Greatest Single Season

[witchdoctor]

TB Times ran a 2 part article where Jay Leimbach, Rab Hagin, and Richard Aller rated the seven best season of the the 20th century. Their results were as follows:
1.Dr Fager 1968
2.Citation 1941
3.Buckpasser 1966
4.Spectacular Bid 1980
5.Man O'War 1920
6.Secretariat 1973
7.Damascus 1967



Discussion?

[toetoe]

Citation's year should be 1948, I think.

I wasn't a huge fan, but Spectacular Bid at 4, 1980, was flawless.

[Figman]

CITATION carried 130 or more pounds in just 4 of 46 career starts and never won on the turf.

DR.FAGER in 1968 carried 130 or more pounds in EVERY one of his eight starts and won on the dirt from 7 furlongs to 1 and 1/4 miles. He won the Vosburgh carrying 139 lbs. He also won on the turf at a mile and 3/16s defeating the champion turf horse FORT MARCY. I saw many of his races in person. Just watching him in a post parade sent shivers down my spine as he emitted equine greatness with his cocked neck and rocking horse-like canter.

[witchdoctor]

Your right Toe, Citation was 1948.

[RXB]

CITATION carried 130 or more pounds in just 4 of 46 career starts and never won on the turf.

But Citation won 19 out of 20 races in 1948, and was whipping older horses throughout, in addition to winning the Triple Crown with the greatest of ease.

[Turntime]

Although Man o' War was indeed brilliant, interestingly enough he only faced a total of 23 horses in all 11 of his races in 1920. The Preakness (his first start of the year) had a field of 9. In no fewer than 6 races he faced only one other starter (the Belmont, Stuyvesant, Dwyer, Lawr. Realization, Jockey Club, and Knw Gold Cup). Apparently he was in a class by himself, and nobody would race against him. I find it hard to believe that nobody wanted third place purse money.

[Figman]

My only counter is that I never saw CITATION or MAN O WAR in person. I have seen all the others on this list in person including the defeats suffered by SECRETARIAT by HERBULL, PROVE OUT, ONION and his own entry mate ANGLE LIGHT.

Of the others, DR. FAGER in competition got me the most excited about horse racing and was like KELSO, a great weight carrier in victory.

[DrugSalvastore]

Although Man o' War was indeed brilliant, interestingly enough he only faced a total of 23 horses in all 11 of his races in 1920. The Preakness (his first start of the year) had a field of 9. In no fewer than 6 races he faced only one other starter (the Belmont, Stuyvesant, Dwyer, Lawr. Realization, Jockey Club, and Knw Gold Cup). Apparently he was in a class by himself, and nobody would race against him. I find it hard to believe that nobody wanted third place purse money.

The foal crops back at that time were microscopic. I guess it isn't Man O' War's fault that he raced at a time, when race horses were like an endangered species.

Imagine how dominant Smarty Jones would have looked, if his crop was randomly divided by thirty, and he didn't catch someone like a Rock Hard Ten, Lion Heart, or Birdstone in the division.

In Man O' War's 4th start, he won the Hudson Stakes at AQU by just 1 1/2 lengths, over a filly, named Violet Tip. If anyone is curious, Violet Tip was no superstar either---her lifetime record was 1-for-25 with career earnings of $2,160. She finished her career racing in steeplechase races.

Man O' War was as flawless as he could be in 1920--though his owner repeatedly ducked the top gelding Exterminator that year. Sort of like how War Admiral tried to duck Seabiscuit.

Once again, MoW was GREAT for his time, but that's it.

[GaryG]

The foal crops back at that time were microscopic. I guess it isn't Man O' War's fault that he raced at a time, when race horses were like an endangered species.

Imagine how dominant Smarty Jones would have looked, if his crop was randomly divided by thirty, and he didn't catch someone like a Rock Hard Ten, Lion Heart, or Birdstone in the division.

In Man O' War's 4th start, he won the Hudson Stakes at AQU by just 1 1/2 lengths, over a filly, named Violet Tip. If anyone is curious, Violet Tip was no superstar either---her lifetime record was 1-for-25 with career earnings of $2,160. She finished her career racing in steeplechase races.

Man O' War was as flawless as he could be in 1920--though his owner repeatedly ducked the top gelding Exterminator that year. Sort of like how War Admiral tried to duck Seabiscuit.

