From a handicapping standpoint, Blackthroatedwind is right, as Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones are no better than the top three 3-year-olds of this season on form.
AA and SJ both had a lot of things to like about them though. Both were outstanding horses who outran their pedigrees. In Afleet Alex's case, I remain convinced that he ran the best race in three of his four career losses. Smarty Jones clearly ran the best race, albeit in defeat, in the Belmont Stakes.
Of these five horses, I actually belive Barbaro may have slightly been the worst of them on dirt. However, Barbaro was so freakish on turf, that he very likely would have won this years Breeders Cup turf, and probably could have gone down as all-time great on that surface, if never tried on dirt.
Here are the past performances anyway. Not very much seperates these five horses at all on form. Interestingly enough, of these five, only Discreet Cat will be around to see a 4-year-old season.
