Not surprising Miff, but I would agree that Goldikova was the most impressive.
The answer to the quesiton of why we don\'t turn out too many (or any) young 3 year old turf fillies like this is pretty simple, IMO. There is no reward for it. The money, both on the track and in the breeding shed, in the U.S. is for dirt horses and precocious speed horses. How many grade 1 stakes on turf for fillies in the U.S, compared to Europe?
How we breed may or may not change now that the disease, known as synthetic tracks, is picking up momentum. Speed is no longer appealing. Turf breeding will be more interesting, and the precocious (and sometimes brittle) sire lines may not be as appealing. Some breeding purists may like this last point, as a lot of the experts on breeding (I don\'t fit into this class, I only read about it), insist that this influence of brittle and speed oriented pedigrees has adversely affected the breed (and some could argue made the Triple Crown, spread over 5 weeks, impossible to achieve).