2006 3 Year Olds Vs 2007 3 Year Olds
 

The 2006 crop of 3 year olds had some of my favorite horses. The group was also very talented. With the likes of Barbaro, Bernardini, Discreet Cat, Showing Up, Henny Hughes, First Samurai, Bluegrass Cat, Lawyer Ron etc etc one could conclude that the 2006 crop was one of the best in the past 5 years. However, the 2007 crops looks to be very strong as well. It will be real interesting to see how the two stack up against each other when it is all said and done. I have to say, that I have been excited about racing the past two + years more than I was in 2000-2001-2002-2003. And it is all due to the great crops we have had.

It will be real interesting to see who develops as a three year old and who comes out of the woodwork and establishes him / herself as a top three year old. This time last year I think Bernardini was just breaking his maiden, don't have his PPs in front of me.

We also haven't seen the debut of the best selling horse of the generation! although something tells me that the "Green One" will NOT live up to his price.

Only time will tell.

It is a real shame that we will not see any of this years three year olds take on the "Big" names from last year but that is the way the game is being lately.

I would love to see some of the 3 year olds take on some of the 4 years olds in late fall. But like you said, that isn't going to happen. I have totally changed my perspective on racing. I thoroughly enjoy individual horses more than races and rilvaries. It was hard for me but it only makes sense given the status of the game.

Yea,

I really miss some of those old rivalries:

Easy Goer v Sunday Silence

Alysheba v. Bet Twice v. Lost Code
Alysheba v. Ferdinand

Bayakoa v Go for Wand

Meadowstar v. Lite Light

Forty Niner v Seeking the Gold

Lemon Drop Kid v. Vision & Verse

It really would have been nice to see Invasor, Discreet Cat and Bernardini all face off.

It's hard to believe that there really hasn't been a true rivalry in such a long time. At least we still get to see a tremendous horse race every once in a while.

I don't see as much promise in this crop as some see.

I think there are a few elite prospects who could possibly develop into being of the same cloth as a Barbaro, Bernardini, or Discreet Cat.

However, I don't see anywhere near the same kind of depth I saw in last years crop.

For every Barbaro, Discreet Cat, Bernardini, and Showing Up---there were many more genuinely talented types who's soundness issues did them in. Namely Stevie Wonderboy, Your Tent or Mine, What A Song, and Achilles of Troy.

I loved Your Tent or Mine! I agree with you about this year though.

I think the west coast horses have been fairly weak so far this year, compared to previous.
Especially if EZ warrior turns out to be just a sprinter. I'm not a huge fan of Stormello, Principle Secret, Notional, etc...
Great hunter looks OK, and I doubt Horse Greeley will come back to make an impact.
I think Exhale could be the best of the bunch. What happened to Dilemma? And even though Les Grand Trois broke his maiden at Belmont, he's working in California and he could be better than all of them.

Overall, I think we'll have some good ones come May, though.
CQ, Any Given Saturday, Nobiz, Street Sense and maybe Came To Pass, Daypass, etc..

Exhale is simply the most talented of the bunch on the west coast....however, everyone just seems to concede he will improve stretching out based solely on the name of his stallion and damsire.

This gem about him in the Derby Trail piece on the Bloodhorse site speaks to what the position is that everyone wants to take on him: "A son of Millennium Wind out of a Manila mare, his pedigree says he’ll stretch out with no problem."

Fact is, his mother, Manilla Rose, has produced three foals, all of them winners, two of which proven graded stake type horses. Those three foals have racked up a 0-for-15 record in dirt route races!

The best of which, mud-lark Private Horde (by Whitney Handicap winner Brunswick) won 8 stake races sprinting in his career. However, he was a mediocre 7-0-2-1 in dirt route races.

This horse worked 21 2/5ths on the first preview of the Fasig Tipton FEB select sale (AKA: The Green Monkey sale)--without blinkers. That was the fastest work at the distance, by any unblinkered horse, that day.

http://fasigtipton.sitespace.com/videos/156.wmv

After that sales showing, he starts his career with back-to-back triple digit Beyer performances sprinting. Very impressive...but not exactly positives, when you talk about a horse seeing out 10 furlongs in a little more than three months.

I'm VERY impressed with this horse--however, there is no real evidence to substaniate these claims that he will improve routing. His prospects of seeing out 10 furlongs in 100 or so days, they don't look that good to me.

Stormello, on the other hand, looks, at best, to be no more than a slightly worse version of Brother Derek. He has no chance at winning the Derby.

Are you stating that on the 24th of Jan, 2006 that you saw a more talented crop of 3yo than this years crop? Wow!!!!

I agree with you DRUGS. With my name on here being Manila Rose I am obviously familiar with the mare and her previous runners. Private Horde seemed to have router all over him as much ground as he covered and being over 17 hands, however he couldn't go over a mile and wasn't nearly as effective at a mile as at 7F or less. Exhale's 1/2 sis was no good routing on dirt but it wasn't due to distance limitations. She was Repriced(Roberto) on top and Manila on bottom and couldn't run a bit off of the turf. On the turf she could get 1 1/8 without much problem. Exhale's 2nd dam is Golden Horde, a GI winning sprinter and both Private Horde and Pricearose were very quick as Exhale seems to be. I like his chances of stretching out due to the way he travels and the way he settled in behind a few horses without any problem in his last start as opposed to liking his chances simply because of his pedigree , but like you I don't believe it's such a forgone conclusion.

Truly miss Stevie Wonderboy.:( :(

Without question.

* Discreet Cat (Who debuted on the Travers undercard as a 2yo and ran faster than older champion Lost in the Fog did in the King's Bishop that same day. Ran MUCH faster than a solid field in the Grade 1 Hopeful that same day. And his raw figure was the same as Flower Alley ran winning the Travers.)

* Stevie Wonderboy (an exciting win sprinting in Del Mar's most import 2yo race. His BC Juvie win earned the fastest Beyer of any winner in the history of that race, at the time.)

* Barbaro (Who I steadfastly believe was a MUCH better turf horse than dirt horse---was 3-for-3 with a pair of jaw-dropping stake wins on turf.

* Your Tent or Mine (who was wiped out by Brother Derek at the start in the Hollywood Futurity, and somehow almost ran him down.)

* Achillies of Troy and Sweetnorthernsaint (both were jaw dropping winners on the same card at AQU.)

* Cindago was a very impressive winner of an opening day MSW race at Santa Anita.

* Brother Derek and Lawyer Ron both looked quite useful by this time.

Last years group looked much deeper to me at this time.

I definately agree that last year's crop had more people excited. Reading posts over the last year made me realize that most are more cautious about getting on any horse's bandwagon or about getting overly excited about any 1 race.
During the prep races for the Derby, Stevie Wonderboy and then Achilles of Troy were taken off the trail. I think mostly everyone knew that Discreet Cat was not going. Even with the defections, it was still a deeply talented group of 3 year olds.
Speaking of Achilles, last year I remember alot of you writing about the problems between his handlers and how that was compromising his development at the time. Has that been resolved? Is that a factor in his return?