This is What Man O'War Looked Liked

[Silver Charm]

Secretariat lost too many races to be I this conversation. Arrogate went from 12th to 4th in about 50 yards in the turn with a stride that must cover 20 yards. Beat a Top Quality horse in Gun Runner like a man amoung boys....

[Airnate012]

That was incredible. One of the greatest performances I\'ve ever seen. He can win and break track records on the lead. He can break dead last and circle the field on a speed favoring track and win under a hand ride....insane. That was a performance for the ages.

[Furious Pete]

Great performance without a doubt, not many horses would\'ve won with that ride and he even did it comfortably in the end. However it was probably the least speed favoring version of the dirt track at Meydan all year, and my rough figure estimate is that Arrogate ran about as fast as what California Chrome did last year. Chrome didn\'t have a dream trip either, mind you, when the saddle slipped halfway into the stretch!

[jimbo66]

Pete,

Chrome doesn\'t belong in the same sentence as Arrogate.  Nor does the \"bad trip\" that Chrome had compared to what Arrogate had.  

Hyperbole \"in the moment\" a dangerous thing, but Arrogate MUCH the best horse I have ever seen, which covers late 70\'s to now.  

Gun Runner a solid horse with solid figures, who got a dream trip right off a 99-1 shot, while Arrogate didn\'t leave the gate and was wide throughout.  Yet, Arrogate ran right by him like he was tied to the rail.  Geroux claimed after the race that Gun Runner had another gear and kicked in at the top of the stretch, but Arrogate just too good.  His stride was widening again late, despite the wide trip.  

Crazy stuff.

Not sure how you beat this horse if he didn\'t get beat today.

Jim

[Al Caught Up]

I\'d usually agree with Furious Pete\'s skepticism on claims like this one, but I think Jimbo is right. Just a monstrous performance with every excuse to quit, and the way he went past a very good Gun Runner was astonishing. Right now, I just can\'t imagine anyone out there who could beat him. I know, they all get beat... but man is he impressive.

[P-Dub]

I don\'t do figures, and couldn\'t tell you if it was speed favoring or not.

What I do know is that I doubt the track surface had anything to do with his astonishing brilliance. This horse strides out at the end of these races as if he could run as far as he wants.

I love Chrome, and I sat just inside the 1/8 pole at last year\'s BC and thought there was no way CC would be collared......and then I saw Arrogate change gears, lower his head and stride out and run him down. I was stunned.

He did all this today with a terrible break, pinched and bumped at the start and it didn\'t seem to faze him one bit. We\'ve seen many horses rush up, get a little rank when these things occur. He handled it like a true professional.

And of course, it didn\'t hurt to have the great Mike Smith on board too. (I haven\'t talked him up lately. I\'m overdue)

[Mathcapper]

Man, was Baffert ever right about this horse when, as I recall Jerry saying, Baffert texted him about how good the horse was right before the Travers, when the horse first exploded into a superhorse -- WOW.

[Furious Pete]

My mistake, I did not intend to take anything away from Arrogate because it sure is a beast and by all means look like one for the history books. I was only commenting on what the figure could come back as, and it looks tough to have it much faster than what Chrome managed last year. But to run a figure like that with that kind of trip, and win easily in the end, is almost unheard of - no doubt about it.

[Al Caught Up]

No need to apologize--you didn\'t take anything away from him! I\'ll be eager to see what fig he earned too.

[johnnym]

A figure can never justify what that horse did.

[jbelfior]

As Stanley\'s wife would say....... \"oh Alice, he\'s a beast.\"

Good Luck,
Joe B

[FrankD.]

Silver,

My good friend, you are one of the few true lovers of the game and have the utmost respect for it\'s traditions.

However:
I must vehemently disagree with your Secretariat comparison. Big Red started 9 times as a 2yr old, Arrogate will end his 4 yr old season with 9-10 lifetime starts. I am in no way diminishing yesterday\'s performance. It was breath taking, simply awesome and puts him firmly on the short list of great one\'s. His greatness so far is limited to a 4 race sample all of which were spectacular to say the least.

To simply discount a triple crown, smashing all 3 track records, a 2 time horse of the year, a Sports Illustrated athlete of the year, a couple of track records in his only 2 grass starts, a turf Eclipse award and without a doubt the single greatest equine performance ever witnessed in his Belmont Stakes running each 1/4 mile faster than the previous one (12 successive) a distance the Arrogate will never run is comparing apples and oranges!!!!

He did get beat 5 times in 21 dances at 9 different race tracks from 5.5 furlongs to a mile and 5/8, twice runnning 12 furlongs on dirt and 12 & 13 furlong events in his 2 grass races.

I realize we are in the instant gratification age of tweets & insta grams. Heck Miff is even on twitter and far more entertaining than the Pennsylvania Ave account 😎

I challenge anyone to go to you tube or google Secretariat and watch the Belmont replay if you don\'t get a tear in your eye watching that you\'re not a true lover of the sport. Yesterday was very impressive but I saw no one reaching for a tissue.

Frank D.

[trackjohn]

Well said Frank...Well said...

John

[pj]

Bravo !!!

[Al Caught Up]

One anecdotal correction and good bit of trivia: Secretariat wasn\'t Sports Illustrated\'s \'Athlete of the Year\' (I think the magazine called it \'Sportsman of the Year\' back then. It was ... Jackie Stewart. SI wrote that he edged out Secretariat and O.J. Simpson.