[King Glorious]

I don't need to see a lot of races to know what I see a couple of times. For me, I think great horses do one of two things. Either they beat really good horses or they run really fast races. I like horses that do it on more than one surface but so many aren't given the chance to show if they could or not that I don't think it's fair to give horses that were given a chance extra credit. For that same reason, I don't give extra credit to the names of the races the horses run in. That simply has no bearing on their ability. I wouldn't punish Zenyatta for her connections not allowing her to run against the boys. I wouldn't give Rachel extra credit for facing older males in the Woodward when facing 3yos in the Travers would have been the tougher race.

Ability as a 2yo
Ability as a 3yo
Ability as an older horse
I only judge them by when they actually run. I wouldn't downgrade Curlin because he didn't run as a 2yo. My only requirement is that in whatever years they run, they run great.

Ability as a sprinter
Ability as a miler
Ability as a router
A lot of people only judge them by how well they do at 10f. I don't think that's the only distance that we run races at. In fact, the majority of races in this country are under 8f. It's my feeling that it's tougher to be dominant over a more inclusive group than it is to be dominant over a select group. There's only 10 horses that can run 10f in any given year. There's 10000 that can run 6f. Whatever you do, whether it be sprints, miles, 16f, grass, dirt, whatever it is, be the best at it.

Ability as a dirt horse-important
Ability as a synthetic horse-completely 100% not important
Ability as a turf horse-important

Ability to win major races-not important
Ability to beat good horses-extremely important
Ability to run fast figures-very important
Ability to win with dominance-slightly important

Ability to stay sound and race often without big time gaps between starts-not important
Ability to carry high weight or give weight away to good horses-important
Ability to have success as a stallion or broodmare-completely unimportant
Ability to be consistant and not go in and out of top form-very important

Ability to handle different surfaces-not important
Ability to handle a wide range of distances-not important
Ability to handle tough trips, bad rides, and unfavorable circumstances-important
Ability to ship and consistantly run near top form away from home circuit-slightly important
Ability to have participated in a lot of major races-not important

Ability of the trainer.-not important although the example you mentioned makes me reevaluate that opinion some.

Ability of the jockey.-completely irrelevant

Competence of the management.-usually not important unless they are putting their horse in position to fail, ala Arazi.

Visual likability.-not important