Once again, MoW was GREAT for his time, but that's it.Foal crops mean nothing, just that we breed more cheap horses now. It is certainly no measure of a horse's class. Do divide a large crop of cheap horses by 30? Smarty Jones doesn't deserve to even be on the same page with Citation. By the way, turf racing in the US was practically non-existant in 1948.

[pandy]

I never saw Dr Fager race, except for on film, but his accomplishments and final times were amazing. I personally think that Secretariat was a much faster and more powerful horse than Spectacular Bid and should be ranked higher. I also think that Ruffian is one of the top 10 racehorses of all time. Ruffian could run 6 furlongs in 1:08 under complete wraps over a track that was not that fast. Her stride was effortless and she put up blistering fractions with astonishing ease, never once being asked for her best. From a pure physical standpoint, she may have been the ultimate racehorse.

Pandy

[DrugSalvastore]

Foal crops mean nothing, just that we breed more cheap horses now. It is certainly no measure of a horse's class.

The first part is absurd, the second part is HIGHLY debatable, and as far as the 3rd part...

When you beat up on two and three horse fields, cowardly duck the top rated older horse, and dominate the 2nd smallest foal crop in the last 110 years, it's not very easy to measure the "class" of said horse.

Do you really think it is possible, that a horse in this era, could enter the Kentucky Derby as a madien, after repeatedly being trounced, and only running to serve the purpose as the pace setting "rabit" for his stablemate---and than said horse goes on to win the Ky Derby by five and proceeds to sweep the Triple Crown????

That's what Sir Barton did. That could never happen in this era--and YOU KNOW IT.

[46zilzal]

Once again, MoW was GREAT for his time, but that's it.
the absolute reason why these comparions don't hold much water.

[DrugSalvastore]

FWIW

I took Mazel Trick as the most underrated horse I've seen during my time following the game.

Of the horses I've seen from before my time, I'd take Melair as the horse who I believe to be most underrated.

She raced only in 1986, winning all five of her lifetime starts, three of them in Graded Stake races.

Melair is most famous for taking on top males in a $400K Grade 2 Stake and DESTROYING them. She won it by 6 1/2 lengths over 8 time champion South American sire Southern Halo. Snow Cheif, who was Champion 3yo male that same year, finished 3rd beaten 11 lengths. The final time for the mile was a supersonic 1:32 4/5. She was just 3/5ths of Dr. Fager's world record.

She also beat Hidden Light in another Stake that year. Those not fimilar with Hidden Light, she won the Gr 1 Santa Anita Oaks, Gr 1 Hollywood Oaks, and Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks that same year, and she's also the dam of Artie Schiller.

For as brilliant as Melair was, and all that she was able to accomplish in her very short career, she's a horse who never seems to get a word of mention.

[betchatoo]

In 1974 forego took on all the best horses around. Hi record 13/8-2-2-1.
he carried over 130 in almost all of his starts
* won - Widener Handicap [G1]
* won - Woodward Stakes [G1]
* won - Gulfstream Park Handicap [G2]
* won - Brooklyn Handicap [G1]
* won - Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes [G1]
* won - Vosburgh [G2]
* won - Donn Handicap [G3]
* won - Carter Handicap [G2]
* 2nd - Metropolitan Handicap [G1]
* 2nd - Nassau County Handicap [G3]
* 3rd - Marlboro Handicap
* 3rd - Suburban Handicap [G1]
* Champion Handicap Horse
* Champion Sprinter
* Horse Of The Year

In 1963 at age 6 Kelso won his fourth of 5 strsight Horse of the Year Championships winning 9 times and placing twicw among 12 starts. Again he consistently carried 130 plius
1st:
o Seminole Handicap, 02/09/63, Hialeah Park, 1 1/8 miles
o Gulfstream Park Handicap, 03/16/63, Gulfstream Park, 1 1/4 miles, 130 lbs
o John B. Campbell Handicap, 03/23/63, Bowie, 1 1/16 miles, 131 lbs
o Nassau County Stakes, 06/19/63, Aqueduct, 1 1/8 miles, 132 lbs
o Suburban Handicap, 07/04/63, Aqueduct, 1 1/4 miles, 133 lbs
o Whitney Stakes, 08/03/63, Saratoga, 1 1/8 miles, 130 lbs
o Aqueduct Stakes, 09/02/63, Aqueduct, 1 1/8 miles, 134 lbs
o Woodward Stakes, 09/28/63, Aqueduct, 1 1/4 miles
o Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes, 10/19/63, Aqueduct, 2 miles
2nd:
o Widener Handicap, 02/23/63, Hialeah Park, 1 1/4 miles, 131 lbs
o Washington, D.C. International Stakes, 11/11/63, 1 1/2 miles on TURF
Unplaced:
o Palm Beach Handicap, 01/30/63, Hialeah Park, 7 furlongs

