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15 for 15: top 15 horses since 2000

Started by songofthesword, May 21, 2015, 09:28:38 pm

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songofthesword

I had a LOT of free time today and so I complied a list of what I think are the top 15 AMERICAN race horses in the last 15 years. Tell me what you think



15. Hard Spun - The posterboy for unlucky horses, Hard Spun was had "brilliant" speed that he could carry.  He runs his eyeballs out in the derby, only for street sense to get that classic calvin rail ride and get beat. He finished behind curlin and street sense in one of the fastest preaknesses in recent history, then finished behind curlin and rags to riches in a classic battle of the sexes. He finally beats street sense at turfway, then runs his absolute eyeballs out in the classic only for curlin to walk on water, roided up, coked up lol to all hell to beat him by 7. lol. If you go back and look at that race, hard spun destroyed the rest of the field lol. He's at least 4-5 clear of the rest of the field.  Talk about a horse born the wrong year. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fd5BBpxCuY


14. Wise Dan - The best american turf horse in recent memory.  There was about a 2 year period from 2012-2013 were wise dan was basically an ATM machine. He was gonna win. didn't matter how far they ran, didn't matter where they ran, soft turf, hard turf, didn't' matter. cash it.  Won the breeders cup mile 2 times, taking it to the best the eruos had to offer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWlVXT216io


13. Rags to Riches-  From probably the most prolific horse racing family at least in america, out of the super mare better than honour she's a half sister to belmont winner jazil, breeders cup marathon winner man of iron, and the most overrated racing horse in american history rotfl, casino drive. they knew she would be good before she even hit the track, as they paid 1.9 million dollars for her as a yearling and she did not disappoint.  That 2007 Filly crop was REALLY good and she made short work of them in the oaks, beating 2006 breeders cup juve winner dreaming of anna and proud spell, and another really good filly i'm forgetting.  With her sire being AP Indy, who won the belmont they aimed at running her against the boys in the belmont and she beat Curlin and Hard Spun.  What happened to her after the belmont is one of the biggest crimes in american racing history as todd the butcher pletcher ran her out there after an injury way too soon and she was never the same.  But on her A game she was every bit the filly that Rachel was, in the deepest crop of 3YO's in recent memory.


12. Afleet Alex - Most of the great horses, except tiznow, were good 4YO horses who raced past the triple crown trail. You have a bunch of "triple crown stars" like smarty jones, big brown, american pharaoh so far, barbaro (rip :() California chrome, that are really their own subgroup, that made a bunch of noise in the TC trail and then either didn't after or retired. If you put all of them in the starting gate and told me to place a wager on the winner, I'd take afleet alex and laugh all the way to the bank.  I love me some smarty jones, I'm from Arkansas how can I not?  I'm a big fan of barbaro as well but afleet alex, was just better than they were, and was a darn ride by Jeremy rose in the derby, deciding to stick to the only dead part of the race track, from winning the triple crown.  he was probably the most athletic race horse i've ever seen. You looked at him and you just knew, like, if afleet alex was a dude, he'd be a NBA player or something. he was just an athlete, as shown by his preakness win where he baically falls to his knees, gets up and still wins going away.  IF they kept him in training i would not have been suprised in the least bit if they entered him in the melborne cup, i honestly think he would relish the 2 mile trip. this horse could run for [CENSORED] ever.


11. Saint Liam - Even though he was in one of if not the best stretch duel of the 21st century in the 2004 Woowdard with ghostzapper and even though he won the 2005 breeders cup, no one ever gives this horse any love. He didn't really get going until about the middle of his 4YO year but for a year and a half or so, he was really good. One of the more underrated horses in recent memory. Even though he won 4 grade 1's and won a breeders cup classic, his best race is still his lost to ghostzapper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Y1EDBJ4lk


