Horse of the Decade By Track

[10 pnt move up]

Turf Paradise -Carlsbad

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Rochester's a cinch for Kentucky Downs I think.

He won their big graded stake turf marathon race two years in a row - once by DQ - and finished in the top 3 five straight years in that race.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by zippyneedsawin

I'd say it's Congaree for the main track at Aqueduct...and... Spooky Mulder for inner!

Arromanches and Coyote Lakes were also a couple of beasts on that Inner. Gulfstream had a claimer named Sun Fighter who was a win machine at the start of the decade.

I forgot how good Finallymadeit was at Calder ... 14 for 28 with easily over 500K banked there and a bunch of good numbers.

[DerbyCat]

The best horse to run at Bay Meadows was probably Native Diver, he won all five of his starts there... but the most famous was Seabiscuit, he won the Bay Meadows Handicap two years in a row.





Edit: Cancel all of that... if it's just the past decade, then I'd actually say Somethinaboutlaura, a mare that won over a million dollars in her career.

[MISTERGEE]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Not sure about them ...

but for Great Lakes Downs .. Secret Romeo won 14 of 25 at GLD with a slew of 2nd's and banked almost 500K. Pretty salty horse. Was 2nd to Bonapaw in the Arlington Handicap, beat Chindi before - was 2nd to fellow Michigan bred Above The Wind in one of his 3 Pelican Scores.

fantastic research, thanks-hard to disagree with any of your nominees

[philcski]

Originally Posted by randallscott35

I don't see the BigM on here. Tsk tsk.

I found this one to be very difficult to find a clear cut selection... Burning Roma was what I came up with as well.

Was thinking about Charles Town last night and I think Researcher deserves a look, track recordholder and winner of their alltime richest race.

[NavalOrange]

Satatoga Turf: Fourstardave 1990's

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Santa Anita Candidates:

* Milwaukee Brew (already discussed)

* Megahertz (9 stakes wins at Santa Anita. Won the Grade 2 Santa Barbara 3 years in a row, won the Grade 2 Santa Ana twice, also won the Gr 1 Yellow Ribbon, as well as 3 ungraded stakes in her first 3 North American starts)

* Pleasantly Perfect (5-for-10 including a BC Classic win)

* Tiznow (already discussed)

* Rock Hard Ten (6-for-7 including a sweep of the Strub series - Goodwood and Big Cap wins. Only loss was SA Derby when DQ'd from 2nd)

* Lava Man (5-for-11 .. 2 Big Caps and a Sunshine Million Classic win)

* Southern Image (4-for-5 with wins in the Big Cap, Sunshine Millions, and Malibu)

* Medaglia D' Oro (2-for-3. 107 Beyer San Felipe win decades fastest over Fu Peg (106) and Point Given (105) 119 Beyer Strub win and 117 Beyer 2nd place finish in BC Classic)

* The Tin Man (9-for-15 at SA .. won the Grade 1 Hirsch in '02 and '06)

* Zenyatta (3-for-3 El Encino, Lady's Secret, and the Cocoa Beach win)

* Ventura (3-for-4 - BC filly sprint, Gr 1 Santa Monica, only loss a nose defeat to Gio Ponti at level weight)

[slotdirt]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Santa Anita Candidates:

* Milwaukee Brew (already discussed)

* Megahertz (9 stakes wins at Santa Anita. Won the Grade 2 Santa Barbara 3 years in a row, won the Grade 2 Santa Ana twice, also won the Gr 1 Yellow Ribbon, as well as 3 ungraded stakes in her first 3 North American starts)

* Pleasantly Perfect (5-for-10 including a BC Classic win)

* Tiznow (already discussed)

* Rock Hard Ten (6-for-7 including a sweep of the Strub series - Goodwood and Big Cap wins. Only loss was SA Derby when DQ'd from 2nd)

* Lava Man (5-for-11 .. 2 Big Caps and a Sunshine Million Classic win)

* Southern Image (4-for-5 with wins in the Big Cap, Sunshine Millions, and Malibu)

* Medaglia D' Oro (2-for-3. 107 Beyer San Felipe win decades fastest over Fu Peg (106) and Point Given (105) 119 Beyer Strub win and 117 Beyer 2nd place finish in BC Classic)

* The Tin Man (9-for-15 at SA .. won the Grade 1 Hirsch in '02 and '06)

* Zenyatta (3-for-3 El Encino, Lady's Secret, and the Cocoa Beach win)

* Ventura (3-for-4 - BC filly sprint, Gr 1 Santa Monica, only loss a nose defeat to Gio Ponti at level weight)

This one gets special recognition for being accomplished with like 14 years between starts.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

What's kind of crazy is that Bobby Frankel trained 4 of those at SA including - the top 2 on the list.

Frankel has the winner of Belmont, Saratoga, Del Mar, Santa Anita, and Fair Grounds.

Pletcher has only Monmouth Park and Baffert has only Aqu.


Even if you think Sightseek's 6-for-6 Belmont record with 5 easy Grade 1 wins and a 12 length alw score top's Ghostzapper's 5-for-5 Belmont resume .. it's still Frankel versus Frankel.

[RolloTomasi]

Just for correctness,

Rock Hard Ten did not sweep the Strub series in 2005, although Dick Mandella did.

RHT passed on the San Fernando, paving the way for Minister Eric to notch his only stakes win and making him IIRC one of only 3 horses from the 2003 BC Juvenile to win a stakes race subsequently.

The others were Mambo Train (Turf Paradise Derby) and Irish invader Relaxed Gesture (who won several Graded stakes on turf for Cristophe Clement as an older horse).

[Smooth Operator]

Belmont "Horse of the Decade"
Lone Star Park "Horse of the Decade"
Overall "Horse of the Decade"


Best since Bid

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Belmont "Horse of the Decade"
Lone Star Park "Horse of the Decade"
Overall "Horse of the Decade"


Best since Bid

Speaking of which, his half-bro by Giant's Causeway just ran second in his debut.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by philcski

I found this one to be very difficult to find a clear cut selection... Burning Roma was what I came up with as well.

Was thinking about Charles Town last night and I think Researcher deserves a look, track recordholder and winner of their alltime richest race.

On cue, Researcher runs off the screen again at Charles Town. If they ran the BC Classic there, he'd be 1/5.