JC / Railbird

Textbook case of “recentitis” in your first link. Plus, #11 through #6 plus #1 additionally suffer from the widespread disease of regarding a horse a TC-race winner even if the feat was completed well before those races had TC status.

Plus, discounting #9 Whimsical because it’s supposedly that much easier for a filly to beat the colts over 1 mile 70 yard would be questionable anyway, and even more so if #7 Ruthless isn’t automatically a Top 3 horse for winning a 1 5/8 miles Belmont while carrying only 3 pounds less than the boys.

Posted by Malcer on May 29, 2009 @ 12:33 pm

So, your rankings would be … ?

Posted by Jessica on May 29, 2009 @ 12:40 pm

Sorry, but to make a full list would require several hours of assembling basic information about the strength of those pre-TC-era fields.

I’ll just list the four I’ve actually seen (and it’s close enough just among those, I actually spent more than half an hour reviewing and writing this):

4) Winning Colors – not a fluke by any means, but she profited from a perfect trip (perfect start, easy lead with reasonable fractions while half the field was bumped out of contention passing the grandstand for the first time). Still, she won against good competition.

3) Rachel Alexandra – impressive all around in a race she tried at short notice (and on a track she didn’t like); only minus is that MTB had a bad trip and might have caught her otherwise. Placed only third because it’s too early to really rate her crop, and because I hope she’ll get a shot at #1 in the Belmont.

2) Rags to Riches – probably a bit unfair to hold this against her, but her pedigree was much more suited for the occasion compared to her competition. Not unfair to hold against her: she had more than 5 weeks rest, Curlin and Hard Spun ran every stage of the Crown. Then again, what do I know? After all, she was a Teen Choice Female Athlete nominee. One of many truly memorable horses in a great crop.

1) Genuine Risk – hard to believe those “filly-running-colts” stereotypes could survive to this day when you review her Derby. Won in a slightly below-average Derby (but not one of the really weak ones) and backed it up with strong runner-up performances in the Preakness and Belmont. Gamely enough to take it home after a testing trip. She isn’t written in stone as #1, but I think her performance edges out the the other three.

Long enough response. Including the 7 pre-TC’s would be so apples-to-orangey as to compare pickles and the teachings of Avicenna (which would be kinda funny).

Posted by Malcer on May 29, 2009 @ 3:31 pm