Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

I have to say, I think that Cigar would have beat those fields as well.
Holy Bull definitely would have.

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

I think you might be overrating Pleasantly Perfect a bit and Forest Danger. Just my opinion. Ghostzapper did run faster figures than Holy Bull. But while you bring up that Classic, which was a bit weak IMO. look at the fields Holy Bull crushed in May of his 3 year old year and then later in September.

Met Mile-
Devil His Due- Multiple GSW including Wood Memorial, Gulfstream Park Handicap, Pimlico Special and Suburban.
Cherokee Run- Multiple GSW and Champion sprinter of 1994. Won BC Sprint.
Tinners Way- Multiple GSW including Californian and Pacific Classic (twice).
Colonial Affair-Mutiple GSW and Classic winner. Won Belmont, Whitney and Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Virginia Rapids- Multiple GSW, including Peter Pan, Tom Fool and Carter
American Chance- Multiple GSW including Jersey Derby and Forego
West By West- Multiple GSW
Federal Funds :D

Woodward-
Devil His Due, Colonial Affair and Tinners Way- see above
Go For Gin- Multiple GSW, classic winner. Including Kentucky Derby, Remsen
Bertrando- Multiple GSW, Champion Older Male of 1993. Wins include Del Mar Futurity, Norfolk, San Felipe, Pacific Classic, Woodward.
Brunswick- Won gr. 1 Whitney in 1993
Pistols and Roses- Multiple GSW including Bluegrass and Donn (twice)

Pretty comparable fields I think.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Drugs are an easy copout for the entire industry. Very easy for the breeders to blame as it takes the focus off of them. Easy for the fans to blame them because there is much more awareness of what is going on nowdays. But the fact is that things were not a whole lot different then and now in terms of medicating horses. What has changed is that the sales arena became the most powerful economic factor in the late 70's about the time we started breeding a whole lot more horses than we used to. The eventual bust of the market brought the numbers back to realistic numbers but the damage to the breed was done.

Drugs, legal or otherwise, have virtually nothing to do with the genetic makeup of horses. The fact that some horses may have competeted at a higher level because of them means squat in terms of producing horses. Some of the best horses of our generation like Alysheba and Coronado's Quest (neither who would be considered to be "juice" horses) got tremendous books of mares yet were absolute busts at stud.

What I do think has led to the "softness" of modern day horses is the proliferation of the blood of Mr. Prospector, Storm Cat, and Danzig. Danzig broke down after 3 starts, Storm Cat was not effective past 2 and Mr. Prospector was strictly a 6 furlong horse. Think about that for a minute and ask yourself why modern day horses who are filled with the blood of those 3 should be durable distance horses? Take a look at the upcoming Keeneland sale and see how many hips you can go without seeing one of those 3 in the pedigree? Consider that on the female side, virtually no filly's with any breeding at all, are not bred despite horrible conformation or other issues. We just correct the foals artificially with surgeries and pass them off as new.

Now days you have to take into consideration that graded stake horses are treated as assets instead of racehorses. The reason that this practice is allowed is because the power breeders don't insist on a deep race record as a requirement. As long as a horse has a good pedigree and he has knocked off a couple of big races, he is a prime stallion option. Being that the stud books are in the 100's, the farms that stand stallions don't have to be right nearly as much as the 1st few years of stud fees easily cover the price of the horse.

What it really comes down to in this day and age is like most other areas of our society. It is a numbers game and money is the greatest motivator, even over ego. I hate the way the game is played now but being I make a living at it I have to deal with it. It is hard to blame the trainers of the big horses as they are under a lot of pressure not to lose once a horse reaches a certain status. It is just too bad that a billionaire owner has yet to stand up and race and resist the urge to cash out. I guess Stronach bringing back Ghostzapper for one more year, is as close to that as we get (though he was hardly overraced)

Originally Posted by philcski

That Met Mile field was awesome, would never argue that, and the performance was better than awesome. I was there that day... 3YO's aren't supposed to do that.

Originally Posted by Cardus

Though I am sure that this is researchable (word?), I seem to remember Chris Lincoln's voiceover of the Woodward race on ESPN's Top Ten Races of the Year, in which he said that there were nine Grade One winners in that race who had earned $15 million. I think that this race was voted Race of the Year by those affiliated with ESPN's weekly racing show.