Mineshaft - am I losing my mind?

[Betsy]

I have no idea why he's looked upon as an average to mediocre HOY - I go onto this other board and you couldn't believe the arguments being made as to what an overrated horse he was. Look, I freely admit to being a HUGE Seattle Slew/AP Indy line fan, but I think I'm being unbiased when I say that he was an exceptional racehorse. I'm not putting him up against Cigar, Ghostzapper or anyother horse - I can't make those comparisons and I wouldn't dare to try. Just looking at what he did as a racehorse, he won the Pimlico Special, Woodward, Suburban, JCGC - those are big races, old time races with gobs of prestige. He won them practically being eased up, and in brilliant time. I enjoy a good debate as much as anyone, but I'm having a hard time on this other board. There are two points against him over there: 1) he beat garbage and 2) he wimped out on the Classic.

As to point 1, is it really fair to hold Mineshaft (or any horse) up to the standard of, say, Slew beating Affirmed, who beat Spectacular Bid? Great horses don't come along very often, so I don't understand the argument that Mineshaft was mediocre because he didn't beat true champions. Medaglio D'Oro was a very good horse, and Bobby Frankel chose to ship out West to face Candy Ride rather than face Mineshaft; Harlan's Holiday ducked him, too. I don't get how it's his fault that traineres didn't want to run their horses against him.

As to point 2, I refuse to believe that Will Farish, who adored this colt (best he ever bred, he's said), would be as unsportsmanlike as all that. Of course, I have no proof, but then....those claiming Mineshaft ducked the big boys have no proof, either.

I guess what I don't understand is how racing fans complain that the stars don't run as 4 year olds, that we haven't had a great horse in a long time, etc........When a really good horse comes along, then, they complain, too? It's really hard to please fans. I gave up on the argument on the other board; it pleases me to know that, as far as racing performances, Mineshaft is pretty highly regarded (again, not ranking him or anything).

Thoughts?