affirmed, the bid, secretariat

[avance2000]

As I read through yet another secretariat vs. the bid thread i again wondered why the hell affirmed does not even get to be part of that conversation.
Champion 2yo
Champion 3yo
Champion Older horse
2-time HOY
Triple-Crown Winner.

And for those of you who (rightly) compare the competition that these two superstars faced to the laughable competition that bernardini has faced....try comparing affirmed's competition to either of them.
NO HORSE IN THE LAST 40 YEARS HAS CONSISTENTLY RUN AGAINST THE LEVEL OF COMPETITION THAT AFFIRMED FACED. Period. And yet he still had 22 wins and 5 places out of 29 races.
Neither Secretariat OR Spectacular Bid faced a horse like Alydar on a consistent basis.
Along with Alydar, Affirmed ran against two horses you might have heard of named Seattle Slew and Spectacular Bid.
Those are the true superstars he competed against, but there were also others. The horse he beat in the Jim Dandy, Sensitive Prince, was a 6-time graded stakes winner who set 3 new track records. Affirmed also faced 10-time G1 winner Exceller multiple times. How many 10-time G1 winners did Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, and Bernardini face?

And let me add that Affirmed didn't just compete against these horses.....he usually beat them. He dominated his matchup with Alydar, he beat Spectacular Bid in their one and only matchup, he beat Sensitive Prince, and he beat Exceller in the Big Cap.

I'm not saying he is better than Spec. Bid. and Big Red.....but he belongs in the conversation.