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  #1  
Old 12-11-2009, 01:03 PM
Patrick333 Patrick333 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
1st team, 2nd team, 3rd team, 4th team by division.

2yo Male: War Pass, Macho Uno, Stevie Wonderboy, Street Sense
2yo Female: Tempera, Storm Flag Flying, Halfbrideld, You
2yo Turf Male: Barbaro, Peace Rules, Interactif, Cowboy Cal
2yo Turf Female: Dreaming of Anna, J'Ray, Fantastic Filly, Riskaverse
2yo Male Sprinter: Officer, Came Home, Afleet Alex, Roman Ruler
2yo Female Sprinter: Cashier's Dream, You, Hot Dixie Chick, Gold Mover

3yo Male: Smarty Jones, Tiznow, Point Given, Bernardini
3yo Female: Rachel Alexandra, Rags To Riches, Xtra Heat, Surfside
3yo Turf Male: Kitten's Joy, Conduit, High Chaparral, Rock Of Gibraltor,
3yo Turf Female: Banks Hill, Ouija Board, Goldikova, Six Perfections
3yo Male Sprinter: Caller One, Squirtle Squirt, Lost In The Fog, Cajun Beat
3yo Female Sprinter: Xtra Heat, Indian Blessing, Madcap Escapade, Lady Tak
Older Male: Ghostzapper, Mineshaft, Medaglia D' Oro, Congaree
Older Female: Zenyatta, Azeri, Riboletta, Sightseek
Older Turf Male: Fantastic Light, Leroidesanemeaux, English Channel, Kalanisi
Older Turf Female: Ouija Board, Golden Apples, Voodoo Dancer, Intercontinental
Older Male Sprinter: Kona Gold, Midnight Lute, Swept Overboard, Fabulous Strike
Older Female Sprinter: Xtra Heat, Honest Lady, Informed Decision, Kalooken Queen


2003 was the glory year for older males for going long ... you don't realize realize quite how spectacular they were until you see what followed them up and what was just before them.

The 3-year-old males are a brutal group to rate. A good case could be made for anyone of seven or eight.
Good to see Smarty Jones getting some love.
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  #2  
Old 12-11-2009, 01:26 PM
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miraja2 miraja2 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick333
Good to see Smarty Jones getting some love.
I'm shocked that it took four pages to get around to discussing DrugS's decision to rank Smarty number one among 3yo males. If Serling was still around here, it would have only taken four seconds.

Point Given would be #1 for me.
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  #3  
Old 12-11-2009, 02:19 PM
parsixfarms parsixfarms is offline
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I haven't had a chance to think about some of these "divisions," but one notable omission: Cesario in the 3YO filly turfer division.
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  #4  
Old 12-11-2009, 04:12 PM
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The Indomitable DrugS The Indomitable DrugS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by parsixfarms
I haven't had a chance to think about some of these "divisions," but one notable omission: Cesario in the 3YO filly turfer division.
There is really no way you can justify including her in the top 4.

Cesario's lone start here was a hugely impressive win in the American Oaks.

Melhor Ainda finished 2nd at 6/5 odds. She returned to run 3rd by a neck to Angera and than was 7th beaten 5 lengths in the Flower Bowl. She never won a Graded Stake race after.

The 3rd place finisher in that American Oaks was Singhalese..she was still elidgible for N1X alw races.

That field just doesn't compare well with the fields Banks Hill, Ouija Board, Goldikova and Six Perfections beat in Breeders Cup races.

Banks Hill demolished a field in the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf by 5.5 lengths and ran a mind boggling 112 Beyer. Ouija Board absolutely toyed with the field in her 3yo Breeders Cup F and M Turf win. Goldikova and Six Perfections both beat males in the Breeders Cup Mile as a 3yo.
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  #5  
Old 12-11-2009, 04:15 PM
Danzig Danzig is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miraja2
I'm shocked that it took four pages to get around to discussing DrugS's decision to rank Smarty number one among 3yo males. If Serling was still around here, it would have only taken four seconds.

Point Given would be #1 for me.

apopleptic would be the word used to describe him if he saw it!
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  #6  
Old 12-11-2009, 04:39 PM
RockHardTen1985 RockHardTen1985 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miraja2
I'm shocked that it took four pages to get around to discussing DrugS's decision to rank Smarty number one among 3yo males. If Serling was still around here, it would have only taken four seconds.

Point Given would be #1 for me.

Point Givens easy at 1 and Drugs is a bit confused here, Bernardini 2....
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  #7  
Old 12-11-2009, 04:54 PM
Danzig Danzig is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985
Point Givens easy at 1 and Drugs is a bit confused here, Bernardini 2....
no way bernardini should be ahead of tiznow.
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  #8  
Old 12-11-2009, 04:58 PM
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The Indomitable DrugS The Indomitable DrugS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miraja2
I'm shocked that it took four pages to get around to discussing DrugS's decision to rank Smarty number one among 3yo males. If Serling was still around here, it would have only taken four seconds.

Point Given would be #1 for me.
The 3-year-old male group was really close to impossible to do.

Anyone of seven or eight have great cases ... and that doesn't include Barbaro.

