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Originally Posted by Dunbar
"without question" is a stretch. Alysheba won the Derby in amazing fashion (after just about digging his nose out of the ground when clipping the heels of Bet Twice), went on to win the Preakness, and missed winning the Breeder's Cup Classic by a whisker.
--Dunbar
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Alysheba didn't really prove to me that he was much better than Bet Twice. They split their four meetings that year, Alysheba taking the Derby and Preakness while Bet Twice took the Belmont and Haskell. Polish Navy was also right there with them. He took the Jim Dandy (beating Cryptoclearance) before being twice beaten by Java Gold (Travers and Marlboro). When he was able to get away from Java Gold, he came back to win the Woodward, beating older horses and Bet Twice in the process. Java Gold beat them all in the Travers. A lot of people were left to wonder about the legitimacy of the Travers due to the sloppy track but Cryptoclearance was a confirmed off-track runner and he was no match for JG. When he backed up his win by taking the Marlboro, people knew he was the real deal, especially when Polish Navy came back to win the Woodward.
Alysheba was a very fine horse as a 3yo. He was the best horse when dq'd in the Blue Grass and he was a convincing winner of the Derby and Preakness. He ran a very nice race when second in the Haskell and another one when second in the BC Classic. But it's worth noting that from the middle of May through the end of the year, he only won a single race, the Super Derby. For the year, his record was three wins in 10 starts (four if u give him the Blue Grass). That's hardly overwhelming. And I know that he lost the Classic by a nose to the HOY Ferdinand....but in my opinion Ferdinand was one of the weakest HOY winners in my 22 years following the game, maybe the weakest. He only won four of 10 starts that year. A HOY with a losing record? He's so unregarded historically that he won the Derby and the BC Classic, was a HOY.....and still is not in the hall of fame.
Where Alysheba made his legacy was as a 4yo. That season, he dominated like few others have in the last 30 years.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020)
Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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