Steve Crist opens the envelope..

[only11]

Drf weekend had Steve's awards for the DECADE..

2yr old male-3.Street Sense 2.War Pass 1.Johannesburg

2yr old female-3.Indian Blessing 2.Storm Flag Flying 1.Halfbridled

3yr male-3.Bernardini 2.Point Given 1.Curlin

3yr female-3.Ashado 2.Rags to Riches 1.Rachel Alexandra

Older Males-3.Mineshaft 2.Invasor 1.Ghostzapper

Sprinters-3.Aldebaran 2.Kona Gold 1.Midnight Lute

Older Females-3.Riboletta--TIE for #1-Azeri-Zenyatta

Turf males-Selected only 1. Fantastic Light

Turf Females-3.Perfect Sting 2.Goldikova 1.Ouija Board

AND THE HORSE OF THE DECADE.....GHOSTZAPPER

BEST NON CHAMPS-Fabulous Strike,Lava MAn,VEntura,Better Talk Now,Medaglia D' Oro,Commentator,Pleasantly Perfect-the only other horses to win Dubai and breeders cup classic-Cigar,Invasor,Curlin

Biggest Flop-The Green Monkey

Best ride-Afleet Alex in the preakness

Best training job-Bob Baffert with Midnight Lute for the 2nd Breeders Cup sprint.

Most Underrated-Xtra Heat

DONT FORGET THIS HORSE-Azeri

Biggest Story-Barbaro..

There it goes Crist's awards....let the debate begin...

[PaceAdvantage]

Two quick first impressions...

1) I'm quite pleased to see he put Invasor second after Ghostzapper in the Older Male category...a lot of people don't seem to give Invasor his due...

2) I'm a little surprised he has Curlin as the best 3yo male of the decade...

[BillW]

Two quick first impressions...


2) I'm a little surprised he has Curlin as the best 3yo male of the decade...

I'm surprised that Crist is making picks of the decade a year before the decade is over with :D

[PhantomOnTour]

The decade ended Thursday night Bill

[alhattab]

Two quick first impressions...

1) I'm quite pleased to see he put Invasor second after Ghostzapper in the Older Male category...a lot of people don't seem to give Invasor his due...

2) I'm a little surprised he has Curlin as the best 3yo male of the decade...

and your 3YO of the decade would have been...?

I would have voted Point Given. Dual Classic winner plus Haskell/Travers double gets him my vote, but I can't argue w/Curlin based on his exploits in the BC Classic.

[PaceAdvantage]

Looking at the decade myself again, I suppose you really can't argue against Curlin...my bad...

I take that one back....

[tzipi]

I def say Curlin has to be 3YO male of the decade. It's a good call. Loved Kona Gold and wish he'd be #1 but honestly I cannot argue with Midnight Lute being named. Nice list :ThmbUp:

[Cadillakin]

Curlin?

You guys are killing me... It's a comedy, right?

His Derby was ok. (excuse - trouble) His Haskell was not too good. (excuse - layoff) He was very strong in the Preakness and JCGC. No excuses in the Belmont. Most observers agree, the filly, Rags to Riches, had a much tougher trip than Curlin in the Belmont and beat him on the square.

For a forum that is quick to criticize anything run over synthetic, I find it a little bit hypocritical that nobody seems to comment that Curlin's Classic win in 2007 was run over a sloppy track. In fact, he is given many accolades for his race in the slop - with nary a mention of track condition.

Within Curlins 4 year old campaign.. he had but 5 races in the United States, winning 3. That's right, just 5 American races. Three wins only. In those victories, he beat Wanderin Boy in one, Einstein in another, and Past the Point in the last of them. That's it. That's the quality of his American campaign and competition. But he loved Dubai... Gotta give him credit for that!

He ran an even, uneventful, unimpressive race in his only try on the turf. (excuse - surface)

In the Woodward, he staggered home at to get by the allowance runner, Past the Point. The final eighth accomplished in an excruciatingly slow 14 seconds. In my whole life, I've never seen a Grade 1 Race at 9 furlongs over firm ground, for older males, that came home that slow. NEVER. Past the Point validated the poor form by not doing anything worth mentioning before or after that race.

He lost the 2008 BC Classic. (excuse - surface)

When he wins the previous years Classic over an off track, its a great effort. But when he loses over synthetic, it's worthy of an excuse? Why is that?

The greatest horse of the decade has a lot of excuses.

[toussaud]

3Yo's who win the BCC get prefrence. so you are basically looking at tiznow and curlin when it is all said and done, and curlin had the better year.

plus, ghostzapper is the only horse who I think could have beaten curlin in monmouth on BC day.

best list i've seen so far, I agree with all his picks.. maybe not z and azeri tied. but i can't argue with it.

[riskman]

Crist did say best 3yo male of the decade. The 4 year old campaign apparently is not a factor in Crist's
analysis.

Who would be your choice?

[cj]

The amazing thing about Curlin's 3yo campaign is that he never raced until February of that season.