Curlin - a 2-time Horse of the Year - was a horse that I was surprised didn't make it. I had him 5th .. and if anyone put him 1st I wouldn't argue much.

I think everyone has a built in bias that favors the 2nd half of the year in each division ... and they rightly should. However, the 3yo male division is the one division where I think as much or more emphasis should be placed on the first half of the season as it is the second half.

No one was any more against Smarty Jones in the Triple Crown series than I was .. I badly underestimated his ability to get a distance! And few horses ever had fans as annoying as Smarty Jones fans.

Smarty Jones won a very rapid Rebel Stakes over Purge. Purge totally blew out fields in fast wins in the Peter Pan, Jim Dandy, and Cigar Mile.

Smarty Jones won a very fast Ark Derby over Borrego.

Smarty Jones toyed with a solid enough field in the Kentucky Derby. If you want to say the wet track helped speed ... in that case it helped a very solid horse in Lion Heart a lot more. How much did the wet track in this years Derby help speed?

Smarty Jones Preakness win was a mind boggling performance. 118 Beyer .. 11.5 length victory .. and left a trio of future Grade 1 winners murdered in his wake. It visually looked a little too much like Funny Cide's 9+ length romp over Midway Road and Scrimshaw to appreciate it.

All this from a horse who, as a 2yo, ran an insane figure despite breaking slow from the rail in his only stakes try sprinting.

I don't think anyone sane can possibly watch the Belmont and not conclude that SJ ran without a doubt a far superior race to everyone else.

He had to fight on the lead with Purge early - easily dispose of Purge after 6 furlongs - have a 7f Grade 1 Malibu winner in Rock Hard Ten make a big and insanely pre-mature move at him ... which he repelled shockingly effortless. He ran a spectacular race for 11 furlongs .. and a dream trip next out Travers winner was able to grind him down when he hit a wall and stopped in the last furlong.

After 10fs in the Belmont:

Smarty Jones 1st by 3.5 lengths
Birdstone 2nd by 3.5 lengths
Rock Hard Ten 3rd by 5 lengths
Eddington 4th by 7 lengths
Royal Assault 5th by 15 lengths

It wasn't totally lost on me either that Smarty Jones was trained by John Servis and ridden by Stewart Elliot. Not exactly a wizardly trainer and a competent jock. Still, if someone put Curlin 1st and Smarty Jones 5th .. I wouldn't argue that much.
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  #9  
Old 12-11-2009, 06:33 PM
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philcski philcski is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
The 3-year-old male group was really close to impossible to do.

Anyone of seven or eight have great cases ... and that doesn't include Barbaro.

Curlin - a 2-time Horse of the Year - was a horse that I was surprised didn't make it. I had him 5th .. and if anyone put him 1st I wouldn't argue much.

I think everyone has a built in bias that favors the 2nd half of the year in each division ... and they rightly should. However, the 3yo male division is the one division where I think as much or more emphasis should be placed on the first half of the season as it is the second half.

No one was any more against Smarty Jones in the Triple Crown series than I was .. I badly underestimated his ability to get a distance! And few horses ever had fans as annoying as Smarty Jones fans.

Smarty Jones won a very rapid Rebel Stakes over Purge. Purge totally blew out fields in fast wins in the Peter Pan, Jim Dandy, and Cigar Mile.

Smarty Jones won a very fast Ark Derby over Borrego.

Smarty Jones toyed with a solid enough field in the Kentucky Derby. If you want to say the wet track helped speed ... in that case it helped a very solid horse in Lion Heart a lot more. How much did the wet track in this years Derby help speed?

Smarty Jones Preakness win was a mind boggling performance. 118 Beyer .. 11.5 length victory .. and left a trio of future Grade 1 winners murdered in his wake. It visually looked a little too much like Funny Cide's 9+ length romp over Midway Road and Scrimshaw to appreciate it.

All this from a horse who, as a 2yo, ran an insane figure despite breaking slow from the rail in his only stakes try sprinting.

I don't think anyone sane can possibly watch the Belmont and not conclude that SJ ran without a doubt a far superior race to everyone else.

He had to fight on the lead with Purge early - easily dispose of Purge after 6 furlongs - have a 7f Grade 1 Malibu winner in Rock Hard Ten make a big and insanely pre-mature move at him ... which he repelled shockingly effortless. He ran a spectacular race for 11 furlongs .. and a dream trip next out Travers winner was able to grind him down when he hit a wall and stopped in the last furlong.

