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#1
02-25-2008, 05:36 PM
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I might be forgetting someone, but here is my list of 25 in the order I thought of them. It isn't exactly ranked 1-25, but my top picks are near the top of the list.
Sunday Silence Easy Goer Go for Wand Holy Bull Risen Star Alysheba Barbaro Point Given AP Indy Thunder Gulch Unbridled Curlin Smarty Jones Silver Charm Tiznow Afleet Alex Housebuster Bet Twice Winning Colors Victory Gallop Tabasco Cat Touch Gold Real Quiet Bernardini Empire Maker 
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#2
02-25-2008, 06:18 PM
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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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#3
02-25-2008, 06:22 PM
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He bested VG in the late summer/early fall so you could certainly make a case for him.
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#4
02-25-2008, 06:25 PM
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kentuckyrosesinmay,
LITF > Thunder Gulch? You'll have to explain that one to me, but other than that, your list looks fairly reasonable. I didn't include international horses simply because I don't feel qualified to compare horses like Deep Impact and Ouija Board with U.S dirt horses.
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#5
02-25-2008, 06:37 PM
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As for the international horses, I just put them in there because they were brillant in their respected divisions as three-year-olds (and they were a few of my favs on top of it all). Besides, it is just for fun anyway.
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#6
02-25-2008, 07:14 PM
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Only considering U.S. dirt horses and in no order:
Alysheba Risen Star Sunday Silence AP Indy Holy Bull Thunder Gulch Point Given Smarty Jones Bernardini Curlin Lion Heart Fusaichi Pegasus Easy Goer Winning Colors Forty Niner Seeking the Gold Bet Twice Java Gold King Glorious Touch Gold Dinard Serena's Song Go for Wand Lost Code Coronado's Quest Most notable absences are Tiznow, Silver Charm, and Real Quiet. I have always felt that Silver Charm was just a little overrated. Very good horse but I felt he was a lucky winner of the Preakness and it should have been Touch Gold that was the dual-classic winner that year and if that would have been the case, I think SC would be left off a lot more people's lists. If Silver Charm goes on, you almost have to put Free House and Captain Bodgit on too. I sort of feel like in 1997 and 1998, they had several really good horses but that they were very much like 2007 in that they were good and very competitive but no real superstars and so I only took the one I thought was the best one from each of these three years. Real Quiet got really good for the TC but those were his only two wins of the year and really, if you want to put him on there, Coronado's Quest also has to be on there since he beat Victory Gallop twice too (Haskell and Travers) in addition to wins in the Wood, Dwyer, and to show he could sprint too, the Riva Ridge. Tiznow just doesn't make it for me. He ran a great race to win the BC but that was over a grass horse. The rest of his campaign doesn't put him on the list for me. I think the three that most will question on my lists are King Glorious, Dinard, and Lion Heart. I admit that Lion Heart is a stretch. I just thought he was more naturally talented than many people give him credit for. I wish he hadn't broken his leg in the Travers. I thought for sure with the way that race was unfolding that he was going to win it then not as many people would be questioning me putting him on here. Many people don't remember Dinard but he was better than Best Pal. He had beaten Best Pal in the San Rafael and the SA Derby and would have been the favorite for the 1991 Kentucky Derby but an injury took him out. Best Pal ended up a very close second that year. He also beat Olympio in that SA Derby and Olympio won the Arkansas Derby and the Malibu that year. King Glorious was just the best horse that's run in the past 20 years so I don't need to make his case for him. One horse that was a tougher choice for me than probably for most was Risen Star. Just how good was he? I know a lot of people thought that he could have won the Derby with a better trip but on the flip side, was he really the best horse in the Preakness when he got a perfect trip? The Belmont was a tour de force for him but that's often a race where only one horse is ready to run and it's often a runaway and not indicative of the actual talent levels of the horses. EG was not really eight lengths better than SS. Bet Twice is not over 15 lengths better than Alysheba. It's a good thing Risen Star beat Forty Niner in the Lexington or else I'm not sure he makes it.
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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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#7
02-25-2008, 07:21 PM
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Lion Heart?
He only won two races his 3yo season and the second place finisher in each of those races was My Snookie's Boy. To each his own I suppose, but putting him in over Silver Charm sure seems like a stretch to me.
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#8
02-25-2008, 07:27 PM
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Quote:
__________________
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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#9
02-25-2008, 09:53 PM
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Dinard bested an off the bench Best Pal twice leading up to the Derby (in two slowly rated races), but his season was cut short by injury. He returned the following winter at SA to get lit up by Olympio in the Malibu (by 9 lengths or so) and followed that up with a drubbing at the hands of Best Pal (in career form at the time) in the Strub Stakes. Both Dinard and Olympio never ran again after the Strub. Best Pal ran for about 10 more years.
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#10
02-26-2008, 01:30 AM
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Dinard was not the same horse after his injury and if you want to hold his losses afterwards against him, that's fine. But it seems like you are making an effort to take away what he did do and in the winter of 1991, I don't think there was a better 3yo and Dinard was the favorite for the Kentucky Derby.
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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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Hybrid Mode
