You call it: RA VS other great 3yo fillies

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

She was 4 for 10 as a 3yo... it's a case where record hurts her. She totally fell apart after the Preakness.

I think RA will have the best looking 3yo season after all is said and done.

The problem is - she has yet to face easily the 2nd best 3yo filly (Careless Jewel) ... she hasn't faced either QR or IWR .. and they are the only 3yo males this year who aren't goats. The older males suck .. and the Zenyatta match up might not ever happen.

It's all through no fault of her own .. but it's pretty remarkable that a filly like Melair .. who's career lasted all of 10 weeks .. probably saw both better female and male competition than RA ever has.

That's ridiculous to use her record and say she totally fell apart after the Preakness. She lost by 1/2 length and a nose to Personal Ensign in the fall. That's your idea of falling apart?

[The Indomitable DrugS]

She was also beaten 42 lengths in the Belmont and 15 lengths in the Spinster.

She was defeated in 8 straight stakes races after the Derby.

I agree Lukas had her good in her two meetings against PE .. but she fell apart in a lot of races.

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

She was also beaten 42 lengths in the Belmont and 15 lengths in the Spinster.

She was defeated in 8 straight stakes races after the Derby.

I agree Lukas had her good in her two meetings against PE .. but she fell apart in a lot of races.

Those two races were the only major blemishes on her 3yo record. Wins in the Derby, Santa Anita Derby (over Big Cap winner Ruhlman, the useful millionaire Lively One who won the Swaps and Goodwood, and Tejano), and Santa Anita Oaks. The other losses were by a neck to Goodbye Halo in the Las Virgenes, by 2.5 lengths to Risen Star in the Preakness, and the two losses to Personal Ensign. Winning Colors probably ran the best race of any horse in that Preakness; look where Forty Niner finished after racing her into defeat. To put the two losses to PE in perspective: she finished within a length of PE in their only two meetings; the only other horse to come within a length of PE was Collins in the Frizette.

[Indian Charlie]

I'm glad you finally have an appreciation for Melair. Awesome awesome filly.

However, she wasn't even the 3yo filly champ from her year. While nowhere near as good as Melair, that years champion filly, Tiffany Lass, also had a pretty nice sixteen week run.

After breaking her maiden in her debut during the last week or so of her two year old year, she shipped from HP to the FG and won a low level allowance by five. Shortly after that, a nine length win in a cheap stakes.

Two or three weeks later, another three length win in a small stakes, still at the FG. Another three weeks later at the FG, another win, though only by 3/4's of length in the FG Oaks, over the pretty nice Patricia J. K., dam of future millionaire Helmsman.

Her next start was in the G1 Fantasy at Oaklawn. This saw her winning pretty easily by 2.5 over Lotka, the winner of the G1 Acorn later that year and a winner of 10 out of 20 starts and over 700k.

In her last start of this sixteen week period, and her final start of the year, she won the Kentucky Oaks over Life at the Top and Family Style. Life at the Top was a two time grade 1 winner with multiple g1 placings. Family Style was a four time grade 1 winner and the champion two year old filly the year before, having won the BC for Lukas.

For those interested, she came back at four to run three more times before retiring. She won her 4yo debut, running her record to 8 for 8, defeating useful fillies Luisant and Seldom Seen Sue. In her final two starts, she ran 2nd and third, both times to Seldom Seen Sue.

Not a bad 3yo filly by any means. She had a really solid year, though as I said, she wasn't in the same league as Melair.

[Linny]

How about Bold n' Determined? She won a listed stake called the Pasadena then ran 4th in the Santa Ynez. After that she won the G1 Santa Susana (now the SA Oaks) the G1 Fantasy, the G1 KY Oaks, the G1 Acorn and then lost the Mother Goose by a head. She followed it all up with wins in the CCAO, the Maskette, a KEE allowance (can you imagine the conditions?!!) and the G1 Spinster over her elders. She ended the year running 4th in the G1 Yellow Ribbon on grass with older f/m. She won 7 G1's at 5 different tracks. Oh, yeah, did I mention that she didn't win Champion 3yo filly? She met the champ once and beat her. The champ was Genuine Risk, but Bold N' Determined may have been a better filly.
B'N'D never took on colts but she did beat the filly that beat the boys in the biggest stage. I'm not sure how she stacks up to RA (or RA to her) but she had a year that deserves mention when talking about 3yo filly campaigns.

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

I'm glad you finally have an appreciation for Melair. Awesome awesome filly.

However, she wasn't even the 3yo filly champ from her year. While nowhere near as good as Melair, that years champion filly, Tiffany Lass, also had a pretty nice sixteen week run.

