Rather telling list in Illman blog: Highest pre-Derby Beyers
 

Highest winning Beyers for three-year-olds before the Kentucky Derby (since 1992):

120 - Bellamy Road (Wood Memorial)
116 - Sinister Minister (Blue Grass)
116 - Limit Out (Bay Shore)
116 - Coronado's Quest (Wood Memorial)
115 - This Ones For Phil (Sunshine Millions Dash)
115 - Kafwain (San Vicente)
115 - Texas Glitter (Spectacular Bid)
115 - Holy Bull (Florida Derby)
115 - D.J. Cat (Swale)
114 - Millennium Wind (Blue Grass)
114 - Event of the Year (Jim Beam)
114 - Serena's Song (Jim Beam)
114 - Unbridled's Song (Florida Derby)

There's a lot of useless info in that list, too. 5 of those races were sprints and thus rather irrelevant. Of the other 8 races, 2 of those horses (Coronado's Quest, Event of the Year) did not start in the Derby.

That leaves 6. Amongst the remaining, I would argue that only the Derby efforts of Holy Bull and Unbridled's Song could be considered "head scratchers" (and really Unbridled's Song ran well considering the well-documented foot problems he suffered leading up to the race).

The other 4 were simply done in by unfavorable pace scenarios (that's being very generous to Sinister Minister BTW).

I wonder what Coronado's Quest would have done in either the Derby or the Preakness (he was a race day scratch from the latter). Kind of hard to swallow the "doesn't like big crowds" excuse when he did just fine in the Wood and also won on the Belmont Stakes undercard. How many more chances does Stuart Janney have left to win a classic?

As mentioned, sprints are irrelevant when considering the Derby.

The Sinister Minister and Millennium Wind wins were on an horribly biased Keenland track, so toss them.

Bellamy Road, Event of the Year, and Unbridled's Song were all big talents, but had careers marked by brilliance followed by unsoundness.

Holy Bull ran on a mess of a track in 1994.

Serena's Song was a filly.

Coronado's Quest was a nut.

Bellamy Road was super talented though... he got cooked in the pace of the Derby, and ran another big one in the Travers despite a 20 or so week layoff. He's one of those I wish could have put the health issues behind him, there's no telling what he could have done.

Didn't Steinbrenner's racing manager decide he was his trainer the next year? That sure helped.

Bellamy Road was a monsterously talented horse.

One big fig makes him monsterously talented? Midway Road ran a 124 at KEE I believe, was he monsterously talented?

Where did he say one race made him monstrously talented?

That's all he showed that one could think he was that talented.

Really? Talk about clueless...

LOL, ok. I guess Monsterous means something different to you. So be it.

You didn't say monstrous in your last post, just talented.

Jesus you're annoying. I responded to Andy, not you, and secondly Andy's post said Monsterously talented. Maybe read the thread again instead of being a dick.

Not included I believe Read the Footnotes ran a 113 or so at GP in Jan of his 3 yr old year.

I will if you stop being an idiot. My guess is I'll remain a dick. At least learn how to spell monstrously. I thought you'd have caught on by now.

Bellamy Road was a complete freak, his KD was pretty darn good also.

Wood Memorial S (gr-I, 9f, by 17 1/2, defeating Survivalist, Scrappy T, Galloping Grocer, Naughty New Yorker, Pavo, Going Wild).

An allowance race at Gulfstream Park (8f, by 15 3/4, defeating Cherokee Chase, Captain Lindsay, Dearest Mon, Ginger's Fella).

His Derby was empty at best. Definitely stylish when he chose to run. Harldly astounding.

Empty? That pace was brutal.

Well if you are one dimensional that's what happens.

Evaluation of talent is subjective. However, his Wood Memorial win and his Travers runner-up finish are enough for me to see that the horse had talent. If he didn't have the ability to hold it together for long, or in a race that was set up in such a way that he had no chance matters not, I thought of him as very talented.

Of course it is subjective but look at Hot Dixie Chick. Her 2 yr old races were unreal and then what....nothing. Comes into that allowance at CD on Derby day with glue ons and the rest is history as is she....Her talent at 2 was immense. And then it was gone.