The BC at Arlington.
Tell me she would not have crushed the boys.

The great Volponi would have easily beat her that day.

And then they let her ferment.
Sad.

Thanks for the Go for Wand race Chuck. I watched a bunch of her races, unfortunately didn't find the Test, and it was nice to be reminded what a terrific horse she was. Seeing those fractions, and the way she ran, is just another sad reminder of what mediocrities we have masquerading as Grade 1 horses in that division right now. What a monster Go for Wand was.

uh, yeah. sardula won the kentucky oaks (among others) and lakeway was a multiple grade 1 winner who beat the snot out of inside information in their lone race against each other prior to lakeway running sick.

akinemond, after losing her debut, won something like 7 in a row, all very easily, culminated by her 18 length win where she ran a blazing fast time and got a 118 or 119 bsf. she was so dominant in her previous races, drysdale actually chickened out with gorgeous (another filly that would have beaten azeri) and scratched her.

just to dispel any misguided opinions you have on those three horses and whether they were successes were more about merit or potential, I've done you the favor of posting here what each did.

SARDULA:

SARDULA,B,f,Storm Cat 2 10 6 3 0 882,460 (102) 56.65
North America 2 YO Record * 5 3 2 0 532,545 (102)
North America Turf Record 1 0 0 0 4,375 ( 88)
North America Dirt Sprints 3 3 0 0 214,450 (102)
North America Dirt Routes 6 3 3 0 663,635 (100)
DP = 7-7-9-0-3 DI = 2.47 CD = 0.58 AWD = 7.50
At 2 Won Del Mar Debutante S. -G2 (250,000), Hollywood Starlet S. -G1
(250,000), 2nd Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies S. -G1 (1,000,000), Oak
Leaf S. -G1 (200,000)
At 3 Won Kentucky Oaks -G1 (283,600), Santa Paula S. -L (106,000),
Princess S. -G2 (102,700), 2nd Hollywood Oaks -G1 (205,000)

lets see, her only race worse than 2nd was her lone turf start. she won the hollywood starlet and kentucky oaks, both grade 1s and the del mar debutante and princess stakes, both grade 2s. she ran 2nd in the bc juvie filly and 2nd in the hollywood oaks (in an insane time), both grade 1s.

Next is Lakeway, which I'll only include up to her last race as a 3yo, where she was run sick and nearly died.

LAKEWAY,B,f,Seattle Slew 3 14 7 3 3 965,330 (111) 48.43
North America 2 YO Record * 1 1 0 0 15,400 ( 96)
North America Dirt Sprints 3 2 0 1 52,400 (101)
North America Dirt Routes 11 5 3 2 912,930 (111)
North America Muddy/Sloppy 2 1 0 1 257,280 (111)
DP = 14-3-19-2-0 DI = 2.30 CD = 0.76 AWD = 7.93
At 3 Won Santa Anita Oaks -G1 (212,800), Hollywood Oaks -G1 (205,000),
Mother Goose S. -G1 (200,000), Las Virgenes S. -G1 (161,100), 2nd
Kentucky Oaks -G1 (283,600), Alabama S. -G1 (200,000)

Yeah, you're right. She wasn't very good at all. Four grade 1's as a three year old, a desperate nose loss in the ky oaks and a 2nd in the alabama in which she nearly died after the race (both losses were in grade 1's).
That 145.4 she ran 9f at hollywood wasn't really that astonishing now that i think about it.

Now Akinemod, who after that 18 length win early in her four year old year nearly died from colic, suffered injuries and more illnesses, and when finally making it back to the races something like 2 years later, was nowhere near what she was.

She lost her debut to a pretty useful filly (paper princess i think), then won 6 in a row (now that i've looked it up). she spent most of those races sprinting, but when routed in the el encino, a grade 2, she wins by 18 lengths in something like 1:41, with more ease than you'll see from a horse working out.

You guys want to see a real superstar filly....

Kiri - please post a few of those epic Ashado 2yo races I sent you!

She would not have been in the top 3

and that was far from a stellar field.

She was a nice filly who was mistaken for a star because she hid out west for most of her career and even when she came East, was exposed against a really so-so group of fillies. I'm sure even horses like Goodbye Halo would have beat her up. But you are free to think that she was a freak if you would like.

Off the top of my head I would have to rank her as the top filly/mare in that division of THIS decade, but as others have pointed out, this has been a weak decade for that division.
If you went back to the 90s and matched her against a horse like Inside Information, I think Azeri would most likely be outclassed.
And the 80s were simply an exceptional decade for fillies and mares on the dirt. Of all of them I would personally go with Personal Ensign, but a strong case could be made for a number of them from that decade.