[46zilzal]

For as brilliant as Melair was, and all that she was able to accomplish in her very short career, she's a horse who never seems to get a word of mention.
thanks I was trying to remember her name. Then that brings to mind Landeluce

[46zilzal]

a lot of these may, or may not have been PUSHED to greater heights by their arch rivals. How can one say Affirmed without thinking of Aladyar or SS without Easy Goer, Citation had his Noor to bug him, or how Damascus bugged the crap out of Fager?

[cj]

Noor did a lot more than bug Citation, he owned him!

[falconridge]

In April of 1953, Tom Fool, a four-year-old son of Menow and the Bull Dog mare Gaga, began a ten-race campaign from which he would emerge undefeated at season's--and his career's--end. In that year (which also saw Native Dancer, one of the shorted-priced favorites in the history of the Kentucky Derby, suffer the only loss of his brilliant career on the first Saturday in May), Tom Fool won at distances from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles while toting up to 136 pounds and conceding up to 26 pounds to the second top-weighted runner in the field.

After an injury-plagued three-year-old season in which the Greentree Ace still managed to win the Grey Lag, Empire City, and Jerome Handicaps and finish second in the Wood Memorial, Tom Fool made his handicap-age debut in the Sation Handicap, which he easily won under 128 pounds. He followed with a convincing score in the Joe Palmer under 130, and, five days later, hauled the same nine stone-and-four in whipping the crack Royal Vale in the Metropolitan Mile. Only a week after the Met, Tom Fool stretched out another couple furlongs to take on the top handicap horses in the country in the Suburban Handicap. The result was yet another win for the Greentree colt, this time in an eye-popping 2:00 3/5, the fastest time ever recorded for the American classic distance at Belmont Park--save for Whisk Broom II's highly disputed (and eventually discredited) 2:00 in the 1913 renewal of the Suburban.

Trainer John Gaver kept his star busy by sending him after the seven-furlong Carter Handicap, which Tom Fool captured under 135 pounds. Only one leg of the New York Handicap Triple Crown remained: the Brooklyn, for which Tom Fool was assigned 136 pounds. Despite the steadying impost, only four lightly-weighted rivals challenged the champ--if "challenge" is the right word. Under a heavy pull from jockey Ted Atkinson, Tom Fool won eased up, thus completing only the second-ever sweep of this historic series of races (the other being Whisk Broom II's in 1913).

With only weight-for-age events remaining on the summer and fall stakes calendar, few horsemen were willing to beard the Greentree lion in his lair. Hence, the last four races of Tom Fool's career were presented as betless exhibitions: the Wilson and Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, the Sysonby at Belmont, and the Pimlico Special--which Tom Fool won in a canter, by eight lengths, after the eagerly awaited showdown with Native Dancer came to nought owing to an injury to the once-beaten winner of the Preakness and Belmont.

Few, if any, thoroughbreds of handicap age ever showed more impressively than Tom Fool in 1953. Triangle Publications, the American Turf Writers' Assn., and Turf and Sport Digest all voted the Menow monster Champion Sprinter, Champion Handicap Horse, and Horse of the Year.

(Tom Fool went on the sire a few decent runners, too: multiple classic-winner Tim Tam, Bepopper, Tompion, Silly Season, and Buckpasser [himself Horse of the Year in 1966], to name but a few.

[GaryG]

Noor did a lot more than bug Citation, he owned him!Citation's year was 1948 at age 3. After that he was not the same but they continued to race in pursuit of the million dollars in earnings. How much weight was Citation giving Noor when Noor "owned him"?

[GaryG]

FWIW

I took Mazel Trick as the most underrated horse I've seen during my time following the game.

Of the horses I've seen from before my time, I'd take Melair as the horse who I believe to be most underrated.

She raced only in 1986, winning all five of her lifetime starts, three of them in Graded Stake races.

Melair is most famous for taking on top males in a $400K Grade 2 Stake and DESTROYING them. She won it by 6 1/2 lengths over 8 time champion South American sire Southern Halo. Snow Cheif, who was Champion 3yo male that same year, finished 3rd beaten 11 lengths. The final time for the mile was a supersonic 1:32 4/5. She was just 3/5ths of Dr. Fager's world record.

