1 tally between the two if anyone can find it.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by cakes44

That 2nd page is quite the steaming pile. Borel? The Assman had a better decade than Frankel? I'd like to see the Grade 1 tally between the two if anyone can find it.

Most Graded Stakes wins by a trainer this decade:

Todd Pletcher 307
Robert Frankel 299 (<-- his asst trainer has 3 since he died)
Bob Baffert 164
Bill Mott 143
Steve Asmussen 104
Christophe Clement 100
Kiaran McLaughlin 85
Richard Mandella 75
D. Wayne Lukas 69
Doug O'Neill 66
Richard Dutrow, Jr. 64
Claude R. McGaughey 63

[Gander]

At least they got the "worst innovation" being synthetic tracks right. That was an easy one. Ruined California racing.

[Gander]

Congaree belongs on this list as well. If he faced some of the duds Ghostzapper and Curlin did, he would have won twice as many races. He was a superior animal. These are some of some of his tidbits...

Horse of the Year runner-up; Eclipse Finalist as champion older male and champion sprinter

Fastest miler of 2002 on dirt (1:33.11)

One of the most versatile runners in history (G1 wins at 3, 4, & 5, 7f to 1 1/4 miles)

Only horse in history to win Cigar Mile-G1 back-to-back

Made 22 consecutive starts in Graded stakes

2nd fastest mile in Kentucky Derby history

Leading North American based male from the Blushing Groom line

$3.2 million earner and five-time Grade I winner

[Sightseek]

HRTV just gave their endorsement of this list.

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by Sightseek

HRTV just gave their endorsement of this list.

Sounds like that one Tiger Woods mistress isn't the only person out there with incriminating naked pictures of somebody.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Gander

Congaree belongs on this list as well. If he faced some of the duds Ghostzapper and Curlin did, he would have won twice as many races. He was a superior animal. These are some of some of his tidbits...

Horse of the Year runner-up; Eclipse Finalist as champion older male and champion sprinter

Fastest miler of 2002 on dirt (1:33.11)

One of the most versatile runners in history (G1 wins at 3, 4, & 5, 7f to 1 1/4 miles)

Only horse in history to win Cigar Mile-G1 back-to-back

Made 22 consecutive starts in Graded stakes

2nd fastest mile in Kentucky Derby history

Leading North American based male from the Blushing Groom line

$3.2 million earner and five-time Grade I winner

That's all well and good ... but ... did he ever beat New Mexico breds?