hypothetical derby

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by todko

Barbaro by 6 or so lengths again.

Comes home in the second fastest final quarter (only Secretariat was faster). 12th fastest Derby on record. Cruises behind very solid fractions of 1:10 and change. Tracks right behind the speed of Keyed Entry and Sin Min the whole way. Comes back dancing and nipping at the pony like, "hey, let's go around again" or "you call that a Derby?".

That horse was seriously motoring at the wire. He had a ton of run left.

Monarchos derby was faster I believe.. like 4th fastest ever or something

[todko]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

Monarchos derby was faster I believe.. like 4th fastest ever or something

It was indeed faster. Perhaps 3rd fastest after Secretariat and Sham.

But even the connections of Monarchos before the race said that the track was extremely fast -- and maybe the record would be broken that Derby because the track was playing so inordinately fast.

I don't follow Beyer numbers and don't know what the track variant was that day (or the Beyer number).

Secretariat, on the other hand, reportedly ran against a track classified as "fast" that was actually running on the slow side. But then, we're going too far back for this thread when we mention horses from the '70s.