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Old 08-02-2008, 08:01 PM
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King Glorious King Glorious is offline
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Default Close but Not Quite

I was watching replays of the 1988 Haskell and Travers, where Forty Niner edged out Seeking the Gold both times. Then I thought about STG's 1/2 length loss in that year's BC Classic and his close loss in the following year's Met Mile. So, it got me to thinking. Not including classic race winners, which horses over the past 20 years have come the closest to cracking that barrier between good and great? Those four losses, by a combined margin of less than a length, if turned into wins, would probably have us mentioning Seeking the Gold in the top five horses of the last 20 years. Instead, he's often forgotten. Who are some others that come to mind?
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Old 08-02-2008, 08:39 PM
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hi_im_god hi_im_god is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by King Glorious
I was watching replays of the 1988 Haskell and Travers, where Forty Niner edged out Seeking the Gold both times. Then I thought about STG's 1/2 length loss in that year's BC Classic and his close loss in the following year's Met Mile. So, it got me to thinking. Not including classic race winners, which horses over the past 20 years have come the closest to cracking that barrier between good and great? Those four losses, by a combined margin of less than a length, if turned into wins, would probably have us mentioning Seeking the Gold in the top five horses of the last 20 years. Instead, he's often forgotten. Who are some others that come to mind?
sakhee.
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  #3  
Old 08-02-2008, 08:44 PM
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hi_im_god hi_im_god is offline
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it's weird how their post racing breeding career's affect perception. go back another 10 years and i doubt anyone mentions alydar.

i was thinking about giant's causeway after i posted sakhee.
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Old 08-02-2008, 09:30 PM
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Indian Charlie Indian Charlie is offline
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indian charlie.
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  #5  
Old 08-02-2008, 11:00 PM
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King Glorious King Glorious is offline
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Alysheba. Had he gotten his nose in front of Ferdinand in the 1987 BC Classic, he would have been a two-time winner.

Ferdinand would also be on this list. The nose losses to Snow Chief and Broad Brush in the 1987 Strub and Big Cap and the close losses to Alysheba in the 1988 Big Cap and San Bernardino.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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  #6  
Old 08-02-2008, 11:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by King Glorious
Alysheba. Had he gotten his nose in front of Ferdinand in the 1987 BC Classic, he would have been a two-time winner.

Ferdinand would also be on this list. The nose losses to Snow Chief and Broad Brush in the 1987 Strub and Big Cap and the close losses to Alysheba in the 1988 Big Cap and San Bernardino.
Alysheba and Ferdinand are classic winners. And I hope you arent saying that they were merely good
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