Spectacular Bid

[tiggerv]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

I have PP's for horses like Dr. Fager, Citation and Native Dancer - but I don't have any way to gauge horses like that. I don't have access to chart books or results charts from that time - have no idea what their Ragozin figures look like - what their Beyers might look like - I don't have PP's of the competition they faced... so I feel totally in the dark about those horses.

BTW good thread to put all time greats in perspective.

The quote on the first page about Bid's 4yo year being the best since Tom Fool is what made me think of Dr. Fager. I realize it's difficult to compare different eras and it's splitting hairs when comparing top 5 all time, but Dr. Fager sometimes get forgotten because he didn't run the triple crown races.

I couldn't find PPs but here his is 4yo year when he won Champion Sprint Horse, Co-champion Turf Horse, Champion Older Male and Horse of the Year:

Won the 7F Roseben @ Belmont carrying 130 and was 1/5 off track record
Won the 8.5F Californian @ Hollywood carrying 130 over Gamely
Won the 10F Suburban @ Belmont carrying 132 giving 2 pounds to Damascus equaling the track record
2nd in the 10F Brooklyn @ Aqueduct carrying 135 giving 5 pounds to Damascus who used a rabbit to win
Won the 9F Whitney @ Saratoga by 8 carrying 132 giving 18 pounds to the field
Won the 8F Washington Park @ Arlington carrying 134 and set the world record in 132 1/5. He ran the 2nd quarter in 20 3/5
Won the 9.5F United Nations @ Monmouth in his only turf start carrying 134 and giving 16 pounds to grass champion Fort Marcy
Won the 7F Vosburgh @ Aqueduct carrying 139! after Nerud supposedly asked for 145 and broke the track record by a full second