No one said that Sardula and Lakeway were not good horses but they took turns beating the same bad group of fillies in the same year. The KY oaks that year was an awful field with the exception of the 2 noted horses. To be an alltime great you must at least be the best filly of your crop, neither of which Sardula or Lakeway was. I never said one negative word about them but the likes of Go for Wand, Bayakoa and Lady's Secret would have ripped them apart. And Azeri probably would have taken them too. As for the other horse....She never won any important races so why should she be included in the discussion?

clear out your mailbox!!!!!! lol:)

True, but in HER entire career, Personal Ensign never lost a race under any circumstances whatsoever.

sorry

If I could have convinced the Paulson's
to give her to you then you would have seen.
Huge cruiser with a drive at the end.

She died on the vine. Unfullfilled.
Happens all the time. Tried to get a stupid
streak and ruined a horse. I hated to see her
run after she fermented. It was awful to witness
the degradation.

Hard to say the streak ruined her as she was usually just toying with the same bunch of 30 claimers

Of course running in tougher races would have ruined her because she would not have had the notoriety of having a winning streak and we all would have forgotten about her by now.

5th is not what legends are made of...

yeah, that crop that sardula and lakeway was in sort of reminds me of recent crops of fillies.

inside information, heavenly prize, phone chatter (granted, she didnt do anything after her bc win) along with sardula and lakeway, that's a pretty awful crop of fillies. you might be the only person who follows racing to think that was a bad group of fillies in that crop. most would say that was one of the best crops ever, at least in recent memory.

as to akinemod, if melair can count, then so too can akinemod. after all, the only race of significance that melair won was a one turn mile against snow chief and southern halo. the greatness of her performance that day cannot be described, much in the same way akinemod's performance was in her 18 length win.

in case you've never seen her, i'll post this clip of her here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXknPEC9GCU

Except Lakeway and Sardula rarely if ever beat any of those horses! All of the victories were west coast with the exception of the KY Oaks which featured pretty much no one.

Except when Lakeway went to NY and kicked the crap out of inside information? Did they run the Mother Goose in California that year?

Or the time Heavenly Prize shipped out to California for the BC juvie filly race and got smoked by Phone Chatter and Sardula?

Lakeway won the Mother Goose in very impressive fashion.

Heavenly Prize hardly got " smoked " in that race.

Ok I give up

Lakeway and Sardula should be in the HALL of FAME!!!

We are all just witnesses to the greatness of these 2 fillies.

akinemod should be in too.


Go for Wand just rolled over in her grave......

I think she ran third, and I don't recall exactly by how much she lost, but wasn't it by around 5?

Heavenly Prize was a good filly but not an alltime great either. And Inside Information was much better as a 4 year old.

You are a quitter....

You should have mocked the supposed greatness that was Phone Chatter.....

You'd have really had some fun at that point.

Are facts always so inconvenient for you?

The funny thing is, I loved all those fillies I named in this thread, especially go for wand. There is just no way on earth she would have beaten a healthy lakeway by much, if at all. They were both on the same level in my opinion.

I think you are just biased against California horses and probably aren't as familiar with Lakeway's 3yo races as you are with her 4yo races, when she was no longer the same filly.

Sardula died while a three year old, so who knows what would have happened with her.

Not even close.

i stand corrected then. how much was the margin of defeat?

That is because she was nothing compared to what she was.
Not the same horse. Not even close. I really wonder if she even
wanted to run.

3 lengths

The time was 1/5th of a second slower than Brocco's 5 length win over Blummin Affair and Tabasco Cat. Dehere was also in that race - and well beaten.

I am not biased against any horses but I happen to think that Lakeway was not an alltime great which you contend. I remember seeing her train the week before the Alabama and was not impressed. I also was not that high on HP who was clearly better that day. I also recall that the the KY oaks that year fell apart with the exception of the top 2.

That you say she was not the same filly at 4 does not excuse the fact she wasn't. It is all part of the horses overall record which is taken into consideration.

She really did not accomplish that much in an era where horses did a lot more than they do now. Sardula was a nice filly who died. That is too bad but she was as likely to be exposed at 4 as she was to become some great champion.

Which is what the horses I named were. They not only took it to the track almost everytime out, they did it over multiple seasons, at many tracks, sometimes against males, and often carrying weight. To say that Lakeway or Sardula is in the same league as Go For Wand or Bayakoa is like saying Don Mattingly is as good as Lou Gehrig. To say that they were close is laughable.

Her sheet numbers were better the year she was supposedly so down.

The great (for 6 seasons and not so great for 6) Don Mattingly. Donny Baseball. The Lakeway of the Big Leagues

Lyman Bostock, the Sardula of MLB

I agree with Cannon totally that too many people judge horses based on what they could have accomplished and not what they did accomplish.

I've seen enough raw talent from Magnificence to suggest that she can be easily better than any filly or mare who's raced this decade....

However, she must do like a Discreet Cat or Ghostzapper, and go out and really prove the greatness that jumps off the tape at you in her inital wins.

Someone soiled the sheets.
And dirty sheets are made by runnng against 30K claimers as you stated.
I just watchem run.
So do you guys.

I also think Dan Marino is the best QB I have ever seen.
So maybe my eyes are just bad.

Mineshaft's style was impeccable by my eye also.
But of course he never ran against anything (according to many).