Definition of Great Horse

[Revolution]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

So what exactly makes Ghostzapper a fraud? Because he didn't run enough?

News flash: Horses don't run every two weeks anymore. If your definition of great is going to be so rigid that a horse has to run thirty times and win a million stakes races to be great, you should just quit watching racing, because the "great" horse, by your criteria, is dead.

Horses today run 6-7x a year. That is enough to be great. Slew ran 7x/yr as a 3yr old and 4yr old. That is all it takes. Averaging 2.7 races a year over a career is laughable though. Is 6 or 7 races a year too much to ask. I think not.

[ELA]

Originally Posted by Revolution

Horses today run 6-7x a year. That is enough to be great. Slew ran 7x/yr as a 3yr old and 4yr old. That is all it takes. Averaging 2.7 races a year over a career is laughable though. Is 6 or 7 races a year too much to ask. I think not.

When you are talking, say for example, about a horse like Ghostzapper -- yes, 6 or 7 times is too much to ask for that particular horse. He was unsound from day 1. His physical problems precluded him from many things, and accomplishing more was just one of them.

As I said, I tend to look at these types of situations more globally. I would not penalize a horse for not being able to race more than he/she did. I would penalize a horse for ducking, avoiding, being able to race and not, etc.

Eric

I wouldnt call running 7 times in a year doing something great. You also have to remember that they didnt have the Breeders Cup and stud fees werent sky high either. It doesnt make sense to run a top horse more than 6 times these days. In fact, if I had a top horse (4 year old) I would run him 4 times.

[slotdirt]

You're acting like Seattle Slew was a super durable iron horse. Newsflash, he wasn't. The Bid, that was a horse who ran a lot, same with Affirmed. If you're going to use somebody's stats to tell us how Ghostzapper doesn't deserve to be called "great," use those two examples.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Revolution

Horses today run 6-7x a year. That is enough to be great. Slew ran 7x/yr as a 3yr old and 4yr old. That is all it takes. Averaging 2.7 races a year over a career is laughable though. Is 6 or 7 races a year too much to ask. I think not.

So maybe you think he didn't accomplish enough to be great. But if you ever saw him run and didn't at least see FLASHES of greatness, you shouldn't be allowed to watch racing.

And flashes of greatness are pretty much all you're gonna get these days. You say it's the 2.7 races per year that makes him not great, but if Bernardini had won the Classic, would you have called him great? I doubt it, because he only ran eight times. My point is that there's a cap on how many times a special horse runs these days, and it's at about fifteen races tops. If Ghostzapper ran all eleven of his races in one year, would he have been great to you?

I also love how Ghostzapper gets so much grief for his light schedule, but I see people annointing CANDY RIDE as great. The horse ran SIX TIMES. Granted, they were unbelievable races, but there's no way Candy Ride is great if Ghostzapper wasn't.

[philcski]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

So maybe you think he didn't accomplish enough to be great. But if you ever saw him run and didn't at least see FLASHES of greatness, you shouldn't be allowed to watch racing.

And flashes of greatness are pretty much all you're gonna get these days. You say it's the 2.7 races per year that makes him not great, but if Bernardini had won the Classic, would you have called him great? I doubt it, because he only ran eight times. My point is that there's a cap on how many times a special horse runs these days, and it's at about fifteen races tops. If Ghostzapper ran all eleven of his races in one year, would he have been great to you?

I also love how Ghostzapper gets so much grief for his light schedule, but I see people annointing CANDY RIDE as great. The horse ran SIX TIMES. Granted, they were unbelievable races, but there's no way Candy Ride is great if Ghostzapper wasn't.

Love the college basketball blog. Im a college hoops junkie. Only sport that keeps me occupied in the racing/baseball offseason...

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by philcski

Love the college basketball blog. Im a college hoops junkie. Only sport that keeps me occupied in the racing/baseball offseason...

Awesome! My first confessed reader!

I'm with you.. There's no sport like NCAA basketball.. Thanks for reading!

[slotdirt]

I'm stoked for the Johnnies-Maryland game tonight. Big barometer game for SJU.

Rock Shock Jayhawk?

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Pillow Pants

Rock Shock Jayhawk?

Something wrong?

[ceejay]

Ghostzapper: G1 wins at 6.5,8,9,10 f. Not "slew-worthy" but still great in my book.

[slotdirt]

Ouija Board was most assuredly a GREAT horse, no?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Ouija Board was most assuredly a GREAT horse, no?

definitely!! there are a lot of good racers who run pretty often. shame that the top dirt classic colts can't do the same. money talks tho.

it's not durability, it's not soundness in many cases--altho with GZ and candy ride that was the case. but then, easy goer was known to have rotten ankles, he's exterminator-like compared to some of these other horses in # of races run.

oh, and it's just GREAT that GZ and CR were babied along for their few wins--now they have all that press, all the hype, so they can make more unsound horses just like dear old dad.
if they're too unsound to race, you would think that breeding would be out of the question.