Jockey Club Gold Cup

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Dunbar

When you say "GZ would have killed Alysheba" and "GZ is another league", you probably should add "when GZ was able to run".

How fast would GZ have run that BCC if it was HIS 9th race of the year?

My response to statements re GZ is usually, yeah, but what if Alysheba and GZ raced against each other 9 times in a year? Which horse would win more? I think there's a good chance it would have been Alysheba. If so, who's the "greater" horse? Why should greatness be determined by a single race match race? Why not best of 9?

Don't get me wrong. I think GZ was phenomenal, and agree, too, that RIM would have won many a BCC. But when comparing two horses, there's more to it than assuming they each run their best race. Some like Alysheba and Cigar (and Mineshaft!) demonstrate excellence by running at the very top level race after race.

--Dunbar

I agree with you. There are many criteria to use in determing greatness. GZ was obviously not as duarable as most of the good horses over the years. GZ was a bit fragile. I was simply talking about GZ on his best day. When he ran his race, which he usually did, he could pretty much beat anyone.