I disagree... Her best race, she never threatened.
And, if I recall correctly she got a dream rail run in that race.

What race are you talking about? In any case, she was a very good 3 year old filly IMO.

BC against Zenyatta. Her Alabama was thrilling and all, but not really great. I guess with all the slow horses we have now a days, she clearly looks better then she is, but I actually think her 4 yr old campaign helped validate her.

Not exactly slow, per se, but she was hardly very fast for a horse considered one of the two leaders in her division.

You and Indian Charlie have made the point to me that I was trying to make here, compared to even 10 years ago almost everyone is slow in todays racing.

So how do you know which horses are perfectly healthy and which are not? Commentator had plenty of issues and it was remarkable how Zito was able to keep him in training so long and win at the highest level. His campaigns were as good as they were going to get under the circumstances. Other horses who are lightly raced are likely done so for a reason.

Yet the sheet guys say they're getting faster.....

When a horse is galloping and recording works every 7-10 days it's pretty fair to say it's healthy and sound. When the groom tells you she's got her "fighting attitude" and is getting tough to manage, it's a good bet she's good and healthy. If you watch horses long enough to discern their behavior has they go from "off the farm" to "fit to race" you know what they act like as they come to fitness.

So you are gathering this information about all horses or are you making assumptions?

I am gathering info for horses I follow via stable mail. In some cases it's horses I see with my own eyes as they train and in others its from talking directly with people who are involved.
When the horse in question is a stakes runner and he's working every week or so and galloping in between it's fair to guess that nothing is seriously wrong. If the worktab stops or is reduced, maybe something isn't right. My issue is when a good horse is working bullets and skipping races that seem like perfectly legit spots because trainers are cherry picking where they go.
That is not the same as a horse that is widely known to have issues that must be handled with kid gloves (Commentator for example) whose trainer is taking all precautions.
Sometimes it's tough to tell the difference but since I work in racing and have the chance to see the horses train for part of the year and have developed some connections I can usually discern which is which.