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#1
02-08-2011, 09:16 AM
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Divisional best by decade since 1900
There are a great many variables that go into handicapping a race. Handicapping completed careers is far easier - you're simply comparing an entire racing career with another, in division, from a relatively similar time period in history.
Horses are rated divisionally - by decade - based on accomplishment and ability. Hence horses who had superior ability at peak (like Formal Gold and Candy Ride types of recent) will be rated behind the slightly less monsterous who campaigned hard and achieved a lot more. I've put even a little less emphasis on peak ability than in the past - because it is so much harder to uncover it in charts and pp's with old, old-time horses. 1900's: 2yo: Colin 3yo's: Sysonby, Fitz Herbert, Hermis, Colin Older horse: Hermis, Ballot, Roseben, King James 1910's: 2yo: Man O' War 3yo: Roamer, Sir Barton, Friar Rock, The Finn Older horse: Whisk Broom, Old Rosebud, Roamer, Cudgel 1920's: 2yo: Morvich 3yo: Man O' War, Reigh Count, Grey Lag, Crusader Older horse: Exterminator, Sarazen, Sun Beau, Chance Play 1930's: 2yo: Top Flight (f) 3yo: War Admiral, Gallant Fox, Twenty Grand, Omaha Older horse: Discovery, Equipoise, Seabiscuit, War Admiral 1940's: 2yo: Count Fleet 3yo: Citation, Whirlaway, Count Fleet, Assault Older horse: Whirlaway, Armed, Coaltown, Challedon 1950's: 2yo: Native Dancer 3yo: Native Dancer, Bold Ruler, Swaps, Sword Dancer Older horse: Round Table, Tom Fool, Swaps, Nashua 1960's: 2yo: Buckpasser 3yo: Damascus, Buckpasser, Arts and Letters, Kelso Older horse: Kelso, Dr. Fager, Gun Bow, Native Diver 1970's: 2yo: Ruffian (f) 3yo: Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, Affirmed, Alydar Older horse: Forego, Affirmed, Ack Ack, Seattle Slew 1980's: 2yo: Easy Goer 3yo: Sunday Silence, Easy Goer, Spend A Buck, Conquistador Cielo Older horse: Spectacular Bid, Alysheba, John Henry, Ferdinand 1990's: 2yo: Favorite Trick 3yo: Holy Bull, Silver Charm, Skip Away, Unbridled Older horse: Skip Away, Cigar, Criminal Type, Gentlemen 2000-to-2009: 2yo: War Pass 3yo: Smarty Jones, Tiznow, Point Given, Bernardini Older horse: Ghostzapper, Mineshaft, Medaglia D' Oro, Invasor Best since 1900: 2yo: Native Dancer 3yo: Citation, Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, Damascus Older horse: Kelso, Forego, Discovery, Spectacular Bid If you're more partial to old, old-time horses than I am - Colin is your 2yo and rate Discovery ahead of Forego and Equipoise ahead of Spectacular Bid. While the 1900's through the 1920's was tricky - so few horses actually raced that it wasn't a tough process to identify who the seven or so best were and to - in some cases - try and split hairs. The best 3yo from '00 to '09 is brutal though. Smarty Jones could almost as easily been rated 9th best as best. 
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#2
02-08-2011, 09:33 AM
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Hard to leave Curlin off the list both 3 year old and older 2000-2009.
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#3
02-08-2011, 10:20 AM
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I was a fan of Curlin but he's very hard to include as an older horse. His big celebrated win as an older horse was a very weak Dubai World Cup.
He for sure could be included as a 3-year-old. That was a total case of splitting hairs - but those sound defeats in the Derby and Haskell and losing to Rags to Riches in the Belmont don't help him. The older horses were awful when he was around.
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#4
02-08-2011, 10:34 AM
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Bless your heart putting Mineshaft in there. Flowers coming to Erie.
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#5
02-08-2011, 10:51 AM
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Mineshaft, Medaglia D' Oro, Congaree, Candy Ride all at their peak the same year. They sometimes made horses look hopelessly common who would be handicap superstars today.
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#6
02-08-2011, 11:15 AM
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#7
02-08-2011, 01:27 PM
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#8
02-08-2011, 02:45 PM
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He was named Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008, and was also Champion 3-year-old in 2007 and Champion Older Male in 2008. Some of his major wins include the Breeders' Cup Classic, Jockey Club Gold Cup (twice), Dubai World Cup, Preakness, Rebel, Arkansas Derby, Stephen Foster Handicap, and Woodward Stakes. Curlin retired with 11 wins in 16 starts and earnings of over $10.5 million, the most ever by a thoroughbred race horse.
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#9
02-08-2011, 03:00 PM
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I tend to agree with the original list, but have not yet taken the time for my own research. Certainly no one on there simply dosn't belong.
Curlin won a bunch of important races and had a very good career but at 3 he lost the Belmont to a filly and the Haskell which he shouldn't have. (I am willing to give his Derby a pass as he was still very much a work in progress at the time, having just debuted on Feb 7.) I guess in retrospect they should have passed on the grass experiment and manybe loked at the Foster (I don't have dates here, but I'm guessing that it was close in time to the grass race.) Like many modern horses they picked and chose their spots to avoid certain rivals and meet the easiest fields, then stood back and said "See how great he is!"
