Iwasatthe78Belmont

Frankel may be the greatest thoroughbred in history not named Secretariat or Man O'War. Having said that, he never ran on the dirt and they were not going to risk his undefeated record to find out. The BC Turf, at 12 furlongs, was too long for him, and the BC Turf Mile, for which he would have been an overwhelming favorite, was a $1 million race at the time and not worth the travel at that price. Look at the reverse - based on what Secretariat did in his last two races, however, if the Arc had been held in November, I think he could have pulled off a victory in it. Part of the case that can be made that Secretariat was the all-time greatest was that he was incredible on both turf and dirt. And Secretariat was generally better as the races got longer, and the Arc, at 12f/2400m, would have suited him perfectly, even on a soft course.

And backwards... Actually, she goes both ways. :-P Thank you....I'm in town all week....don't forget to tip your waitress.

I bet at $10 million, and thinking that Winx would not run well outside Australia, they'd consider it.

Maybe Meydan or Happy Valley could offer $10 million for a race at 10f. Maybe 11f?

Would love to see some track (Meydan possibly) offer $10 million for a WTA match race between these two at 10 furlongs. Too bad it won't happen - and Winx's folks would be the reason.

Promises Fulfilled certainly looked strong yesterday.

If you look at a list of most dominating sports performances in American sports history (by horses and humans), the 1973 Belmont is often at the top of the list.

The case against Man O'War can be summed up in one word -- Exterminator. It seems as though his folks ducked the great gelding, although they did beat Sir Barton, the 1919 TC winner (although nobody even thought of it as a TC then). The great case for Secretariat is that he beat the best older horses of dirt AND turf. I still think Man O'War (even with the hype -- after all, Secretariat benefitted from that, too) had the greater career, and it comes down to Secretariat's three losses as a three year old.

He was certainly the greatest horse of my lifetime (although not my all-time favorite -- that honor belongs to another horse of that great 1970 foal crop -- Forego), but if you look at the combined 2-3 year old performances, you can say that not only was Man O'War better than him, but so was Citation -- and if the latter had retired at 3, he would have gone down as the greatest horse of all time. His second career at 5 & 6 detracted from his greatness.

BTW, I can't recall a BC Classic race where the pundits were so against what is a clear favorite.