10. Midnight Lute -  A chronic breathing problem kept him from carrying his speed at longer distances, but at anything below 7F he was one of the best sprinters in his prime i've ever seen. He had a devastating late kick that could gobble up just about anyone. It was basically like watching zenyatta in a sprint race. He won the 2007 breeders cup sprint on a sloppy track, and won that race for fun going away, then came off a 10 month layoff, and a 10th place finish in a prep, to win the breeders cup sprint again in 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8SSRqn6wmQ that race still gives me chills


9. Lava Man - If american horse racing was ran only in the state of California, lava man would very well be the best race horse of all time lol.  I don't think there's ever been an easier toss in horse racing than Lava Man shipping outside of California.  But IN California, from 2006 -2007 he was untouchable.  Could run equally well on all 3 surfaces as well, turf, dirt and polytrack. Won the Sanita Anita Handicap 2 times, the Hollywood Gold cup THREE times and the pacific classic once.  He'd have been 2-3 spots higher than this if his trainer / owners didn't get silly and ship him to dubai/ japan / anywhere other than sanita / hollywood park lol


8. Rachel Alexandra - This was pretty hard. 1. Because you have to basically judge Rachel her 3YO year not her 4YO year and 2. she's got to go somewhere on the list. I feel comfortable putting rachel here. In her prime, this is where I think she belongs. I think she's better then the horses below this in her prime A 3YO season.  I honestly believe she would have won the triple crown had the owner ran her in the derby.  She beat the boys not once, not twice, but three times in a span of 4 months (Preakness, Haskell, Woodward) the last time beating older males.  While I think zenyatta was the better horse overall, i think Rachel in 2009 was better and deserved HOY that year.  Everyone talks about her Preakness, but her Woodward IMHO was easily the best race of her life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysO_Fhc8Fpw this race is criminally underrated, that's race horse time and she was worked every bit of it.



7. Invasor - One of the more underrated horses in the last 15 years, when he was on he was really tough to beat.  He was an underdog his entire career for the most part, even though he won the Uruguayan triple crown.  He was the underdog to "super 3 YO" Bardinani in the 2006 breeders cup, and even though he won that, was the underdog against the much much hyped Discreet Cat in the 2007 dubai world cup, and won both.  In fact he only lost one race in his life, 3rd in the UAE derby (to discreet cat the previous year in 2006). The fact that he was from south america and not owned by an american owner, and the fact that he wasn't the flashiest of horses, he gets overlooked a lot but he was really really good.


6. Tiznow - Outside of his breeder's cup classic resume his record is nothing great, but he's the only horse to ever win back to back breeders cup classics. And he just didn't win breeders cup classics, he won probably 2 of the best renditions of it, beating coolmore super horse giant's causeway in the first, then topped it off by coming out next year at Belmont, not 2 months after 9-11 and beating Godolphin (arab) superstar shakee in 2001. That 2001 race was probably the best from top to bottom, at least one of the top 2-3. Albert the great, tiznow, shakee, Galileo, were all legit.  Tiznow wins for america!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0QqdYJeCts  (jesus christ look how much bigger tiznow is than everyone else lol he's [CENSORED] huge)



5. Point Given -  I don't know what happen to him in the derby but he should have won the triple crown.  A combination of point given not being on his A game and monarchos running a once in a lifetime derby kept us from seeing a triple crown that year. I don't think anyone was beating monarchos that day lol. But he was easily the best of that crop and one of the best of the last 15 years.


4. Candy Ride-  But wait you can't rate a horse that only ran 2 times in america this high. If you're this good, yeah, you can.  First of all he never lost a race. He never came close to losing a race. He absolutely toyed with Medaglia d'Oro who was LEGIT in the pacific classic and set a track record, with not much more than a few tabs on the neck from krone. He was just as good if not better on turf as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lJDkGz7p3Y In his prime he'd give curlin and GZ a serious run for their money



3. Curlin - This was pretty hard.  I'm a curlin fan but I don't care for Steve  A at all and he was obviously juiced up.  Plus the last part of his 4 year old campaign left a lot to be desired. The whole turf thing was a joke and he beat up on some pretty crappy older american horses. But from about September of 2007 to  June/ July of 2008 he was the best race horse on earth and at his best, he belongs here. I think if he was born in other year in the 2000's other than 2004, he would have been a triple crown winner. That 2007 crop of 3YO's was as deep as I've ever seen, and he was the best of the bunch, but only probably Secretariat would have been good enough to beat that crop of horses 3 consecutive times.  His maiden win is probably the most impressive maiden I've ever seen in my life.


