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Message: [QUOTE="Golden Husky, post: 2747786, member: 8090"] I wrote about thoroughbred racing for 45 years, including covering three Triple Crown winners but I don't think American Pharoah or Justify deserve to be considered among the greatest horses of the past 60 years. Certainly, winning the Triple Crown is a great achievement but it's just one test of greatness. A truly remarkable thoroughbred also should run fast and beat quality horses. American Pharoah ran a quick Breeders' Cup Classic but didn't demonstrate sustained speed beyond that and never beat a horse that will enter the National Thoroughbred Hall of Fame. If the best horse you beat is Keen Ice, that's not saying much. The fact that horses could not close on Justify during a Belmont Stakes last half-mile in 50 seconds speaks loudly to the quality of this year's crop of 3-year-olds. And it's not like the field exhausted itself through an opening mile in 1:38. Fact is, you could have timed this year's Belmont Stakes with a sun dial. I'm pleased that many of you recalled the names of some of the great horses who did [B]not [/B]win a Triple Crown, to which I'd add Forego, who carried 130 or more pounds of 23 occasions--13 of those victories--and a trio of horses from the sixties, Buckpasser, Damascus and Dr. Fager, who met in the 1967 Woodward Stakes, won by Damascus. Dr. Fager may have been the fastest horse I ever saw. He carried 134 pounds when he set a world record (1:32.1) in the mile and ended his career by winning the 7-furlong Vosburgh in 1:20.1 under--no misprint here--a staggering 139 pounds. It's not uncommon to view the past with more fondness than it deserves and, perhaps, I am guilty of just that, romancing the horses of the sixties and seventies beyond their abilities. But this crusty old turf writer does believe those were better horses than American Pharoah and Justify. Now, get off my lawn. [/QUOTE]

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