After 10fs in the Belmont:

Smarty Jones 1st by 3.5 lengths
Birdstone 2nd by 3.5 lengths
Rock Hard Ten 3rd by 5 lengths
Eddington 4th by 7 lengths
Royal Assault 5th by 15 lengths

It wasn't totally lost on me either that Smarty Jones was trained by John Servis and ridden by Stewart Elliot. Not exactly a wizardly trainer and a competent jock. Still, if someone put Curlin 1st and Smarty Jones 5th .. I wouldn't argue that much.
I almost crapped my pants when I saw that race. I still can't find it on Youtube... paging Kiri's Clown!
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  #10  
Old 12-12-2009, 09:25 AM
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miraja2 miraja2 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
I think everyone has a built in bias that favors the 2nd half of the year in each division ... and they rightly should. However, the 3yo male division is the one division where I think as much or more emphasis should be placed on the first half of the season as it is the second half.
I agree, but I think I would give the edge to Point Given because he turned in excellent performances before the Triple Crown series, during the Triple Crown series, and after the Triple Crown series. Smarty obviously did the first two, but not the last. Coming back from his huge Belmont performance to win the Haskell and the Travers gives Point Given the edge in my book.
I do agree, however, that Smarty faced much tougher competition than did Point Given. Beating up on I Love Silver and Touch Tone is a little less impressive than defeating the quality 3yos Smarty faced.
It is a tough call.
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  #11  
Old 12-12-2009, 05:39 PM
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The Indomitable DrugS The Indomitable DrugS is offline
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Point Given gives nothing at all away to Smarty Jones on competition faced IMO.

He was an absolute ox ... and I'd surely give him an edge over SJ at 10fs and beyond.

PG wasn't as tactically gifted though ... you look at him running 5th by 11 lengths in the Derby ... and that race had a lot to do with him being taken out of his game and way closer to a very fast pace then he needs to be against that quality of speed horses that were in that years Derby.

I'm confident Point Given would have had a great deal of trouble beating SJ at 8.5 furlongs and probably even 9f in a fairly run race.

Tiznow finished his 3yo season with Beyers of 115-114-119-116 ... while traveling from Del Mar, La Downs, Santa Anita, Churchill.

He didn't break his maiden until after the Preakness in his 3rd try. I think he's a clear-cut #1 choice if you show that built in bias to the 2nd half of the season... but way too many 3yos are burned out from tough early campaigns.
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  #12  
Old 12-12-2009, 11:13 PM
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Smooth Operator Smooth Operator is offline
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LH was nothing special.

SJ was very good, but the never-faced-older thing hurts him a bit.

May not have even hit the board in that '04 BCC
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  #13  
Old 12-15-2009, 12:08 PM
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miraja2 miraja2 is offline
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DrugS, how soon can we expect to see a similar all-decade team from you for horsey-board posters?
Coming up with the various divisions like you did here might be tough, but we know you can do it.

Last edited by miraja2 : 12-15-2009 at 12:29 PM.
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  #14  
Old 12-18-2009, 08:42 PM
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Sports Illustrated's Top 20 of the Decade...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200.../horse.racing/
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Old 12-18-2009, 09:21 PM
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Indian Charlie Indian Charlie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sightseek
Sports Illustrated's Top 20 of the Decade...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200.../horse.racing/
Wow.
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  #16  
Old 12-18-2009, 09:42 PM
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The Indomitable DrugS The Indomitable DrugS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sightseek
Sports Illustrated's Top 20 of the Decade...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200.../horse.racing/

Oh. My. God.

This one is truly worthy of it's own thread.

Pepper's Pride rated above both Congaree and Medaglia D' Oro.

Tears Jerry. Tears!
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  #17  
Old 12-18-2009, 10:18 PM
Danzig Danzig is offline
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one of the worst lists ever. i'd rate it close to the top in a top ten list of bad lists. any person who puts curlin ahead of the likes of tiznow and ghostzapper needs a new job.
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  #18  
Old 12-18-2009, 10:58 PM
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VOL JACK VOL JACK is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Danzig
one of the worst lists ever. i'd rate it close to the top in a top ten list of bad lists. any person who puts curlin ahead of the likes of tiznow and ghostzapper needs a new job.
I love it when mainstream sports guys try to write on Horse Racing.
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  #19  
Old 12-30-2009, 09:44 PM
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Crist's list:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/109814.html
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  #20  
Old 12-30-2009, 10:46 PM
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The Indomitable DrugS The Indomitable DrugS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sightseek
I think he's made a huge error in letting European form influence his selections.

I ignored European form.

How can you possibly explain Johannesburgh being ranked #1 after he ran a final time of 1:42.27 with a perfect trip ... the same day and same distance - Tempura went 1:41.49 and beat a mind-bogglingly strong group of females.

Tempura isn't even ranked in his top 3 ... he has Indian Blessing - who went WAY slower than War Pass ahead of her.

Absolutely no one can make a rational case arguing the 3yo crop of males from 2007 was better than the 3-year-old crop of males from 2000. That was a laughable statement.

Obviously Curlin can be rated #1 on accomplishments because he won a triple crown race and the BC Cup Classic.

He was also beaten 8 lengths in the Derby, beaten by a stumbling filly in the Belmont, soundly defeated in the Haskell, and in his BC Classic win ... the only older male that showed up was Awesome Gem and Curlin's final time was only slightly faster than a 2yo in War Pass.

I know Crist choose to 100% ignore speed figures in doing his ... so you can't knock him for where he placed Invasor .. but look at the horses Invasor beat after he was obliterated in Dubai by third time starter Discreet Cat....they all sucked except for Bernardini... and Bernardini had one of the all-time worst rides in BC Classic history and was clearly better.
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