Defining a great horse

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Top 5:

1. Ability as a dirt horse
2. Ability to beat good horses
3. Ability to run fast figures
4. Ability to be consistant and hold form
5. Ability to handle tough trips, bad rides, and unfavorable circumstances

If you have "ability as a dirt horse" #1," does that mean that there can't be a great turf horse, or mybe that you would be unlikely to call many turf horses great? Weren't Ribot and Alleged great horses? Perhaps Manila too?
Especially now with the # of synthetic surfaces, if a horse demonstrated tremendous ability on turf and synthetic, for example, I could classify the horse as "great" even if it never performed on dirt, or performed poorly in a couple of attempts.

Other than that I basically agree.

1. Ability to beat good horses
2. Ability to handle tough trips, bad rides, and unfavorable circumstances
3. Ability to run fast figures
4. Ability to win major races
5. Ability to handle a wide range of distances