12/15-16 (LRC): Soviet Problem; King Glorious

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

How would he have fared at the longer distances against the likes of Sunday Silence and Easy Goer? It’s highly probable that they would have handled him. They are all-time greats. But if you lined them up in a race like the Met Mile or the Vosburgh or BC Sprint, I’d feel very good about my chances with him. For whatever it’s worth, Gary Stevens once told me that at 9f, they could beat him but that up to a mile, they’d wonder what hit them.

No doubt King Glorious was an exceptional juvenile who ran fast times around one-turn, but soundness issues kept him from competing against the best of his generation where he would have received a true acid test. The distance limitations were clear despite winning what turned out to be his final two starts.

As far as what Gary Stevens has to say about him, I'm not sure it cuts much ice. Gary Stevens never rode the horse--or Easy Goer or Sunday Silence for that matter...

[King Glorious]

When I say he was one of the best, I do realize that it’s based mostly on opinion and not fact. I believe that up to 9f, he could have given them a run but KNOWING for a fact how well they ran going that far and beyond, it’s doubful he would have stood a chance.

When Stevens told me that, it was just after KG had been ruled out of the Santa Anita Derby and I had asked him how he thought KG would have fared in that race. His complete answer was that he thought he would have been favored in the race and chasing him was like chasing a shadow.

In the end, I just want to believe it lol.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

When I say he was one of the best, I do realize that it’s based mostly on opinion and not fact. I believe that up to 9f, he could have given them a run but KNOWING for a fact how well they ran going that far and beyond, it’s doubful he would have stood a chance.

A one-turn flat mile would have been an interesting race.

Recall that Easy Goer ran the fastest mile ever for a 3yo when clocking 1:32 2/5 for the one-turn Gotham in April.

Sunday Silence, in a public workout between races at Del Mar in September, breezed a mile in a ridiculous 1:33 2/5, just shy of the track record set by champion Precisionist (1:33 1/5) a year earlier.

[taxicab]

Galilean made it look easier than picking plums.
He's the goods.