Pioneer of the Nile misses the top 20....

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

By the way.....you may be wrong about Count Fleet. There are old-time figure makers that believe he might have been the fastest.

He ran just six times at age 3 - in five stakes races.

His wins in the Wood, Derby, Preakness, and Withers - I'm pretty confident are not faster than 114 tops. There are a lot of other races to work with on those cards.

The race I think these old-time figure makers might be refering to - is his 25 length win in the Belmont in his final start.

I posted the form of the horse who finished 2nd earlier in this thread - he's a slug - and the 3rd place finisher was even worse. It was just a field of 3. They make Twice A Prince and My Gallant look like Ghostzapper and Formal Gold.

There was another route the day Count Fleet won the Belmont - also at 12fs - it was a MSW race that went 7.20 full seconds slower. However, it was a pretty horrid looking MSW race on paper. This was the workman like winner ...



Count Fleet only ran six times at age three - never faced an older horse - faced a horrid looking 3yo crop - and if he did run supersonic fast in one race, he did it at 12fs against two laughing stock plugs in a race its not easy to make a number for.

He didn't do enough to be considered the 5th best American horse ever. Had he not become injured after the Belmont - and took it to older horses - than yeah, maybe.