Deepest Derby Field
 

Since I know some of you are clearly sleeping with your copies of Champions, back issues of The Form, and American Racing Manuals...what year had the deepest field of runners in the Derby?

The Blood-Horse did an article a couple years back saying the '57 Derby was one of the best fields ever assembled.

good luck finding a better field, or a better crop overall.

Just off the top of my head, I think the field for the 2000 Derby was solid.

Fupeg
Aptitude
Captain Steve
More Than Ready
War Chant

lol

1987 and 1985.

Pretty fond of 98 too, but most would disagree.

1997 with Sliver Charm, Free House, Captain Bidgit, and Pulpit was pretty good. Of course 2007 with Street Sense, Hard Spun, and Curlin was also pretty good.

Paul

1988 was very solid:

Winning Colors
Forty Niner
Risen Star
Proper Reality
Seeking the Gold
Regal Classic
Private Terms

I'll say '57 as well....Bold Ruler ( Secretariats sire ) , Round Table, Iron Liege, Federal Hill and Gen. Duke. Dont forget, this was the Derby that Shoemaker misjudged the finish line on Gallant Man ( ala Desormeaux and Elvis at Keeneland ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bButu4X_ack

I don't think there's any doubt that the deepest Derby field from this decade coming into the race was 2001.

Point Given dismantled the Santa Anita Derby field.

Monarchos dismantled the Florida Derby field.

Congaree dismantled Monarchos and everyone else in the Wood Memorial

Balto Star was coming into the race having won the 600K Spiral by 13 lengths with a 112 Beyer and the Arkansas Derby by 5 lengths with a 109 Beyer in his final two starts.

Millennium Wind came into the race after dismantling the Blue Grass stakes field with a 114 Beyer figure.

Express Tour came into that race with an amazing victory over Street Cry at 9fs in the UAE Derby. The older Lido Palace, who was 3rd beaten 6 lengths in that race, would come to America and sweep the Woodward and Whitney later that summer. Street Cry romped in the Dubai World Cup over that same track the next year.

And Thunder Blitz came into that race having romped to a 7 length victory in the Flamingo Stakes in his final prep.

There were some scary sharp horses coming into that race - and the pace of that race was absolutely ruthless! Monarchos and the grinding Invisible Ink were the only two left not fully run into the ground by that killer pace.

man i miss that race!

2008......lol!

1987
ALYSHEBA
BET TWICE
CRYPTOCLEARANCE
GULCH
CAPOTE
DEMON'S BEGONE

I think '87 was certainly the best in my lifetime.
Primarily because of the ones you mentioned of course, but I am also pretty sure that On the Line was in the Derby that year too, and he was a very good horse at ages 3, 4, and 5.

i heard that race replay yesterday...that was a thrilling race. of course the caller missed alysheba clipping heels and almost going down.

actually, grindstones field is nothing to sneeze at.

That's a lot of championship caliber horses right there.

Where have all the good horses gone?

1987 and 1988 do it for me. Not just for what those two had done up to and including the Derby but for how good they were after. I remember Seeking the Gold and Forty Niner putting on those two great shows in the Haskell and Travers and then STG running with Alysheba down the lane in the Classic. Too bad Risen Star couldn't finish out the year. And as good as that 1987 field was, remember that it was missing Java Gold, Lost Code, and Polish Navy. That was a deep class.

And the next year wasn't bad either. Flying Continental went on to have an extremely good post-Derby career. Hawkster and Clever Trevor both had very nice careers too. Awe Inspiring was another very talented colt in the Derby field that year.
And of course, the race also featured the horses I would rank 1-2 in any list of best horses in the last 25 years.

1987-1989 was an absolutely fabulous 3-year stretch in this sport.

1989
Sunday Silence
Easy Goer


Nuff said

Is your name Matt?

My name is Max

why u ask?

You reminded me of someone named Matt from the AOL horse racing boards years back.

I agree, 1987 was a very deep year.

Matt is still there. He still believes BSFs are the only thing to pay attention to when handicapping.