She also beat Hidden Light in another Stake that year. Those not fimilar with Hidden Light, she won the Gr 1 Santa Anita Oaks, Gr 1 Hollywood Oaks, and Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks that same year, and she's also the dam of Artie Schiller.

For as brilliant as Melair was, and all that she was able to accomplish in her very short career, she's a horse who never seems to get a word of mention.There have meen many very fine horses over the years, would-be all time greats, who had their career's cut short by injury. Try looking up Hoist The Flag, Raise A Native, Sir Gaylord and Gen. Duke. Also the great Argentine Forli.

[falconridge]

Citation's year was 1948 at age 3. After that he was not the same but they continued to race in pursuit of the million dollars in earnings. How much weight was Citation giving Noor when Noor "owned him"?In Citation's and Noor's five head-to-head meetings in 1950, Citation carried a cumulative 55 pounds more than Noor. Their first encounter was the San Antonio Handicap, in which Citation, despite having only two sprint preps following a layoff off more than a year, was assigned 130 lbs., while Noor got in with a feathery 114. This was the only time Citation would finish ahead of Noor. Citation tracked the pacesetting Bolero and made the lead at the top of the stretch, but wasn't unduly punished as stablemate Ponder circled the field to win by a length, with Citation second, Noor third.

In their next race, the Santa Anita Handicap, Citation was required to carry 132 lbs., the heaviest impost of his career, while Noor toted only 110 lbs. (he'd actually been assigned 109, but jockey John Longden couldn't get down that far; hence Noor went to post one pound overweight). By all accounts, including that of Citation's rider Eddie Arcaro, the Big Cap was a race Citation should have won. He was cut off at the top of the stretch by his own stablemate (the filly Two Lea), and had to wait and move to the outside to find clear running. As it was, he was making up ground on Noor at the end, but the wire came too soon. Noor, benefitting from a clean trip and a 22-pound pull, prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths.

For their next match-up, the 1 3/4-mile San Juan Capistrano Handicap, Citation was weighted at 130 lbs., Noor at 117. In his monumental History of Thoroughbred Racing in America, William HP Robertson describes that battle as "what 60,000 weekday witnesses were willing to certify as the most thrilling turf spectacle of modern times. There were no complicating incidents, no excuses, and none was needed. This was a horse race--Salvator and Tenny, Domino and Dobbins, Hourless and Omar Khayyam, Alsab and Whirlaway, all over again. ... After tracking the leisurely pace for the first mile of the marathon, run in 1:38, Steve Brooks sent 'Cy' up to make his bid; at the same time, from four and a half lengths to the rear, Longden turned Noor loose.

"They locked horns rounding the turn and stayed that way to the bitter end. For more than 5/16-mile it was head and head, stride for stride ... " At the finish, track announcer Joe Hernandez called Citation the winner, and fans, reporters, and stable hands began congratulating trainer Jimmy Jones for avenging Citation's defeat in the Big Cap, and for his charge's displacing King Ranch's Stymie as the sport's all-time leading money winner. But the photo-finish camera rendered a different verdict: Noor by a nose.

The two next met on June 17, 1950 in the nine-furlong Forty-Niners Handicap at Golden Gate Fields. For this showdown, the spread was narrowed to five pounds, with Citation, fresh off a world record performance in the Golden Gate Mile, carrying 128 pounds to Noor's 123. The result was yet another world record--making five consecutive races in which Citation ran into or set either a track or world record--and another winner's circle photo for Noor, who this time finished a neck ahead of Big Cy.

In his first four set-tos with Noor, Citation conceded an average of 14 pounds per race. The difference between the two at the finishes (the cumulative distance of Noor's three wins, minus the half-length advantage Citation held over Noor in the San Antonio) was about one length. A week after the Forty-Niners, the two met for a fifth and final time in the 1 1/4-mile Golden Gate Handicap. This time it was Noor, at 127, giving the weight, as Citation carried 126. But this proved to be the easiest--and arguably the lone convincing--victory for Noor in the series. Noor won going away, by three lengths, in the unbelievably fast, super-equine time of 1:58 1/5, a world record that would stand for nearly three decades.

[DrugSalvastore]

There have meen many very fine horses over the years, would-be all time greats, who had their career's cut short by injury. Try looking up Hoist The Flag, Raise A Native, Sir Gaylord and Gen. Duke. Also the great Argentine Forli.

