Rachel Alexandra's two-turn campaign

[TropicalStorm]

Nobody has done it since Ghostzapper. He was great. That is the point. Too many people throw the word great around and there has not been a great horse since him.


Icon Project looks to me like an animal that may flirt with that figure.

[TropicalStorm]

I thought the Lava Man figure was a 118 but either way I think people can argue he was great. His longevity must be factored in and he ran at a great level for a good time and he could run on anything.

I put Lavaman more in the Invasor and Saint Liam, just below the greats.

[slotdirt]

Lava Man had a SWEET record outside of Cali, so yeah, he sure could run on anything. Good call.

[TropicalStorm]

Attacking Lava Man for his record outside CA is sort of ridiculous. It is not like all his CA races were at 1 track.

Would you criticize a horse with great wins at Belmont, Saratoga, and Aqueduct but a few poor efforts at Churchill and Gulfstream?

Lava Man ran for a long time and ran a bunch of races and obviously he was a very good horse.

Great? No. But he won big races on a bunch of different surfaces. So yes he could run on anything. Show me all the grade 1 winners on dirt and turf.

[slotdirt]

Originally Posted by CrossfireHurricane

Attacking Lava Man for his record outside CA is sort of ridiculous. It is not like all his CA races were at 1 track.

Would you criticize a horse with great wins at Belmont, Saratoga, and Aqueduct but a few poor efforts at Churchill and Gulfstream?

Lava Man ran for a long time and ran a bunch of races and obviously he was a very good horse.

Great? No. But he won big races on a bunch of different surfaces. So yes he could run on anything. Show me all the grade 1 winners on dirt and turf.

Yes.

[TropicalStorm]

So a horse that can win the Man O War on the turf at Belmont, the Wood at Aqueduct, and the Whitney at Saratoga isn't worthy of praise because he ran poorly in the Clark and Donn?

Of course not. Lava Man was very versatile and perhaps he just did not like getting on planes.

[Linny]

There's a reason Sky Beauty is not in the Hall of Fame...

[slotdirt]

Originally Posted by CrossfireHurricane

So a horse that can win the Man O War on the turf at Belmont, the Wood at Aqueduct, and the Whitney at Saratoga isn't worthy of praise because he ran poorly in the Clark and Donn?

Of course not. Lava Man was very versatile and perhaps he just did not like getting on planes.

Yes, it was that fear of flying that made him run 11th in the Japan Cup Dirt and 16th in the Dubai Duty Free. At least he was consistently bad when he tried to leave California.