2. Zenyatta - I admit, I was "team Rachel" back in 2009 lol. I still think that there was a 2-3 month period in rachel's career where Zenyatta would want no part of her (one of the biggest Frank ups in horse racing history is not making that race happen). But Zenyatta was an absolute beast.  Anytime you win 19 races in a row and like 10-11 grade 1's in a row you're [CENSORED] good.  She was huge and would just gobble up mares and horses alike in the stretch.  I think at the end they got way too conservative with her to keep the streak going and never really pushed her until the classics, but she was amazing.  You can make a strong, strong argument she's the best racemare in american history




1. Ghostzapper - Anyone who knows me already knew who this was gonna be before they read the list lol.  I'm a HUGE ghostzapper fan; he's the horse who single handily took me from a casual fan to a hardcore horse racing guy.  I thought there were horses this good every year and I sadly mistaken.  Ghostzapper is not as known by as many casual fans becuase he did not really get cranked up until he was 4 so he missed the triple crown, but on his game, he was virtually unbeatable. He could beat you going long, he could beat you going short. He could beat you coming from the back, he could beat you on the lead. He could beat you when you pushed him 10 wide in the turn in a 10F race (and still run a 120+ beyer in the process), he could beat you in the slop.

He didn't just win races.  He ran FAST.  He was freakishly fast.  He still holds the record for the fastest Breeders cup classic ever, and that was his first time in his life ever going 10F.  He either set the track record, or just about set the track record in every race of his career after he was 3.   The only slight against ghostzapper is that he was brittle as all get out.  He only races 4 times in 2004 but that's all he needed.  His win in the 2004 Woodward is one of the most impressive races I've ever seen out of any race horse, ever. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Y1EDBJ4lk



I know i'm gonna catch some slack for including candy ride and not goldivoka and oujia board, but they are not US based. Candy Ride for a time was US based.






























GoHogs1091

Very good list.  You did a great job.

These type of lists are cool.  My own personal list is very similar, with some difference, but not a whole lot of difference.

1.  Ghostzapper
2.  Curlin
3.  Zenyatta
4.  Invasor
5.  Tiznow
6.   Lava Man
7.   Bernardini
8.   Rachel Alexandra
9.   Afleet Alex
10.  Fort Larned
11.  Candy Ride
12.  Smarty Jones
13.  Point Given
14.  Wise Dan
15.  Lawyer Ron

 

Torqued pork

I agree with Ghostzapper. He was just a freakishly talented horse who could beat any field on any track at any distance in jaw-dropping times when he was right. He was the Dr. Fager of his era.

jdelo77

For me personally I would put Zenyatta at # 1 ! But that's a great freaking list you put together !!!

cbhawg03

1. Rachel
2. Smarty Jones
3. Ghostzapper
4. Azeri - pre Lukas
5. Curlin
6. Wise Dan - might not be finished
7. Zenyatta
8. Afleet Alex - best performance in the Preakness
9. Point Given
10. Bernardini
11. Tiznow - best race call every after 9/11
12. Invasor
13. Kitten's Joy
14. Game on Dude - could sprint 9 to 10 Furlongs at times
15. Eight Belles - what could have been, most other years she wins the KY Derby.

I think that every list will be different to some degree based upon personal feelings. Hard to be objective with a list of this kind cause you have very good horses and some that you personally like more than others.

heavylifting

Thank you for limiting your list to the last 15 years, a period with which you are familiar.

A lot of a$$holes would compile a list of the "alltime best" and then fill it with horses from the last 20 years or so, with maybe Secretariat thrown in for good measure. This happens all the time when people are discussing human athletes. "Alltime" curiously never goes back much farther than the date on which they were born.

