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#1
03-21-2011, 03:39 PM
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As for 1997 HOY: If he did anything between the Belmont and Malibu, a case could have been made for Silver Charm, no? Won Kentucky Derby-G1 Preakness S.-G1 San Vicente S.-G3 2nd Belmont S.-G1 Santa Anita Derby-G1 Malibu S.-G1 San Felipe S.-G2
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Revidere 
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#2
03-21-2011, 04:53 PM
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Dancing Spree won because of the mayhem that Sam Who caused.
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#3
03-21-2011, 05:40 PM
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I suppose you could say Dispersal would have won with a clean trip, but IIRC he was a free-running horse and would have probably been up much closer and likely fried otherwise. I would suggest instead that his trouble actually benefited him by knocking him well off the pace and forcing him into making a late run. That aside, Dancing Spree was a more than capable sprinter having won the True North, Carter, Churchill Downs Handicap, etc.
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#4
03-21-2011, 06:00 PM
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#5
03-21-2011, 06:22 PM
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#6
03-21-2011, 11:21 PM
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The race before that, he did get his ass kicked, but it was going 8.5 at SA, in which he ran 3rd by 8 to the red hot Present Value and the mighty Rahy. 140 3/5ths was the winning time. The race before that he won in 133.2 at DMR. The race before that, also at DMR, he was 2nd by 1/2 to the very underrated Olympic Native. 120 1/5th was the winning time. In third, another whopping eleven lengths back, was Sam Who. The race before that, also DMR, he won by 3 going 6f in 108 flat. Yeah, he would have handled Dancing Spree.
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#7
03-22-2011, 10:51 AM
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Everyone has an opinion and Java Gold was mine. Had he won th JCGC, he was a lock. But he didn't so it can be reasoned, I think, that the loss of that race cost him the title. Ferdinand ended up winning, even though he lost six of his 10 races that year. One of the losses was to Broad Brush in the SA Hcp, the same horse that Java Gold beat in the Whitney. I know, he got 14 pounds when he did it. The one thing that I took from the Travers was that while the ability of Alysheba and Bet Twice was clearly compromised by the conditions, the form of Cryptoclearance wasn't and Java Gold handled him easily. By measuring how much better he was versus Cryptoclearance against how much better they were, it's clear to me that he was at the very least, on the level with them. He also handled Gulch a couple of other times and Gulch was a high quality horse.
I thought that neither Alysheba or Bet Twice clearly established themselves as the best of their crop and in fact, never really seperated from it. Lost Code came from the minor league circuit and ran them to a draw in the Haskell. Polish Navy handled Bet Twice in the Woodward (Gulch was second). Alysheba ran decent enough in the Super Derby before his excellent Classic.....but if Java Gold is punished for losing the Gold Cup, why isn't Alysheba for his Belmont? Don't tell me he was tired from the exhusting series because the three horses that beat him ran in all three races two and in fact, Gulch won the Met Mile during the series. Was it the Lasix issue? I'd give that more consideration as both of his inexplicably bad races came in NY. You can have your opinion that Java Gold didn't deserve HOY and I respect your opinions. But I will never be convinced that he wasn't the best of that class or that he didn't prove on the track that at the very least, he was their equal. If not Java Gold, the two best choices were Manila and Theatrical, not Ferdinand, Alysheba or Bet Twice.
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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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#8
03-22-2011, 12:19 PM
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He goes from running 3 huge races (all at Del Mar) in July and August and suddenly can barely hit the board in two races in October just a couple of weeks before the BC. Not to mention the two horses that just beat him, Dispersal and Sewickley, were also in the race. Maybe the cutback would have woken him up, but on paper he was a horse with declining form.
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