JC / Railbird

He Was the Best

I’m heading up to Saratoga for the Whitney Handicap, which is a Breeders’ Cup Classic Challenge race and a stakes I best remember for 2006, the year Invasor won by digging in and outlasting Sun King by a nose. There is no Invasor in this year’s field, but the winner will get a guaranteed spot in this fall’s Classic, a race Invasor also won in 2006 at awesome odds of 7-1. If I’m missing, just a little, a horse retired more than four years ago, it’s probably because I recently wrote a profile of Invasor for Hello Race Fans, which includes several replays from his career, including — of course! — the Whitney.


4 Comments

He was the best…? That year? Whitney winner?

On the HRF profile the intro is “one of the best.” Not trying to be obtuse, just wondering if it’s open to interpretation what you meant or if you have something in mind!

Posted by EJXD2 on August 8, 2011 @ 5:52 pm

In the post title, I was referencing Kenny Mayne’s “He is the best,” always said in a jokey accent (“Eeen-va-sooor, heez de best”). As for the HRF profile, I meant, if you ranked the best horses of the 2000s, he’d be among them (“one of the best racehorses of the century’s first decade”). Which one? I didn’t take it that far, but certainly among the top 10.

Posted by Jessica on August 9, 2011 @ 7:04 am

I remember that Kenny Mayne gag now! Nice allusion. Wish I had gotten it sooner!

Posted by EJXD2 on August 9, 2011 @ 3:16 pm

Any excuse to bring that joke back. I totally abused it in the lead-up to the 2006 Breeders’ Cup, when I was resolute re: Invasor as my top pick for the Classic. Not a redboard! I had many conversations in the DRF office that year in which I earnestly laid out the reasons to my many Bernardini-besotted colleagues why Invasor was the best. I’m glad they didn’t listen — the $15.40 he paid to win is still one of my most satisfying BC betting memories.

Posted by Jessica on August 11, 2011 @ 10:57 am