So, again, thank you for maintaining perspective.

songofthesword

Fort Laurned.. okay then lol. Interesting choice.


If i made a top 15 list for the entire horse racing history no one on this list would make it outside of ghostzapper who would not be in the top 10. maybe. i'd have to make the list.  he'd be on there but it wouldn't be like oh curlin is the best horse ever! type list

HogFanInBryant

Quote from: songofthesword on May 21, 2015, 09:28:38 pm
I had a LOT of free time today and so I complied a list of what I think are the top 15 AMERICAN race horses in the last 15 years. Tell me what you think



15. Hard Spun - The posterboy for unlucky horses, Hard Spun was had "brilliant" speed that he could carry.  He runs his eyeballs out in the derby, only for street sense to get that classic calvin rail ride and get beat. He finished behind curlin and street sense in one of the fastest preaknesses in recent history, then finished behind curlin and rags to riches in a classic battle of the sexes. He finally beats street sense at turfway, then runs his absolute eyeballs out in the classic only for curlin to walk on water, roided up, coked up lol to all hell to beat him by 7. lol. If you go back and look at that race, hard spun destroyed the rest of the field lol. He's at least 4-5 clear of the rest of the field.  Talk about a horse born the wrong year. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fd5BBpxCuY


14. Wise Dan - The best american turf horse in recent memory.  There was about a 2 year period from 2012-2013 were wise dan was basically an ATM machine. He was gonna win. didn't matter how far they ran, didn't matter where they ran, soft turf, hard turf, didn't' matter. cash it.  Won the breeders cup mile 2 times, taking it to the best the eruos had to offer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWlVXT216io


13. Rags to Riches-  From probably the most prolific horse racing family at least in america, out of the super mare better than honour she's a half sister to belmont winner jazil, breeders cup marathon winner man of iron, and the most overrated racing horse in american history rotfl, casino drive. they knew she would be good before she even hit the track, as they paid 1.9 million dollars for her as a yearling and she did not disappoint.  That 2007 Filly crop was REALLY good and she made short work of them in the oaks, beating 2006 breeders cup juve winner dreaming of anna and proud spell, and another really good filly i'm forgetting.  With her sire being AP Indy, who won the belmont they aimed at running her against the boys in the belmont and she beat Curlin and Hard Spun.  What happened to her after the belmont is one of the biggest crimes in american racing history as todd the butcher pletcher ran her out there after an injury way too soon and she was never the same.  But on her A game she was every bit the filly that Rachel was, in the deepest crop of 3YO's in recent memory.


12. Afleet Alex - Most of the great horses, except tiznow, were good 4YO horses who raced past the triple crown trail. You have a bunch of "triple crown stars" like smarty jones, big brown, american pharaoh so far, barbaro (rip :() California chrome, that are really their own subgroup, that made a bunch of noise in the TC trail and then either didn't after or retired. If you put all of them in the starting gate and told me to place a wager on the winner, I'd take afleet alex and laugh all the way to the bank.  I love me some smarty jones, I'm from Arkansas how can I not?  I'm a big fan of barbaro as well but afleet alex, was just better than they were, and was a darn ride by Jeremy rose in the derby, deciding to stick to the only dead part of the race track, from winning the triple crown.  he was probably the most athletic race horse i've ever seen. You looked at him and you just knew, like, if afleet alex was a dude, he'd be a NBA player or something. he was just an athlete, as shown by his preakness win where he baically falls to his knees, gets up and still wins going away.  IF they kept him in training i would not have been suprised in the least bit if they entered him in the melborne cup, i honestly think he would relish the 2 mile trip. this horse could run for [CENSORED] ever.


