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Originally Posted by King Glorious
What were the two biggest tests of the year for him?
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Did he start in only 2 big races all year? I suppose since Life is Good fits that bill...
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The two races he was trained and set to peak in?
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I don't know if his trainer would have been dumb enough to "really train" him for only 2 races. Especially since on pedigree his ideal race was always going to be the Belmont Stakes. Maybe that's why he lost the BC Classic. Too many hard races while the other candidates were sprinting, laid up at Los Al, having surgery, or running in listed stakes. Letruska is still going to be champion older mare despite her BC effort.
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Sure, the Derby result was questioned because of the drug issue and because of the trips both horses had. People argued that Essential Quality was probably best even in defeat. Myself among them.
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You just stated the case here. And the drug issue doesn't go away just because you recognize it happened.
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Going into the Classic, I had Essential Quality clearly ahead of him. We can't, however, pretend that the Classic didn't happen. A 1-0 advantage, maybe even a 2-1 advantage, I can see an argument for the second horse. 2-0 is difficult for me. I know you'll tear it apart but it reminds me of the Sunday Silence/Easy Goer debate. After the Belmont, despite being down 1-2, I felt that Easy Goer was the better horse. The next few months saw Sunday Silence losing to Prized and winning the Super Derby while Easy Goer was out there winning the best races in the country, beating older horses, etc, and led to Easy Goer being favored in the Classic. We know what happened next.
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A strict head-to-head is silly, especially since both horses got blitzed by an older horse. We can base it on beaten rivals, too. You mention Prized, who beat Sunday Silence by 3/4s of a length in the Swaps. Well, Easy Goer beat Prized by about 20 lengths in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Essential Quality was consistently better than Rock Your World, Midnight Bourbon, and Hot Rod Charlie all year long. Medina Spirit was better than those horses some of the time (depending on his physical condition and treatment regimen).
Again, Medina Spirit failed his Derby post-race test; not gonna just chalk up an easy "1" for him for that race.
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If Essential Quality and Medina Spirit were to face each other again, I'd more than likely pick Essential Quality again because I still feel like he's probably the better horse but with voting having to be done based on the current results, it's gotta be Medina Spirit over Essential Quality.
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I wouldn't; Essential Quality was always being trained and campaigned like a horse that was going to be retired at the end of his 3yo year. Who knows what they are going to do with Medina Spirit. He was a bench warmer in his barn until mid-April (which is why he made 9 starts instead of the usual 6 from that barn).