Frankel

[johnny pinwheel]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

Canford Cliffs beat Goldikova by 3/4 of a length...and FWIW, Peslier was a pound over. Hardly a whipping. Cape Blanco comes back to run well, then wins a G1 in America.



But I am completely, overwhelmingly, UNWILLING to hand out superlatives like the rest of the 21st century yahoos who, in this 24-7 media world, always need to find some degree of how one particular entity (horse, race, ride...in racing parlance, or anything else in the world of sport) is a crowning achievement, the best of the best, etc. Hell, five hours after the call was made, SportsCenter was anointing that home plate play in the 19th inning of the Pirates/Braves game as possibly the worst call EVER! EVER!!!!!!! That's a lot of flippin history of dunce umpiring, not to mention this call was made at 2am.

When I see comments from people that they were crying about this win (as I saw on Facebook), and that some thought they'd never see anything like it again when Goldikova won 3 BC Miles, and suddenly, seven months later they are spewing forth with another round of superlatives for a horse whose career has spanned eight races in 11 months.

Henry Cecil has the right to call Frankel the best horse he's ever laid eyes on, presuming (he's trained many champions, and he has that right) you expect him to know his own stock. But in terms of the rest of us hacks, trying to put perspective on a performance...how about we all use the best modifier for lending perspective...TIME.

Let TIME go by before we declare some of these horses, through eight freakin races, truly great, the best of all time, the supreme champion.

You know why we have to wait? Cause the jolly criers are going to be all aflutter when the next amazing horse of a lifetime crops up next year, or this year, or hasn't debuted yet, or two years from now, etc, etc, etc. A year ago, no one ever heard of Frankel the horse...TIME will tell, and pardon me if happiness in my racing mind isn't sated with another overwhelming superlative. I'll enjoy it for what it was, but reserve personal judgment and superlatives for the passage of time and more experience. It's sensible, rational, and just makes the most damn sense. Those lobbing the ridiculous praise...I'll keep shaking my head and paying no attention to them.

i usually don't say much ....just read. but this is a great post except for the "media" part. what about the social media like this forum??? these guys have the "best horse ever syndrome" just about every other month. all a horse has to do is win a couple of races and its the next secretariat.....i don't have to list the horses we all can read but every horse that was supposed to be great, when most turned out to be flops in the end. the media is a reflection of the public.....they blow things up, exagerate, praise and use hyperbola because people like the ones declaring this horse the greatest and that horse the greatest on here .....eat it up. wait until a 2yo comes up with a "break through perfomance" ...the media and people here will have him winning the derby "in november".....his speed ratings will be through the roof....."hes faster than the older horses"....blah,blah, blah. basically, many people are "junkies" for this crap, its like a drug. so the media feeds it to them....its not just sports...its politics and the rest too....at least you are smart enough to sift through it and think for yourself.....excuse me the horse of the "week" is blind luck so i have to read about how she can beat everything on earth now......lol.....hint...we are all flesh and bones ...including these horses ....when you find pegasus let me know......lol. i'm sure someone on here will find one by next month, if they can't the media will tell you how great this horse is....lol....JOLLY CRIERS..... i love it dude...that was priceless.