ruffian and rachel

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by Danzig

some good points. when jordan was playing, everyone said no one would compare....but he's retired-and of course other good ones come along. as for gretzky, even he is wowed by ovechkin.


it's funny...once upon a time a horse was compared to a former great, and many were scandalized. that would be man o'war i'm talking about. of course now it doesn't seem so odd to compare horses to man o'war. the horse he was compared to? anyone? lol i'd have to look it up myself-it's in a book here somewhere.

Off the top of my head, probably Sysonby. Not 100% but that's who came to mind first. Certainly was one of those mentioned in Walter Farley's fictionalized account, and people were all 'hey whoa wait a minute, let's not get carried away.' For those who haven't read it, it's really good and it's not a fictionalized account of the horses' accomplishments, just a fake person named Danny to serve as the eyes of the reader in MOW's story.

While we're talking MOW, the Steves Byk and Haskin were talking about the Hopeful the other day and 'our' Steve said MOW lost it, but actually he won the Hopeful and lost the Sanford. I felt a tad silly calling in just to correct that, but having read Man O' War numerous times as a child and Dorothy Ours' book when it came out, I couldn't help but have a bell go off in my head.

[dean smith]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Off the top of my head, probably Sysonby. Not 100% but that's who came to mind first. Certainly was one of those mentioned in Walter Farley's fictionalized account, and people were all 'hey whoa wait a minute, let's not get carried away.' For those who haven't read it, it's really good and it's not a fictionalized account of the horses' accomplishments, just a fake person named Danny to serve as the eyes of the reader in MOW's story.

While we're talking MOW, the Steves Byk and Haskin were talking about the Hopeful the other day and 'our' Steve said MOW lost it, but actually he won the Hopeful and lost the Sanford. I felt a tad silly calling in just to correct that, but having read Man O' War numerous times as a child and Dorothy Ours' book when it came out, I couldn't help but have a bell go off in my head.

Steve's really pissed about that one. I can't blame him. It took some balls for you to call into him and try to embarrass him like that.

[dean smith]

Originally Posted by dean smith

Steve's really pissed about that one. I can't blame him. It took some balls for you to call into him and try to embarrass him like that.

And then for you to find a way to work it into the conversation about Rachel and Ruffian and "just happen to mention it" on an Internet message board... It's like you want the whole world to know that you're wearing a Steve Byk pelt around your waist. The great hunter has stalked and killed his prey.

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by dean smith

And then for you to find a way to work it into the conversation about Rachel and Ruffian and "just happen to mention it" on an Internet message board... It's like you want the whole world to know that you're wearing a Steve Byk pelt around your waist. The great hunter has stalked and killed his prey.

Okay now you're just being obnoxious. Way to reply to your own message by the way. 'Just thought I'd mention it'. How about you let Steve defend himself if he feels the need? I do believe he's a grown up. Good grief you got yourself wound up over nothing. Frankly rather than play gotcha with Steve, I imagine he could easily take me down when it comes to knowledge about this sport and he's always someone I look forward to hearing from. If he needs a public bowing down to, he can get one from me any time he wants.

Someone asked a question about MOW, being the insanely dorky kid I was, I read way way too much as a child (most especially about horse racing) and I got attached to Big Red. Steve just happened to mention him during the Hopeful and it occurred to me just now so I said something. I don't believe I trumpeted anything and probably would've just forgotten all about it were it not for the MOW question in this thread. It was a simple remark and you didn't say I slammed Haskin in any way, yet he didn't bring it up either. Love how it's a selective 'defend the honor' slam on your part.

[dean smith]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Okay now you're just being obnoxious. Way to reply to your own message by the way. 'Just thought I'd mention it'. How about you let Steve defend himself if he feels the need? I do believe he's a grown up. Good grief you got yourself wound up over nothing. Frankly rather than play gotcha with Steve, I imagine he could easily take me down when it comes to knowledge about this sport and he's always someone I look forward to hearing from. If he needs a public bowing down to, he can get one from me any time he wants.