Raise A Native was awesome...but he was hardly very underrated. Plus he only ran at two.

Hoist The Flag is another brilliant one who got his just due.

Sir Gaylord, a half sibling to the mighty Secretariat ran 18 times, he was brilliant in smaller stakes, he never came through in the big races though.

Gen. Duke, who I've never head of before, was 5-for-12 in the 1950's. I'll study up on him---while maybe a brilliant horse for his time, I doubt a most underrated candidate.

Forli is known by me for siring Forego. He was 2-for-3 in America, making just 26K in earnings. Perfect in south America from seven starts.

Recent horses like Grand Canyon and Candy Ride, among others, would fit as well. Melair just looked like a freak though. Crushing boys in 1:32 and change on dirt---leaving the winner of that year's Preakness, Santa Anita Derby, Florida Derby, and $1 million New Jersey Derby 11 lengths behind her. That's pretty nuts.

[GaryG]

Raise A Native was awesome...but he was hardly very underrated. Plus he only ran at two.

Hoist The Flag is another brilliant one who got his just due.

Sir Gaylord, a half sibling to the mighty Secretariat ran 18 times, he was brilliant in smaller stakes, he never came through in the big races though.

Gen. Duke, who I've never head of before, was 5-for-12 in the 1950's. I'll study up on him---while maybe a brilliant horse for his time, I doubt a most underrated candidate.

Forli is known by me for siring Forego. He was 2-for-3 in America, making just 26K in earnings. Perfect in south America from seven starts.

Recent horses like Grand Canyon and Candy Ride, among others, would fit as well. Melair just looked like a freak though. Crushing boys in 1:32 and change on dirt---leaving the winner of that year's Preakness, Santa Anita Derby, Florida Derby, and $1 million New Jersey Derby 11 lengths behind her. That's pretty nuts.Gen. Duke would have been a co-favorite in the Derby with Bold Ruler. Forli was truly brilliant, those SA earnings don'r mean anything. You had to see him run. Sir Gaylord would also have been the fav in the Derby if he had not been injured.

[classhandicapper]

I think an important but unfortunate point is that it's been a very long time since we've had a season like any of those. Now it's a few races and retirement. :mad:

[Hank]

DR Fager 68.1. Horse of the year 2.champion sprinter 3. champion turf horse 4.handicap champion, And like I said on the other thread NO horse EVER could defeat him head to head at level weights at 1 mile.Oh yea it was the good doctor who hurled a 20 an change SECOND quarter and his foes in the washington park handicap.FULL of speed fire and fight He was the KING of the SPEED HORSES.:ThmbUp:

[kitts]

I just wish they could schedule a race like they did with Dr. Fager, Buckpasser and Damascus. I fear the present day standards of massive greed will make it very difficult to have a horse come along like any of the greats on that list. I was fortunate enough to be around during the careers of all those horses except Man O'War.

[MrSuave1]

Noor did a lot more than bug Citation, he owned him!

Not quite. Citation was past his prime, sat out a whole year with injuries, and when he returned at five was not the same horse (although he did set the world record for the mile!). He gave A LOT of weight to Noor in two of those races, and lost by very small margins (the San Juan Capistrano by a nose). Not to take anything away from Noor. He was brilliant, setting track and world records in his races against Big Cy. It would have been difficult for ANY horse to have beaten him!

[statik27]

I think Round Table should be up there with the best single season, heck he's prolly in the top 10 best US race horses of all time. In 1958 he was HOY, champion Turf horse, and champion handicap horse. In that season he won the strub series, the Santa Anita Handicap, the San Antonio, the hawthorne gold cup, the gulfstream park handicap, and the Arlington park handicap. He was also part of that great 1954 foal crop that included Bold Ruler, Round Table, Neartic, and Gen. Duke. Now that's a deep crop of horses.


statik

[phatbastard]

maybe it was because it was the first 'great' horse i saw in person, but i still can't get the good doctor out of my mind.....saw him win Jersey Derby and get dq'ed.....then the United Nations @ atlantic city......you could see he didn't relish the surface, but he dug in and kept going and going, all class. the only way they could beat him was with a rabbit as he just didn't want to be behind any horse.....

whenever i'm in a bad period of capping and upset with the sport, I only need look up from my monitor and there he his looking proud and racy in a 8x11 black and white glossy and i smile...........