The Florida Derby was the first horse race I remember watching. And the horse that won it, Gen. Duke, would probably have been favored in the Derby. He injured himself and was out of the Derby. His Calumet stable mate Iron Liege won it.

Gen. Duke, Round Table, Gallant Man, Iron Liege, Bold Ruler...Hard to argue with that group.

Is his streak of hitting the tri in the derby for 20 straight years still intact?

Does he still donate pizza crust to the homeless hungry?

Either 1987 or 1988 for me. Tough call.

I can remember vividly walking down to the bar with my Dad to watch those races (we didn't have a TV back then)... stopping at the OTB to bet on the way. Strange because there's not much else I remember from that age (9-10).

I'm surprised nobody else liked 1985.

The field only had about a dozen runners but included Spend A Buck, Stephen's Odyssey, Chief's Crown, Tank's Prospect, Skywalker, Proud Truth, Eternal Prince and even Fast Account (a decent horse).

Going back aways
1973 Derby
Top four finishers

Secretariat

Sham-won Santa Anita Derby, beat Secretariat in the Wood while finishing 2nd

Our Native- won the Flamingo, 3rd in Preakness & Derby, won Monmouth Invitational and Ohio Derby. Overall won 14 of 37 starts

Forego-won 9 of 18 as a 3year old and improving with age won 34 of the 57 races entered

Exactas...Not hard to do when you put all horses that have run a 100+ BSF on top on top and then hit the all button. Don't know about the homeless hungry, but I am sure he still donates his time to the gay soup kitchens of SF. He is reguarded as some sort of guru over on Victoria's board

Remember when he wanted to fly out Druggie for some lessons?

Don't remember. To teach him about handicapping or alternative life styles? AOL was fun back then. Probably the only ones you would remember that still post are Roger, RobertBCurrie (Joyce) and Arlington Dan. Charlie (TwoSmartBreeder) shows up from time to time. He is 86 and still breeding one foal a year. The board is pretty much horsey loving wimmin now. SymplySweet walked over the rainbow bridge a couple years ago.

But the rest of the field was nearly as good - Better Bee (20 wins, 7 stakes races, the King of Chicago); Federal Hill (10 wins, equalled the track record to win the Louisiana Derby, won the Derby Trial and the Ky JC S at 2); Mister Jive (15 wins lifetime, won the Cowdin and Summer S -new track record- at 2, the Gotham at 3); Shan Pac (won 25 races lifetime, set new track record winning the Churchill Downs H at 4); and Indian Creek, the worst of the lot - he only won 9 of 44 lifetime and was SP at 4.

1969 saw 4 horses entered who were so strong that they scared away most of the rest of the eligibles. They were:

Top Knight - champion 2yo, won the Flamingo and the Florida Derby
Majestic Prince - won Santa Anita Derby, San Jacinto S, San Vicente S (dominated So Cal)
Arts and Letters - won the Everglades and Blue Grass S, second Flamingo and Florida Derby
Dike - won the Gotham and Wood Memorial
one of the long shots was Traffic Mark, who had won the Arkansas Derby and been second in the Blue Grass; he had won the Ky JC S at 2 as well. Only 3 others ran.

Majestic Prince won the Derby and Preakness, was second in the Belmont and never ran again. Meanwhile, Belmont winner Arts and Letters (who had prepped with a Met Mile win) went on to win the Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup and be named Horse of the Year.

1985 was an uderrated group....with Spend A Buck, Chief's Crown--a BC juvy winner and 7 or 8 time grade 1 winner, back to back BC Classic winners in Proud Truth and Skywalker, Tank's Prospect and Stephans Odyssey. 1986 had 4 superb ones in Ferdinand, Snow Chief, Broad Brush and Groovy as well.

I cant believe nobody has mentioned 2005!!!

Giacomo
Spanish Chestnut
Going Wild
Bandini
Closing Argument
High Fly
Andromedas Hero
Noble Causeway















:rolleyes: