ATR Hall of Fame Debate: Gio Ponti?

[KirisClown]

How can Gio Ponti be in the Hall of Fame when a horse like Lure is not?

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by KirisClown

How can Gio Ponti be in the Hall of Fame when a horse like Lure is not?

One thing in Gio Ponti's meager favor is that he's a multiple Eclipse champion (Lure won no championships), a rare one at that. He's one of only 3 or 4 that have won back-to-back turf titles, and he's the only horse to win the older male Eclipse without having won a race on dirt.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

and he's the only horse to win the older male Eclipse without having won a race on dirt.

Kodiak Kowboy and Einstein (I believe) -- where the two other finalists that year.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Kodiak Kowboy and Einstein (I believe) -- where the two other finalists that year.

Unfortunately, Einstein didn't win a race on dirt, either. Something that year must have won at least 2 graded stakes over a route of ground somewhere?

[Cannon Shell]

Sky Classic might have a better resume
Paradise Creek was a better horse

[OldDog]

Gio Ponti no second fiddle

Thoroughbred stars are anointed often prematurely at ages 2 and 3 and are too often sent to stud before the depth of their ability if fully realized. Grass horses come into their own with maturity and American breeders are attempting to produce Derby winners not turf champions.

"He raced in the Breeders' Cup as a 2-year-old," said trainer Christophe Clement, the Frenchman who has engineered Gio Ponti's career without interruption since its beginning. "He's 6 now, and he's still competing in the Breeders' Cup. That doesn't happen very often."

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/stor...-second-fiddle

[GPK]

Originally Posted by OldDog

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/stor...-second-fiddle

The article was going along just fine...until this:

"Though head and withers the best American turf horse in training, perhaps the best since Manila dominated the division in the mid 1980s..."

[FATPIANO]

He will win the mile, with Goldi second, cold exacta

[KirisClown]

Originally Posted by GPK

The article was going along just fine...until this:

"Though head and withers the best American turf horse in training, perhaps the best since Manila dominated the division in the mid 1980s..."

Gio Ponti is a nice/consistent horse and it's great he's stayed in training, but the best since Manila?? It's hard to believe that someone in their right mind would actually believe that..

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by GPK

The article was going along just fine...until this:

"Though head and withers the best American turf horse in training, perhaps the best since Manila dominated the division in the mid 1980s..."

The author even misspells his own last name!