Someone asked a question about MOW, being the insanely dorky kid I was, I read way way too much as a child (most especially about horse racing) and I got attached to Big Red. Steve just happened to mention him during the Hopeful and it occurred to me just now so I said something. I don't believe I trumpeted anything and probably would've just forgotten all about it were it not for the MOW question in this thread. It was a simple remark and you didn't say I slammed Haskin in any way, yet he didn't bring it up either. Love how it's a selective 'defend the honor' slam on your part.

C'mon, man. You can't possibly think I was being serious...

Tight-wound bunch at Derby Trail. Very touchy.

Sensitive thugs, I think you all need hugs!

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by dean smith

C'mon, man. You can't possibly think I was being serious...

Tight-wound bunch at Derby Trail. Very touchy.

Sensitive thugs, I think you all need hugs!

I'm feeling the love. No worries.

Gotta love how internet transfers tone, but I was really hoping you were kidding the first time and then the second post threw me. Given the level of hyperbole I thought 'my God, a DTer I thought was sane goes off the deep end.' I was having a bad day and then it was just the last straw. I thought I'd missed something where, unbeknownst to me, there'd been some other sort of discussion about it and you thought I was rubbing it in to be a jerk.

Originally Posted by Linny

MOW presumably was compared to Colin, Sysonby or even Hindoo. In fact do recall reading quotes in history books about a given horse being the "second coming of Hindoo..."

Good ones, you're right I've heard those too. Colin and Fair Play. What I wouldn't give to have seen that rivalry.

A point I think is great to bring up is where Steve mentions Gallorette. I just don't know that she's getting brought up enough in the Rachel discussion. People are focused on Ruffian, but when I first saw what Gallorette accomplished I was just in awe of her. I didn't realize Barclay Tagg said it's perfectly fair to talk about RA and Ruffian, but I appreciated hearing that yesterday when I think Jon White brought it up. Even if you can't compare fillies of different eras exactly, it's fun to discuss them all and really it just elevates everybody in my eyes as I realize how blessed we've been.

[Antitrust32]

What race are they going to change the name of to the "Rachel Alexandra" Grade 1 race. All the really good one's get Grade 1 races.

Maybe they'll change the name of the Haskell or the Woodward to the "Rachel Alexandra"

[Linny]

Agree about Gallorette. She was very good and took on leading males in an era of tough old timers sticking arond for years. I don't think she's being snubbed so much as the focus has been comparing RA to other brilliant 3yo fillies. To try to draw a comparison, you have to look at a timeline comparison, meaning you only look at Gallorette up to September of her 3yo year.
RA has had a brilliant 3yo campaign and it's fair to compare her to other brilliant 3yo fillies, but not fair to compare her to horses that developed into champions at 4 or beyond.

Colin and Fair Play had a rather on sided rivalry as Colin was never beaten. The horse I'd love to time travel to see would be Domino, but only if I could catch a day when he was sprinting.

Don't get me started on the changing of race names. I hate it with the white hot heat of a thousand suns. NOTHING will sway me, nothing.

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by dean smith

Steve's really pissed about that one. I can't blame him. It took some balls for you to call into him and try to embarrass him like that.

Right whatever. Haskin didn't correct him and as 'oops' go, it's hardly an earth shattering one. Do most people even know it off the top of their head? Obviously it was a race MOW ran in at Saratoga and we all know he lost there. I'm sure it'd be a popular guess that it was the Hopeful. I just know I always cringed when I got to that part of Farley's book, knowing what was about to happen.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Off the top of my head, probably Sysonby. Not 100% but that's who came to mind first. Certainly was one of those mentioned in Walter Farley's fictionalized account, and people were all 'hey whoa wait a minute, let's not get carried away.' For those who haven't read it, it's really good and it's not a fictionalized account of the horses' accomplishments, just a fake person named Danny to serve as the eyes of the reader in MOW's story.

While we're talking MOW, the Steves Byk and Haskin were talking about the Hopeful the other day and 'our' Steve said MOW lost it, but actually he won the Hopeful and lost the Sanford. I felt a tad silly calling in just to correct that, but having read Man O' War numerous times as a child and Dorothy Ours' book when it came out, I couldn't help but have a bell go off in my head.

i was thinking sysonby, but too tired to look it up... i read the farley man o'war book-hell, i read everything walter farley wrote!