Who Is/Was the Greatest Race Horse of All Time ?

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protectionist

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Americans love horses. Especially folks of my generation (baby boomers). Maybe it's because we were raised on western TV shows and movies, both of which saturated their markets in the 50's and 60's. Whatever the reason, I can't help wondering how people who pay attention to horse racing, think about the top race horses in history.

Name your favorite who you think was the best ever. The # 1 horse. And tell us why.
 
Secretariat was the best I've ever seen. John Henry was the next best.

Secretariat still holds the track records for the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. His win at the Belmont was the most dominating win ever at any major horse race in the modern era and the fact that his track records at all three triple crown event have not been broken in over 40 years says it all.

Big Red was the best.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Secretariat was the best I've ever seen. John Henry was the next best.

Secretariat still holds the track records for the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. His win at the Belmont was the most dominating win ever at any major horse race in the modern era and the fact that his track records at all three triple crown event have not been broken in over 40 years says it all.

Big Red was the best.
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Have you heard of Shergar? The IRA kidnapped the horse and it's never been traced since.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shergar
 
Milagro said:
Have you heard of Shergar? The IRA kidnapped the horse and it's never been traced since.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shergar
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I have and the story reads like a Capstone Cop comedy if it wasn't such a tragedy. He was a remarkable horse but to put things in perspective Sgergar's American Beyer rating is a very impressive 120. To put that in perspective Secretariats Belmont Beyer rating was 139. That's also almost double the distance Shergar typically ran. It was the greatest single performance by a horse captured on video. Another amazing factoid is the horse that came in second would have set the track record.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I have and the story reads like a Capstone Cop comedy if it wasn't such a tragedy. He was a remarkable horse but to put things in perspective Sgergar's American Beyer rating is a very impressive 120. To put that in perspective Secretariats Belmont Beyer rating was 139. That's also almost double the distance Shergar typically ran. It was the greatest single performance by a horse captured on video. Another amazing factoid is the horse that came in second would have set the track record.
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You don't have an equivalent of our National Hunt. do you? The Grand National is the undoubtedly the most arduous of all races and the greatest horse was Red Rum.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/other-sport/horse-racing/red-rum-named-greatest-grand-6901949
 
Milagro said:
You don't have an equivalent of our National Hunt. do you? The Grand National is the undoubtedly the most arduous of all races and the greatest horse was Red Rum.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/other-sport/horse-racing/red-rum-named-greatest-grand-6901949
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Interesting. And what it even more interesting is that Red Rum was racing right at the same time as Secretariat. Why didn't somebody see fit to put them in a race together ? And you can't really compare their racing times if they ran on different schedules, different tracks, different ground.

I guess I'll have to stick to what I'm familiar with, and that would be American horse racing. There have been a number of great ones through the years >> Man O'War ... Seabiscuit ... Secretariat ... Riva Ridge....Pharlap.....American Pharoah....Black Gold.....Citation...Seattle Slew.

Of all, I have to go with Secretariat. His 44 year old records are probably the clincher. Alhough not as methodical as the records, one simply can't forget his mind-boggling 31 length victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, probably the single most memorable event in horse racing history. American horse racing history anyway. People who were there, said watching it, actually took your breath away. If anyone has never seen this race, you ought to watch the video. It is 2:28 minutes of one the most incredible events in sports history.

 
protectionist said:
Interesting. And what it even more interesting is that Red Rum was racing right at the same time as Secretariat. Why didn't somebody see fit to put them in a race together ? And you can't really compare their racing times if they ran on different schedules, different tracks, different ground.

I guess I'll have to stick to what I'm familiar with, and that would be American horse racing. There have been a number of great ones through the years >> Man O'War ... Seabiscuit ... Secretariat ... Riva Ridge....Pharlap.....American Pharoah....Black Gold.....Citation...Seattle Slew.

Of all, I have to go with Secretariat. His 44 year old records are probably the clincher. Alhough not as methodical as the records, one simply can't forget his mind-boggling 31 length victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, probably the single most memorable event in horse racing history. American horse racing history anyway. People who were there, said watching it, actually took your breath away. If anyone has never seen this race, you ought to watch the video. It is 2:28 minutes of one the most incredible events in sports history.
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Here is a video about the great Red Rum!