Outside the Belmont, which I feel was just too far for him, he showed up for every race except the Haskell. Nobody cares about 1 1/2 races on dirt except for one day a year to be honest, so I don't put much stock in that one anyway. Even if I did, that distance after the grueling prior few months for Curlin had him ripe for an upset.

He was far from perfect, but he sure accomplished a lot compared to the others at THREE.

[Saratoga_Mike]

Curlin?

You guys are killing me... It's a comedy, right?

His Derby was ok. (excuse - trouble) His Haskell was not too good. (excuse - layoff) He was very strong in the Preakness and JCGC. No excuses in the Belmont. Most observers agree, the filly, Rags to Riches, had a much tougher trip than Curlin in the Belmont and beat him on the square.

For a forum that is quick to criticize anything run over synthetic, I find it a little bit hypocritical that nobody seems to comment that Curlin's Classic win in 2007 was run over a sloppy track. In fact, he is given many accolades for his race in the slop - with nary a mention of track condition.

Within Curlins 4 year old campaign.. he had but 5 races in the United States, winning 3. That's right, just 5 American races. Three wins only. In those victories, he beat Wanderin Boy in one, Einstein in another, and Past the Point in the last of them. That's it. That's the quality of his American campaign and competition. But he loved Dubai... Gotta give him credit for that!

He ran an even, uneventful, unimpressive race in his only try on the turf. (excuse - surface)

In the Woodward, he staggered home at to get by the allowance runner, Past the Point. The final eighth accomplished in an excruciatingly slow 14 seconds. In my whole life, I've never seen a Grade 1 Race at 9 furlongs over firm ground, for older males, that came home that slow. NEVER. Past the Point validated the poor form by not doing anything worth mentioning before or after that race.

He lost the 2008 BC Classic. (excuse - surface)

When he wins the previous years Classic over an off track, its a great effort. But when he loses over synthetic, it's worthy of an excuse? Why is that?

The greatest horse of the decade has a lot of excuses.

Monmouth was a sloppy, sealed track on Breeders' Cup Day in 2007. In general, dirt horses ran well that day. You honestly think a sloppy, sealed track is an entirely different surface for most - note the word "most" - dirt horses? Do most dirt horses show a significant degradation in form over sloppy, sealed tracks? No. Through your post, you seem to intimate that switching to a sloppy, sealed track (from a fast dirt track) is equivalent to switching to a synthetic track (from a fast dirt track). You're the one joking now, right?

What Curlin's 4-yr-old campaign has to do with the 3-yr-old of the decade is beyond me. It's irrelevant.

"The greatest horse of the decade has a lot of excuses." You're referring to Ghostzapper now, right? Curlin was named 3-yr-old of the decade by Steve Crist, not horse of the decade.

[PaceAdvantage]

Curlin?

You guys are killing me... It's a comedy, right?I believe you have misread something. Curlin was his pick for 3yo male of the decade.

I disagreed with Crist at first but after looking at the top 3yos of the decade, I really can't pick against Curlin.

Who would be yours, if you think this is such a joke of a pick?

[tzipi]

Curlin?

You guys are killing me... It's a comedy, right?

His Derby was ok. (excuse - trouble) His Haskell was not too good. (excuse - layoff) He was very strong in the Preakness and JCGC. No excuses in the Belmont. Most observers agree, the filly, Rags to Riches, had a much tougher trip than Curlin in the Belmont and beat him on the square.

"No excuses in Belmont" What was his campaign leading up to the Stakes compared to Rags? Did Rags battle out race after race and run in the Derby and Preakness? No. She raced in early March and then was put on a layoff to rest and then had a easy win in the Oaks and then had about a month off before the Belmont Stakes. Curlin was running straight from March on and ran in Preakness before the Stakes. She was rested,he wasn't and he still almost beat her. Don't get me wrong she was a very good horse.
Birdstone rested before beating Smarty Jones. Touch Gold was rested during the Derby. Much easier for horses to win when rested than running hard and in all three TC races IMO.

[eastie]

Smarty Jones isn't top 3 ? He would have whipped those other guys.

[toussaud]

Smarty Jones isn't top 3 ? He would have whipped those other guys.
hard spun would have taken smarty behind the shead let alone curlin.

[gregrph]

The decade ended Thursday night Bill

There was no "year 0". The decades start with xxx1 and end with xx10. We are currently starting the year that ends the decade. 2000 was the last year of the 20th century, not 1999. 1999 was the last year of the 20th century. This has always seemed so clear to me and with people saying the decades run from xx00 to xx09 never sat right with me. I have seen independant articles supporting my view way back in 1999/2000. That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it, your results may vary! Happy New Year!
Greg

[Saratoga_Mike]

There was no "year 0". The decades start with xxx1 and end with xx10. We are currently starting the year that ends the decade. 2000 was the last year of the 20th century, not 1999. 1999 was the last year of the 20th century. This has always seemed so clear to me and with people saying the decades run from xx00 to xx09 never sat right with me. I have seen independant articles supporting my view way back in 1999/2000. That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it, your results may vary! Happy New Year!
Greg

Obviously not a Seinfeld viewer.