I tend to agree with BTW that Barbaro was the "best" of the bunch. Smarty Jones and Barbaro are the only two that I didn't see in person, but Curlin is BY FAR the most visually impressive horse I have ever seen up close. Not just for that reason, but I would tend to put him second, because of his ability to fight (and with one exception) win stretch duels. I'm not sure that I can separate the other three because in my mind when each of them were presented with a challenge, they lost... be it Smarty to Birdstone, Alex in the Derby or Bernardini to Invasor... Now in all three of their cases I think they were compromised by jockeys, but in my heart, I think that Barbaro and Curlin would have found a way to win that Derby, that Belmont or that Classic, and thus put them at the top of this list...
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