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RIP Monroe.
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#11
02-08-2011, 02:34 PM
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__________________
"Always be yourself...unless you suck!"
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#12
02-08-2011, 08:33 PM
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My one question is about this one. How close was it between Count Fleet and Citation (who I assume was second) in your mind? I take it you didn't hold it against Count Fleet that it took him a few races to get going. I guess the same question could be asked in other divisions as well. When comparing Bernardini to, for example, Curlin or Rachel Alexandra how much do you count Bernardini's debut against him? Does it matter that he started off his 3yo season with a defeat in a MSW, or do you primarily just look at how good the horses were once they got going and were running at their preferred distances, etc.?
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#13
02-09-2011, 09:22 AM
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I didn't hold Bernardini's debut against him that much - heck, for an A. P. Indy first-time-starter going 6f - it sure wasn't bad. I don't think he faced any serious competition at all - to say the least - until the Breeders Cup Classic ... which he would have certainly won with a competent ride .. and I say that as someone who bet against him in that race. I think Tiznow was the best 3yo of that decade. However, I held the fact that he missed the triple crown series and pretty much the entire first half of the season against him... more than I held Smarty Jones missing the 2nd half of the season against him. As we know, the first half of the season is made to be all about the 3yo division.
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#14
02-09-2011, 11:07 PM
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I've always had a huge problem with Mineshaft getting as much credit as he does and being named HOY in 2003. While he certainly was a good horse, they were extremely fortunate that year with him. While you don't ever want to criticize anyone for chosing a schedule that includes the Pimlico Special, Foster, Suburban, Woodward, and JCGC because those are the races you are supposed to run in with a horse of that caliber, I think that you have to look deeper than the names of the races that year. It's not his/their fault that none of the other top older males showed up to face him in those races. Most of the supporters of Mineshaft say that they were ducking him. I don't think that was the case at all. Either way, there remains the simple fact that 2003 was a pretty good year for the older male division. That season, we had Candy Ride, Medaglia d'Oro, Pleasantly Perfect, Congaree, Perfect Drift, Mineshaft, and Milwaukee Brew. While most of those horses were locking horns with each other several times during the year, taking turns knocking each other off and tarnishing each other's records, Mineshaft got away virtually unscathed. I think that those seven I named above were the general consensus seven top older males that year and Mineshaft only had to face ONE of them (Perfect Drift) and he only faced that one horse ONE time (in the Foster) and he LOST that one matchup. I feel like in a lot of ways, that situation is not unlike 2010 with Zenyatta. While Blame was taking on the best of the older horses all year (Battle Plan, Haynesfield, and Quality Road), Zenyatta was facing second and third rate horses all year and beating them and then in her one matchup with a top horse, she lost. If you wonder where this current trend of connections playing duck soup really took off, where less became more, I think 2003 is a good place to start.
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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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#15
02-09-2011, 11:40 PM
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Mineshaft- 9 starts. Congaree- 9 starts. Medaglia D'Oro- 5 starts. Pleasantly Perfect- 4 starts. Milwaukee Brew- 4 starts. Candy Ride- 3 starts. Congaree was dusted in the Met Mile and beaten on the square in both the Kentucky Cup and the Breeder's Cup. Pleasantly Perfect and Milwaukee Brew were opportunists at best. Perfect Drift wasted starts on turf and was no factor in the BC. Medaglia D'Oro beat the exact same horses Mineshaft did (ie Olmodovar, Evening Attire, Volponi, etc.), but lost both his starts at 10f including the BC Classic. Candy Ride won a single main track race in a 3-horse field which included a horse that was retired 24 hours later with an injury, and he himself was never heard from again.
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#16
02-10-2011, 12:08 AM
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You talk about how Congaree and MDO and Perfect Drift were beaten in the Classic but you miss the point I was making in the first place. That they were all there to face each other meant that all of them except for one would have to lose. Congaree faced Perfect Drift in Kentucky. They both couldn't win. MDO and Candy Ride both couldn't win the Pacific Classic. Congaree, Milwaukee Brew, and Pleasantly Perfect were all in the San Antonio. This is what I'm talking about. Their records were all going to suffer because they were consistently facing each other while Mineshaft was getting a steady diet of lower level horses.
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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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#17
02-10-2011, 01:04 AM
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#18
02-09-2011, 11:48 PM
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Frankel shipped MDO west after the Whitney that year and Milwaukee Brew was already out there. He chose to run them both in the Pacific Classic and i have read where people have argued that he was ducking Mineshaft. I have to disagree with that though considering that the BC was out west that year and there were a few more advantages to running at del Mar as opposed to running in the woodard or JCGC. It could be argued that Baffert ducked by sending Congaree to turfway but that doesnt hold water because Perfect Drift was there and that horse had already beaten mineshaft. The good three year olds coming up were either off form (funny cide), retiring (empire maker), or more suited to shorter distance (peace rules). Ten most wanted was too slow and he was a west coast horse anyway. There was Dynever but that horse could find a way to lose the cleveland cavs. Mineshaft came along in the right year (or the wrong year depending on how one sees things). Surely he was a nice horse but unfortunately he never proved it beating any other nice horses.
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#19
02-10-2011, 12:27 AM
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#20
02-10-2011, 12:36 AM
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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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