Is This Really the Best We Have?

[Gander]

The top 2- Invasor and Lava Man are real nice horses, both treats to watch and saving what could have been a horrible Classic.

Sun King is a hard tryer and a nice horse we can count on seeing for the rest of this year. No world beater by any means but still a joy to have around.

Surf Cat has immense talent but shouldnt be mentioned anymore, hes done for the year. His wins were in short fields. Hes yet to do anything that would make him belong with the top 3.

Brass Hat got injured, thats part of the game.

Silver Train is a very nice sprinter who I cant wait to see next weekend.

NTRE division leaders

Bernardini (145)
Invasor (ARG) (134)
Lava Man (126)
Sun King (78)
David Junior (68)
Dylan Thomas (IRE) (47)
Shirocco (Ger) (45)
Jazil (39)
Discreet Cat (26)
Giacomo (21)
UPDATED Sep 18, 2006

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by Secretariat

NTRE division leaders

Bernardini (145)
Invasor (ARG) (134)
Lava Man (126)
Sun King (78)
David Junior (68)
Dylan Thomas (IRE) (47)
Shirocco (Ger) (45)
Jazil (39)
Discreet Cat (26)
Giacomo (21)
UPDATED Sep 18, 2006

That is a better list.

[Gander]

How about this for a list. WHy dont we focus on the NOW and not the what ifs:

1) Lava Man and Invasor
3) Sun King

[Betsy]

Mike has to explain also why Teammate is not in his top 10 for 3 year old fillies, even though she's finished good 2nd twice to Pine Island in the Alabama and Gazelle.

Originally Posted by Betsy

Mike has to explain also why Teammate is not in his top 10 for 3 year old fillies, even though she's finished good 2nd twice to Pine Island in the Alabama and Gazelle.

Ah, the Ap Indy fascination continues.

Look,
Its pretty obvious that the older horse division is pretty much gonna continute to fall far below the divisions of yesteryear.
Two glaring reasons why.
1) The Triple Crown has become a horse destroyer like nothing else in the game. Many people feel that some of the retired horses were retired for money only, but thats not the case. The injuries that these horses sustain are real injuries, and many are never the same after who don't succumb to injury. We don't get to see our best early three year olds race at 4.
2) The disproportionate money situation between breeding and racing.
You'd have to be a sheikh or eccentric to race on with a top 3 year old at age 4. The breeding deals are in the multimillions and pures money just isn't there to justify racing them on. The insurance premiums alone would be more than what a horse could earn at age 4.
Its real easy for joe six pack the fan to rant on about how these owners are all scum and should race the horse for the fan's enjoyment. Thats because Joe Six Pack has no vested interest in the horse financially. If Joe Six Pack was staring 10 million bucks in face he'd be on it like a dog on a meat truck.

Thats just how its gonna be. Unless we have a really nice gelding, a horse owned by a billionaire with a love of the game that exceeds his common sense, or a triple crown that doesn't require a horse to run 3 races totalling 31 1/2 furlongs at three different tracks in 5 weeks time, you can always count on the older horse divsion to have late developers who missed the crown, or foreign imports dominating it.
Of the horses on that list, only Sun King competed in more than one triple crown event.

[jpops757]

Originally Posted by Betsy

Mike has to explain also why Teammate is not in his top 10 for 3 year old fillies, even though she's finished good 2nd twice to Pine Island in the Alabama and Gazelle.

Last I saw he had at 7.

[Betsy]

Originally Posted by jpops757

Last I saw he had at 7.

Did he? Thanks for pointing that out -I checked a few days ago, and she wasn't on there.

[Pedigree Ann]

Good Reward clunks up for second (essential the only horse in the beaten field who stayed on that day) in only one dirt race, stinks in his others, and he is ranked above Perfect Drift? Watchmaker hasn't been paying attention. Heck, I would rank Seek Gold ahead of Good Reward, since he actually won a G1 race, even if only at 9f.

Incidentally, Brass Hat was retired after his injury in the Stephen Foster; that makes 2 wins, a second in Dubai, and an injury race for 4 starts on the year. That is actually a pretty good record compared to some of these others.

Sun King at least has been knocking heads in better races and not losing by much - that used to be the way you found out who the good horses were, until winning less competitive races to pad your stallion page became the rage.

Originally Posted by Pedigree Ann

Good Reward clunks up for second (essential the only horse in the beaten field who stayed on that day) in only one dirt race, stinks in his others, and he is ranked above Perfect Drift? Watchmaker hasn't been paying attention. Heck, I would rank Seek Gold ahead of Good Reward, since he actually won a G1 race, even if only at 9f.

Incidentally, Brass Hat was retired after his injury in the Stephen Foster; that makes 2 wins, a second in Dubai, and an injury race for 4 starts on the year. That is actually a pretty good record compared to some of these others.

Sun King at least has been knocking heads in better races and not losing by much - that used to be the way you found out who the good horses were, until winning less competitive races to pad your stallion page became the rage.

Ann I don't think they choose the less competitive races to pad the records only. I think that when the majority of geniuses who vote for year end honors decided that one day(Breeders Cup Day) was much more important than a whole year, that owners and trainers decided not to bang heads during the year because there wasn't any point in it. If I were an owner or trainer I would do the same. They are only playing by the new "rules" that have evolved.