How do you.....

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Because I don't want to type up a million words saying you can't really learn anything by rating them....so rating them really doesn't matter - I will give in and do so.

Curlin's career is still unfinished - and when you look at what is out there in the older male division now - he's got a very easy road to #1 on everyones list of these if he stays sound. I will rate him though as if he's been retired today...and not account for what he might do later on.

#1 Smarty Jones (really - almost nothing seperates these five horses in a rating system. Especially the top 3. His Preakness win was awesome. His Rebel win was strong. His Belmont Stakes effort was massively better than looked. I wasn't a big fan of his - but he was a very good 2yo, excellent 3yo, he had his huge race, and where was his bad race?)

#2 Curlin (He was always the better horse than Street Sense and Hard Spun, but as an immature type in a race run as the Derby was - he wasn't going to show it. Won the Preakness as a lightly raced horse despite getting outtripped. Finished off 3yo season VERY strong. Doesn't corner well, isn't very effective picking through the pack, thus prone to needing wide trips)

#3 Bernardini (he lossed his debut sprinting - A. P. Indy's don't do six furlongs well. After that, it was a steady diet of one impressive race followed by another slightly more impressive race - and that trend concluded with his better than looked 2nd in the Classic. A good case could be made for #1. However, all of his wins came with soft trips in soft fields.)

#4 Afleet Alex (He was the star of a weak triple crown series - even though his best game naturally was probably elongated sprints. Great training job. Very underrated early season 2yo. His win in the Sanford was outstanding.)

#5 Barbaro (he easily was cut out to be the kind of horse that could top this list. I'm rating based on what he did though - and not on a projection as to what he could have done)

[tiggerv]

Originally Posted by Sightseek

The word 'great' was tossed around with all of the following, how would you rank them?

Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Bernardini, Barbaro or Curlin?

Barbaro, Curlin, Smarty, Bernardini, Alex

IMO Barbaro was the only one in that group who had a chance to be considered great. We obviously didn't get to see his warts but he was so good on both surfaces that he would have had a huge career. I am probably giving too much credit to Curlin because he improved so dramatically while the rest of his classmates seemed to stay in place. Right now he probably looks better to me than he really is. Smarty was a very nice horse and I could see him ahead of Curlin. He always fired which I think is a mark of a great horse. Bernardini's best race that I saw was the loss to Invasor. His Preakness was visually impressive with that big move in the turn but does he even win that if Barbaro duels him down the stretch? Perhaps thats what I can't get over and I don't give him enough credit. Alex was a nice horse but a notch below the others.