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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS
Some who saw Twice A Prince run (and I surely didn't!) might counter that by saying that beating Sunday Silence by 8 lengths, is probably a bigger achievement than beating Twice a Prince by 31 lengths, in a 12 furlong race.
I think someone once told me that Twice A Prince made all 23 of his lifetime starts during his 3yo season. He never won a stake, and made just 94K. Not to take anything away from Big Red's amazing Belmont Stakes performance.
I can see how Easy Goer's Belmont figure, could be incredibly fast on the sheets. He was wide on both turns, and ran the 2nd fastest time in history, beating a very solid horse by a lopsided margin.
To me, what's downright impossible to defend, is Easy Goer's Wood Memroial figure---which was also a 0...and the same number as both his and Big Red's Belmont. He only beat Rock Point by 3 or 4 lengths that day!
On the Beyer figures, horses are not progressively getting a lot faster. However, they are on the Ragozin Sheets, and most certainly are getting MUCH faster on the Thoro-graph sheets.
Spectacular Bid held the fastest Ragozin sheet figure ever recorded for over 20 years until Congaree broke it in his first NYRA Mile win. I think a few other horses have bested it since.
I guess it boils down to who's figures you trust most---because if you are comparing figures for horses over several generations---you'll notice horses are getting much faster on the sheet style figures....and that isn't the case on the Beyer Style figures.
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As usual, great post. While, I think its somewhat crazy to think anyone could have kept up with Big Red on Belmont Day 1973, we must give Sham some due credit. Any year other than 1973 he's a clear Triple Crown candidate, and the Belmont and Twice A Prince finishing a "distant" second, in my mind is a mere fact of Sham getting his arse beat into the ground trying to keep up with a freak for two grueling races. That being said, I tend to put a lot more "faith" in the beyer figures when it comes to comparing horses over generations (I think he estimates big red's Belmont at a 139) because I think the focus on "speed" and raw talent tends to get clouded when human judgment attempts to add or subtract points for the horse's "trip"...