Black Caviar at Royal Ascot Saturday AM

[Calzone Lord]

Gary Stevens was the worst at that. He had a new 'best horse I ever rode' every season.

Kent Desormeaux is pretty close as well. He was on a lot of good horses including Formal Gold in his prime -- and after the Preakness he called Big Brown the best he ever rode.

Mike Smith called Zenyatta the best he ever rode -- and that included Skip Away, Cigar, and Holy Bull among others.

Can anyone imagine Affirmed getting beat by 7 or more lengths at Long Acres on 3 different occasions? Or how about Affirmed getting caught late at Los Alimotis. Or, how about Affirmed finishing 5th at Turf Paradise.

I don't fault anyone for thinking Chinook Pass was one of the fastest horses ever for a half mile or so and he was definitely a great performer on a few occasions -- but he was a runoff and had a lot of bad races on his form.

I have no idea who the greatest sprinter ever was. Dr. Fager was pretty amazing sprinting. There are a lot of great sprinters throughout history starting with Roseben and ending with horses like Kona Gold and Midnight Lute.

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Gary Stevens was the worst at that. He had a new 'best horse I ever rode' every season.

Kent Desormeaux is pretty close as well. He was on a lot of good horses including Formal Gold in his prime -- and after the Preakness he called Big Brown the best he ever rode.

Mike Smith called Zenyatta the best he ever rode -- and that included Skip Away, Cigar, and Holy Bull among others.

Can anyone imagine Affirmed getting beat by 7 or more lengths at Long Acres on 3 different occasions? Or how about Affirmed getting caught late at Los Alimotis. Or, how about Affirmed finishing 5th at Turf Paradise.

I don't fault anyone for thinking Chinook Pass was one of the fastest horses ever for a half mile or so and he was definitely a great performer on a few occasions -- but he was a runoff and had a lot of bad races on his form.

I have no idea who the greatest sprinter ever was. Dr. Fager was pretty amazing sprinting. There are a lot of great sprinters throughout history starting with Roseben and ending with horses like Kona Gold and Midnight Lute.

He may not have been the best. But my all time favorite sprinter is Dancing In Silks

Hey. Here's something that might be fun. The interview I did with Pincay was in 2003 for a radio piece I did for his 50th birthday.

In that conversation he spoke of the 4 or 5 greatest horses he ever rode. Can you guess who they were? One caught me completely off guard.

Added note: Laffit is going to be a guest this year at the Handicapping Seminar at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa. He'll be appearing alongside Russell Baze on Sat. July 28. Over 21,000 wins sitting on one stage in Wine Country. The show is hosted by Frank Miramahdi and Michael Patricks. Pretty cool huh?

[gamblin4ever]

What about Lost in the fog or Caller One

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by v j stauffer

Hey. Here's something that might be fun. The interview I did with Pincay was in 2003 for a radio piece I did for his 50th birthday.

In that conversation he spoke of the 4 or 5 greatest horses he ever rode. Can you guess who they were? One caught me completely off guard.

I'd guess Sham would be on there. I loved Tight Spot, though I doubt he'd say he's top 5.

Chinook Pass too, I suppose. Who else?

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

I'd guess Sham would be on there. I loved Tight Spot, though I doubt he'd say he's top 5.

Chinook Pass too, I suppose. Who else?

We have a first ballot winner The one that floored me was Sham. Just another testament to how great Big Red was.

Others he mentioned were Affirmed and Grienton.

Well done Charles.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

Gary Stevens was the worst at that. He had a new 'best horse I ever rode' every season.

Kent Desormeaux is pretty close as well. He was on a lot of good horses including Formal Gold in his prime -- and after the Preakness he called Big Brown the best he ever rode.

Mike Smith called Zenyatta the best he ever rode -- and that included Skip Away, Cigar, and Holy Bull among others.

Can anyone imagine Affirmed getting beat by 7 or more lengths at Long Acres on 3 different occasions? Or how about Affirmed getting caught late at Los Alimotis. Or, how about Affirmed finishing 5th at Turf Paradise.

I don't fault anyone for thinking Chinook Pass was one of the fastest horses ever for a half mile or so and he was definitely a great performer on a few occasions -- but he was a runoff and had a lot of bad races on his form.

I have no idea who the greatest sprinter ever was. Dr. Fager was pretty amazing sprinting. There are a lot of great sprinters throughout history starting with Roseben and ending with horses like Kona Gold and Midnight Lute.

Pincay was not a braggart. If he said something, he meant it. I never saw or heard him get into hype.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

Pincay was not a braggart. If he said something, he meant it. I never saw or heard him get into hype.

Calling Chinook Pass an all-time sprinter is a greater reach than saying that Gun Bow is the single greatest race horse of all-time.

Gun Bow was a run off who could sprint 10 furlongs -- and when the track was kind to his style and he got the loose lead -- he was literally the single fastest horse in thoroughbred history that I know of. He would obliterate great fields of champion horses. True legends like Kelso and Native Diver would be completely blown off of the track and other excellent horses would be buried.

Chinook Pass an all-time great sprinter even though he got beat at Los Al, got drubbed 3 times at Long Acres, and got wasted at Turf Paradise? Ok, by that logic, Gun Bow is the best race horse to ever live.

[parsixfarms]

Not claiming that he was a "all-time great," but Kelly Kip was a very cool horse and very fast on his best day. I believe that he set either five or six track records in NY during his career; he still holds the following track records: 5F at Belmont Park (55.3 while debuting for maiden $35,000); 6F at Aqueduct (1:07.2, breaking his prior mark of 1:07.3); and 6F at Finger Lakes (1:08.1).

[Antitrust32]

not the best ever.. but some of those races Artax ran were wicked fast.

unbridled's song won the 7 furlong Olympic handicap at age 4 - 1:21 and change... his only stakes race for trainer Nick Zito. That one race put him to the top of the list of the best horses Zito has trained.

[Gate Dancer]

I'll throw an old-timer out there who was pretty quick in his day.......Bold Ego. I believe he and Top Avenger still hold the record for the fastest Derby quarter and half mile splits. Would have been interesting to see if he had just been kept sprinting how good he could have been.

[cmorioles]

Gulch was a monster sprinter, just didn't do it very often.

[KirisClown]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

Not claiming that he was a "all-time great," but Kelly Kip was a very cool horse and very fast on his best day. I believe that he set either five or six track records in NY during his career; he still holds the following track records: 5F at Belmont Park (55.3 while debuting for maiden $35,000); 6F at Aqueduct (1:07.2, breaking his prior mark of 1:07.3); and 6F at Finger Lakes (1:08.1).

He was a good one.. nice that he still holds the 5 Furlong record 16 years later that he took from Lure.

Kelly Kip breaking Lure's track record: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hCx_Fj3Zzk

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