11. Saint Liam - Even though he was in one of if not the best stretch duel of the 21st century in the 2004 Woowdard with ghostzapper and even though he won the 2005 breeders cup, no one ever gives this horse any love. He didn't really get going until about the middle of his 4YO year but for a year and a half or so, he was really good. One of the more underrated horses in recent memory. Even though he won 4 grade 1's and won a breeders cup classic, his best race is still his lost to ghostzapper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Y1EDBJ4lk


10. Midnight Lute -  A chronic breathing problem kept him from carrying his speed at longer distances, but at anything below 7F he was one of the best sprinters in his prime i've ever seen. He had a devastating late kick that could gobble up just about anyone. It was basically like watching zenyatta in a sprint race. He won the 2007 breeders cup sprint on a sloppy track, and won that race for fun going away, then came off a 10 month layoff, and a 10th place finish in a prep, to win the breeders cup sprint again in 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8SSRqn6wmQ that race still gives me chills


9. Lava Man - If american horse racing was ran only in the state of California, lava man would very well be the best race horse of all time lol.  I don't think there's ever been an easier toss in horse racing than Lava Man shipping outside of California.  But IN California, from 2006 -2007 he was untouchable.  Could run equally well on all 3 surfaces as well, turf, dirt and polytrack. Won the Sanita Anita Handicap 2 times, the Hollywood Gold cup THREE times and the pacific classic once.  He'd have been 2-3 spots higher than this if his trainer / owners didn't get silly and ship him to dubai/ japan / anywhere other than sanita / hollywood park lol


8. Rachel Alexandra - This was pretty hard. 1. Because you have to basically judge Rachel her 3YO year not her 4YO year and 2. she's got to go somewhere on the list. I feel comfortable putting rachel here. In her prime, this is where I think she belongs. I think she's better then the horses below this in her prime A 3YO season.  I honestly believe she would have won the triple crown had the owner ran her in the derby.  She beat the boys not once, not twice, but three times in a span of 4 months (Preakness, Haskell, Woodward) the last time beating older males.  While I think zenyatta was the better horse overall, i think Rachel in 2009 was better and deserved HOY that year.  Everyone talks about her Preakness, but her Woodward IMHO was easily the best race of her life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysO_Fhc8Fpw this race is criminally underrated, that's race horse time and she was worked every bit of it.



7. Invasor - One of the more underrated horses in the last 15 years, when he was on he was really tough to beat.  He was an underdog his entire career for the most part, even though he won the Uruguayan triple crown.  He was the underdog to "super 3 YO" Bardinani in the 2006 breeders cup, and even though he won that, was the underdog against the much much hyped Discreet Cat in the 2007 dubai world cup, and won both.  In fact he only lost one race in his life, 3rd in the UAE derby (to discreet cat the previous year in 2006). The fact that he was from south america and not owned by an american owner, and the fact that he wasn't the flashiest of horses, he gets overlooked a lot but he was really really good.


6. Tiznow - Outside of his breeder's cup classic resume his record is nothing great, but he's the only horse to ever win back to back breeders cup classics. And he just didn't win breeders cup classics, he won probably 2 of the best renditions of it, beating coolmore super horse giant's causeway in the first, then topped it off by coming out next year at Belmont, not 2 months after 9-11 and beating Godolphin (arab) superstar shakee in 2001. That 2001 race was probably the best from top to bottom, at least one of the top 2-3. Albert the great, tiznow, shakee, Galileo, were all legit.  Tiznow wins for america!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0QqdYJeCts  (jesus christ look how much bigger tiznow is than everyone else lol he's [CENSORED] huge)



5. Point Given -  I don't know what happen to him in the derby but he should have won the triple crown.  A combination of point given not being on his A game and monarchos running a once in a lifetime derby kept us from seeing a triple crown that year. I don't think anyone was beating monarchos that day lol. But he was easily the best of that crop and one of the best of the last 15 years.


