What Smarty Jones faced in 2004 & what Big Brown faces on Saturday....the difference?

[Thunder Gulch]

Agree with a lot of you that the field in general was tougher, and the fact that Birdstone won a G1 on this track was huge.

I don't remember that 2004 crop being great, but I guarantee there were more than one or two that had posted 100 Beyers in routes, unlike this year's group.