After breaking her maiden in her debut during the last week or so of her two year old year, she shipped from HP to the FG and won a low level allowance by five. Shortly after that, a nine length win in a cheap stakes.

Two or three weeks later, another three length win in a small stakes, still at the FG. Another three weeks later at the FG, another win, though only by 3/4's of length in the FG Oaks, over the pretty nice Patricia J. K., dam of future millionaire Helmsman.

Her next start was in the G1 Fantasy at Oaklawn. This saw her winning pretty easily by 2.5 over Lotka, the winner of the G1 Acorn later that year and a winner of 10 out of 20 starts and over 700k.

In her last start of this sixteen week period, and her final start of the year, she won the Kentucky Oaks over Life at the Top and Family Style. Life at the Top was a two time grade 1 winner with multiple g1 placings. Family Style was a four time grade 1 winner and the champion two year old filly the year before, having won the BC for Lukas.

For those interested, she came back at four to run three more times before retiring. She won her 4yo debut, running her record to 8 for 8, defeating useful fillies Luisant and Seldom Seen Sue. In her final two starts, she ran 2nd and third, both times to Seldom Seen Sue.

Not a bad 3yo filly by any means. She had a really solid year, though as I said, she wasn't in the same league as Melair.

Great recap of Tiffany Lass's 3yo season. I'd like to add that Life At The Top finished unplaced behind her in the FG Oaks. That was a huge race. Life At the Top had just beaten Twilight Ridge in the Las Virgenes and Patricia JK had just beaten Family Style in the Bonnie Miss. Tiffany Lass and Patricia JK moved past Life At the Top at the top of the stretch and ran together down the lane. Tiffany Lass, along the rail with Ricky Frazier aboard, finally outgamed the other filly (I think Mig was riding her) for the win.

It was unbelievable watching Tiffany Lass develop at FG that year. Laz Barrera was very high on his filly, and he sent her to his brother Angel in New Orleans to get her ready for the KY Oaks.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by DaTruth

Great recap of Tiffany Lass's 3yo season. I'd like to add that Life At The Top finished unplaced behind her in the FG Oaks. That was a huge race. Life At the Top had just beaten Twilight Ridge in the Las Virgenes and Patricia JK had just beaten Family Style in the Bonnie Miss. Tiffany Lass and Patricia JK moved past Life At the Top at the top of the stretch and ran together down the lane. Tiffany Lass, along the rail with Ricky Frazier aboard, finally outgamed the other filly (I think Mig was riding her) for the win.

It was unbelievable watching Tiffany Lass develop at FG that year. Laz Barrera was very high on his filly, and he sent her to his brother Angel in New Orleans to get her ready for the KY Oaks.

Yeah, that was a perplexing move by Barrera. I thought she was a pretty nice filly when she broke her maiden, and I remember wondering why she was running at the FG. I thought maybe he was ducking someone in Socal, but couldn't figure out who.

Maybe he heard about that monster 3yo filly that had been working out down in Tijuana.

Come to think of it, I think both Snow Chief and Melair were being prepped initially down in Tijuana!

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

Yeah, that was a perplexing move by Barrera. I thought she was a pretty nice filly when she broke her maiden, and I remember wondering why she was running at the FG. I thought maybe he was ducking someone in Socal, but couldn't figure out who.

Maybe he heard about that monster 3yo filly that had been working out down in Tijuana.

Come to think of it, I think both Snow Chief and Melair were being prepped initially down in Tijuana!

Melair was something else. She smoked them in the Silver Screen.

The official line was that Laz wanted TL training over a deeper surface than what was out in California. FG wasn't nearly as fast back then as it is now. But I can see the Melair angle. Sort of like when Smile chased Spend A Buck from Florida.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by DaTruth

Those two races were the only major blemishes on her 3yo record. Wins in the Derby, Santa Anita Derby (over Big Cap winner Ruhlman, the useful millionaire Lively One who won the Swaps and Goodwood, and Tejano), and Santa Anita Oaks. The other losses were by a neck to Goodbye Halo in the Las Virgenes, by 2.5 lengths to Risen Star in the Preakness, and the two losses to Personal Ensign. Winning Colors probably ran the best race of any horse in that Preakness; look where Forty Niner finished after racing her into defeat. To put the two losses to PE in perspective: she finished within a length of PE in their only two meetings; the only other horse to come within a length of PE was Collins in the Frizette.

The way I like to judge them is how good they are at their best. I'd take Winning Colors' Kentucky Derby, Preakness, SA Derby, Maskette, and BC Distaff as her top five races from that season and match them against the best five efforts from any 3yo filly. Even though three of those races were loses, it doesn't detract from the effort to me.