 
Milagro said:
Here is a video about the great Red Rum!

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No doubt RR earned his oats, but hey, let's hear for that second horse too. He was right there at the finish. Red Rum and Secretariat are the champs we in the English-speaking West know about, but there could be other other horses in other parts of the world. England and the US are rather connected still after all these years. We're almost like the same country, basically speaking, but there could be other great horses on other continents, that only the local people there ever knew of.

It would be interesting to know about them.
 
protectionist said:
Interesting. And what it even more interesting is that Red Rum was racing right at the same time as Secretariat. Why didn't somebody see fit to put them in a race together ? And you can't really compare their racing times if they ran on different schedules, different tracks, different ground.

I guess I'll have to stick to what I'm familiar with, and that would be American horse racing. There have been a number of great ones through the years >> Man O'War ... Seabiscuit ... Secretariat ... Riva Ridge....Pharlap.....American Pharoah....Black Gold.....Citation...Seattle Slew.

Of all, I have to go with Secretariat. His 44 year old records are probably the clincher. Alhough not as methodical as the records, one simply can't forget his mind-boggling 31 length victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, probably the single most memorable event in horse racing history. American horse racing history anyway. People who were there, said watching it, actually took your breath away. If anyone has never seen this race, you ought to watch the video. It is 2:28 minutes of one the most incredible events in sports history.

Click to expand...
I remember watching the 73 Belmont at home. My uncles family was visiting. My uncle is a horseman and has trained and raced Standardbreds my whole life and he's still at it at 80.

During the 73 Belmont he freaked when Scretariat broke from Sham cause both were on pace to break the 1.5 mile record. He started yelling at Turrcote, cursed and called him an idiot, thought he was going to fast and that Secreteriat would blow up...and then Secretariat turned onto the front stretch and what I remember was that instead of yelling in excitement it was very quiet. It was just unbelievable that he won one of the Worlds greatest and longest races by 35 lengths.

Something else that should be mentioned is what a great horse Sham was and had not Secretariat competed that year probably would have won the Triple Crown as his times at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness would have been track records too. He blew up tryin to keep up with Big Red in the Belmont but he was the only horse game enough to try.
 
I obviously never saw Man O War but he did have a better record than Secretariat and is considered the greatest horse of the 20th century. Props to John Henry. He may not have won the triple crown but 39 Stakes win is mind boggling. He was a mean assed horse too and was difficult to train, which is why he was gelded, but man was he a competitor.
 
This says it all!!

Red Rum is the greatest, unfortunately there are too many Americans voting who simply don't appreciate what the Grand National is. It is the ultimate test over the ultimate jumps over the ultimate distance. To win it once is incredible, to win it twice is phenomenal, to win it thrice is verging on impossible, throw in a Scottish National in the same year & its other two appearances also being in the top 4 finishes, is simply one of the most outrageous achievements which anybody has ever heard of. I mean I get that Secretariat was a phenomenally quick horse and has hammered records that have stood for years, and still holds those records today...but the Belmont is only a 12f race.

The Grand National, to put into perspective for people who don't know is a National Hunt Steeplechase, which is two laps of the track & over 30 fences, the field is usually around 50 horses, but has been as many as 66 before, the fastest time which has ever been run is just under 9 minutes.

The "greatest" thoroughbred racehorse that has ever lived. In over 100 races he fell only once. Full of heart, full of talent and full of sheer guts... He won the Grand National a record 3 times; with no other horse ever winning it more than once. How Red Rum isn't number 1. What a horse. Most horses don't even run in 3 Grand Nationals these days let alone win 3 and come second in another 2. Unbelievable. Those sprint horses aren't a patch on Rummy.
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http://www.thetoptens.com/best-race-horses/
 
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Apples to oranges Tom. Make the race a sprint distance and quarter horses would eat the Thoroubreds up. Make it a 10 mile race and Arabians would drop a thoroughbred like a bad habit.
 
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