Best Race mare ever
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster
hi madelyn
Reality is, the MAJOR problem at Santa Anita was the base. Stronach himself recently acknowledged...on the record...that it was done "on the cheap" (Stronach's words).
As for dirt versus all-weather/synthetic, it's probably easier to feed/perpetuate a good (dirt) versus evil (all-weather/synthetic) angle than to focus-on/highlight the reality re the terrible (for lack of a better word) base at Santa Anita.
Yes the surface is to be changed...but at the heart of the matter is that the base is going to be done right this time...or so we're told
.
Best to ya.
Respectfully
madelyn wrote:...the synthetic surface at SA, ... is apparently now just going to be a flash in the pan (they are going back to dirt).
Reality is, the MAJOR problem at Santa Anita was the base. Stronach himself recently acknowledged...on the record...that it was done "on the cheap" (Stronach's words).
As for dirt versus all-weather/synthetic, it's probably easier to feed/perpetuate a good (dirt) versus evil (all-weather/synthetic) angle than to focus-on/highlight the reality re the terrible (for lack of a better word) base at Santa Anita.
Yes the surface is to be changed...but at the heart of the matter is that the base is going to be done right this time...or so we're told
.
Best to ya.
Respectfully
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JCBloodstock
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I'd have to agree with Madelyn, pretty tough to say just who the best has been. And even myself would have a time attempting to distinguish between who would be the greatest.
I remember Ta Wee and Ruffian
Lest not to forget Bayakoa, Personal Ensign, Go For Wand and Winning Colors.
And of recent times Azeri, Zenyatta, Rachel
They are all from different eras --- how do you choose just one.
I remember Ta Wee and Ruffian
Lest not to forget Bayakoa, Personal Ensign, Go For Wand and Winning Colors.
And of recent times Azeri, Zenyatta, Rachel
They are all from different eras --- how do you choose just one.
Kincsem. 54 starts, 54 wins, still legendary.
"Peerless" Pretty Polly is, I think, quite an honorable runner-up. She sustained her form for four consecutive seasons and is still regarded by many as the best filly or mare ever to grace the English Turf.
One long-forgotten champion of American racing worthy of consideration with the very best is the diminutive Firenze, who stood about 15 hands but was a giant of the Turf. A member of the vintage crop of 1884, which included her fellow Hall of Famers Hanover and Kingston as well as the unbeaten juvenile Tremont, Firenze compiled a record of 82-47-21-9, going unplaced only five times during her arduous career. 69 of her starts were against males, and she held her own against the most distinguished of her male contemporaries while being considered the best American runner of her sex at ages three to six. That kind of consistency and toughness is rare in any era.
"Peerless" Pretty Polly is, I think, quite an honorable runner-up. She sustained her form for four consecutive seasons and is still regarded by many as the best filly or mare ever to grace the English Turf.
One long-forgotten champion of American racing worthy of consideration with the very best is the diminutive Firenze, who stood about 15 hands but was a giant of the Turf. A member of the vintage crop of 1884, which included her fellow Hall of Famers Hanover and Kingston as well as the unbeaten juvenile Tremont, Firenze compiled a record of 82-47-21-9, going unplaced only five times during her arduous career. 69 of her starts were against males, and she held her own against the most distinguished of her male contemporaries while being considered the best American runner of her sex at ages three to six. That kind of consistency and toughness is rare in any era.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher...You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." C. S. Lewis
dray33 wrote:Rachel obviously had the best 3 year-old season ever...
Not enough to do as moderator?
RA had the best 3 year-old season in NA in the last 10 years. Peoples memories tend to be very short and by the time her first foal hits the ground and people take a more objective view of her accomplishments I do not think too many experts would include her in their top ten lists of 3yo filly's of the past 100 years. A few might if they restrict themselves to NA racing but none if they go global. Just 2 years ago Europe was treated to the 3yo wonder filly Zarkava, who had a much more impressive campaign than RA.-
Tairaterces
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As MUCH as I love Queen Zenyatta, look at what The Great Ruffian did during the very short time she was running. Never behind. Looked like a 6 year old at 2 in the way she ran, and looked, never defeated, if only that leg would have held up...
She would have gone on to have an incredible career, and also she came from super females! Her dam Shenanigans was BM of the year, and I THINK that Laughter, her sister, may have been too...I can't remember. Anyone? And also, look who both those mares produced! Could you all imagine if Ruffian would have been bred to Secretariat since he produced better mares and she came from that line of great mares, and the foal was a filly? It would have been born with wings..!!!!!!
In any case, look how many races Ruffian won; all that she entered and finished at such a young age, which I think that had something to do with the bone issue. They are not ready or formed enough to go pounding on them so young. Just my opinion. Had that Match Race not happened we would have had a filly that would be something that had NEVER been seen before. Never.
edit:typo
She would have gone on to have an incredible career, and also she came from super females! Her dam Shenanigans was BM of the year, and I THINK that Laughter, her sister, may have been too...I can't remember. Anyone? And also, look who both those mares produced! Could you all imagine if Ruffian would have been bred to Secretariat since he produced better mares and she came from that line of great mares, and the foal was a filly? It would have been born with wings..!!!!!!
In any case, look how many races Ruffian won; all that she entered and finished at such a young age, which I think that had something to do with the bone issue. They are not ready or formed enough to go pounding on them so young. Just my opinion. Had that Match Race not happened we would have had a filly that would be something that had NEVER been seen before. Never.
edit:typo
We will NEVER see another Ruffian......
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skywatcher
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erhrdt3 wrote:As MUCH as I love Queen Zenyatta, look at what The Great Ruffian did during the very short time she was running. Never behind. Looked like a 6 year old at 2 in the way she ran, and looked, never defeated, if only that leg would have held up...
She would have gone on to have an incredible career, and also she came from super females! Her dam Shenanigans was BM of the year, and I THINK that Laughter, her sister, may have been too...I can't remember. Anyone? And also, look who both those mares produced! Could you all imagine if Ruffian would have been bred to Secretariat since he produced better mares and she came from that line of great mares, and the foal was a filly? It would have been born with wings..!!!!!!
In any case, look how many races Ruffian won; all that she entered and finished at such a young age, which I think that had something to do with the bone issue. They are not ready or formed enough to go pounding on them so young. Just my opinion. Had that Match Race not happened we would have had a filly that would be something that had NEVER been seen before. Never.
edit:typo
Ruffian did something else only great horses do--she could sprint, and when she won the CCA Oaks, it was still 1 1/2 miles long. She won in 2:27 4/5, fast enough to win most of the last 20 runnings.
I doubt that she would have been bred to Secretariat--they were too closely related.