Top 25 3yo's 1987-2007

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by _PAPA_

My proudest bet I ever kopped, was Lammtarra in the Derby.

He only had one start prior to the race, in a maiden against the speedy Myself. I thought at the time that was a potentially top class horse, but he seemed to get injured all the time, until the derby. The morning of the derby I looked at the form, and I said bugger it, sometimes you gotta go with the breeding. Lammtarra had amazing breeding for the derby, being by a derby winner out of an oaks winner.

I slammed him in, and took 16/1 at Ladbrokes.

All the same, the horse never won a race by more than a length. Therefore we cannot really judge how good he was. Best horses he beat were Pentire, and Freedom Cry, who were good, but I wouldnt put them in the same league as some of the others mentioned on my list.

I agree with you that Pentire and Freedom Cry weren't all time greats. But they were really good horses. Pentire came back to win the Irish Champion Stakes (Freedom Cry was second) and also won the King George the next year. Pentire also beat out Singspiel (future U.S. turf champ) a couple of times. Freedom Cry was a nose away from winning the BC Turf that year. Lammatarra also beat Swain in that Arc and Swain was a pretty good horse (wins in the King George twice, Coronation Cup, Irish Champion Stakes, seconds in the Dubai World Cup and BC Classic). So he was beating some pretty good horses. To do them in only his 2-4th career starts makes the accomplishment even more amazing, IMO. He also set a course record when winning the Epsom Derby. Also, it's been my opinion that winning margins in European races is very overrated. Many times, you will see a win called dominating and the winning margin was less than a length.