Top 25 Most Overrated Performances of '06

[The Indomitable DrugS]

I posted this at one other place, thought I'd post it here as well...it might lead to some interesting discussions.

This is always a very tricky list. I tend to overlook slow performances in bad Grade 1 races, and focus primarily on horses who ran VERY fast with once-in-a-lifetime trips and circumstances.

In other words, horses like Seek Gold and Sultra didn't make the top 20---for their pathetic Grade 1 wins in time so slow, you could have timed the race with an hour glass or a sundial. Horses who win the coveted Grade 1's that way, (Lemons Forever) will however, get moved up.

Here are my rankings......


#1 Blue Grass Stakes- Sinister Minister.

*Sinister Minsiter didn't have the best of starts, and ran off early, setting sizzling fractions....however, he did so on a very strong inside speed track that been producing wire-to-wire winners with preposterously large margins of victory all week long. On that Wednesday at KEE, you had a 9.5 length wire-to-wire winner, and a 7.5 length wire-to-wire winner. On Thursday at KEE, you had a horse win wire-to-wire by 11.75 lengths. On Friday at KEE, you had a horse win by 17 LENGTHS wire-to-wire, and another win by 14 lengths wire-to-wire. Sinister Minister's double digit tour-de-force in the Bluegrass, made him the fourth winner in the last three days, to win by double digit lengths while going wire-to-wire! And YO!!!!...5 of the 6 two-turn dirt races run that week have been won in wire-to-wire fashion. Two by longshots.

#2 Arlington Million- The Tin Man

* America's most important Turf race not run on Breeders Cup day was won in theft fashion. It featured an INSANELY slow early pace and almost no passing at all. Perhaps, a less popular, and less likeable horse, wouldn't have been heaped with praise for such a victory. However, the California horse racing radio shows were flooded with callers who took strong offense to The Tin Man's win being criticized.

#3 Kentucky Oaks- Lemons Forever

* While it can be argued that horses like Sultra and Seek Gold were even less deserving Grade 1 winners than this talentless plodder, she did win the most important Grade 1 race in the land for 3-year-old fillies, and deserves this ranking for the wildly circmustance aided way she won it. Aided by an INSANELY hot pace, and a dead-rail track, she looped the field from 14th and last place---a field that was badly fractured.

#4 Goodwood Handicap- Lava Man

* Over the same wildly speed biased race track that yielded the best Beyer figure of the year (Bordonaro's 119 in wire-to-wire style) Lava Man was allowed an uncontested lead through soft early fractions. In what should have been a massacre with a sky high Beyer, Lava Man manged only a 109 figure, and ran absoltuely no better than 3rd place finisher Giacomo did against the circumstances.

#5 Street Sense- Breeders Cup Juvie

* While it was a sight to see---and it can't be easy to knock a double digit Breeders Cup Juvie winner who ran BY FAR a record Beyer figure in that race---the simple fact is that this performance was a circumstancial fluke that will not be repeated anytime soon. In a classic Churchill Downs collapse race (ala Seek Gold, Giacomo, and Lemons Forever) the horses who raced dead last and 2nd to last early on in the Juvie, ended up first and 2nd. The rest of the field BADLY fractured. However, not only was it a dream setup and dream pace scenerio---he also got a sensational rail-skimming ride over a track where the rail path was probably preffered. He also broke from post position #1, that post produced 4-of the-5 dirt winners on Breeders Cup day...the only loser recorded a lifetime top Beyer figure in defeat.

#6. Master Commander- Meadowlands Cup

#7. Jazil- Belmont Stakes

#8. Brother Derek- Santa Anita Derby

#9. Dubai Escapade- Ballerina Handicap

#10. Fleet Indian- Personal Ensign

#11. Henny Hughes- King's Bishop

#12. Aragorn- Eddie Reed

#13. Fabulous Strike- Mountaineer Stake

#14. Brother Derek- San Rafeal

#15. Circular Quay- Hopeful Stakes

#16. Pine Island- Gazelle

#17. Sun King- 2nd place Whitney Stakes

#18. Anew- True North Handicap

#19. Magna Graduate- Queen's County Hanidcap

#20. Bernardini- Jockey Club Gold Cup

#21. Seek Gold- Stephen Foster

#22. Likely- Laffeyette Stakes

#23. Stormello- Hollywood Futurity

#24. Sultra- Frizette Stakes

#25. Lawerence The Roman- Damon Runyon Stakes