4. Candy Ride-  But wait you can't rate a horse that only ran 2 times in america this high. If you're this good, yeah, you can.  First of all he never lost a race. He never came close to losing a race. He absolutely toyed with Medaglia d'Oro who was LEGIT in the pacific classic and set a track record, with not much more than a few tabs on the neck from krone. He was just as good if not better on turf as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lJDkGz7p3Y In his prime he'd give curlin and GZ a serious run for their money



3. Curlin - This was pretty hard.  I'm a curlin fan but I don't care for Steve  A at all and he was obviously juiced up.  Plus the last part of his 4 year old campaign left a lot to be desired. The whole turf thing was a joke and he beat up on some pretty crappy older american horses. But from about September of 2007 to  June/ July of 2008 he was the best race horse on earth and at his best, he belongs here. I think if he was born in other year in the 2000's other than 2004, he would have been a triple crown winner. That 2007 crop of 3YO's was as deep as I've ever seen, and he was the best of the bunch, but only probably Secretariat would have been good enough to beat that crop of horses 3 consecutive times.  His maiden win is probably the most impressive maiden I've ever seen in my life.


2. Zenyatta - I admit, I was "team Rachel" back in 2009 lol. I still think that there was a 2-3 month period in rachel's career where Zenyatta would want no part of her (one of the biggest Frank ups in horse racing history is not making that race happen). But Zenyatta was an absolute beast.  Anytime you win 19 races in a row and like 10-11 grade 1's in a row you're [CENSORED] good.  She was huge and would just gobble up mares and horses alike in the stretch.  I think at the end they got way too conservative with her to keep the streak going and never really pushed her until the classics, but she was amazing.  You can make a strong, strong argument she's the best racemare in american history




1. Ghostzapper - Anyone who knows me already knew who this was gonna be before they read the list lol.  I'm a HUGE ghostzapper fan; he's the horse who single handily took me from a casual fan to a hardcore horse racing guy.  I thought there were horses this good every year and I sadly mistaken.  Ghostzapper is not as known by as many casual fans becuase he did not really get cranked up until he was 4 so he missed the triple crown, but on his game, he was virtually unbeatable. He could beat you going long, he could beat you going short. He could beat you coming from the back, he could beat you on the lead. He could beat you when you pushed him 10 wide in the turn in a 10F race (and still run a 120+ beyer in the process), he could beat you in the slop.

He didn't just win races.  He ran FAST.  He was freakishly fast.  He still holds the record for the fastest Breeders cup classic ever, and that was his first time in his life ever going 10F.  He either set the track record, or just about set the track record in every race of his career after he was 3.   The only slight against ghostzapper is that he was brittle as all get out.  He only races 4 times in 2004 but that's all he needed.  His win in the 2004 Woodward is one of the most impressive races I've ever seen out of any race horse, ever. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Y1EDBJ4lk



I know i'm gonna catch some slack for including candy ride and not goldivoka and oujia board, but they are not US based. Candy Ride for a time was US based.































SOS...love the list and explanations!  But...my only issue is putting Hard Spun over Smarty Jones.  I think at a distance of 6 furlongs up to a mile...maybe Hard Spun in his prime beats Smarty Jones in his prime.  But...any distance over a mile I think Smarty Jones smokes his a$$ in a hand ride.  I also think you have to put Saint Liam over Lava Man when you look at who would beat who in their prime...just my 2 cents but great job!

ghostzapper

Good list SOS.  You know I'm not going to argue with your number 1, and I don't think it's even a close debate. 

Iwastherein1969

Quote from: songofthesword on May 21, 2015, 09:28:38 pm
I had a LOT of free time today and so I complied a list of what I think are the top 15 AMERICAN race horses in the last 15 years. Tell me what you think



15. Hard Spun - The posterboy for unlucky horses, Hard Spun was had "brilliant" speed that he could carry.  He runs his eyeballs out in the derby, only for street sense to get that classic calvin rail ride and get beat. He finished behind curlin and street sense in one of the fastest preaknesses in recent history, then finished behind curlin and rags to riches in a classic battle of the sexes. He finally beats street sense at turfway, then runs his absolute eyeballs out in the classic only for curlin to walk on water, roided up, coked up lol to all hell to beat him by 7. lol. If you go back and look at that race, hard spun destroyed the rest of the field lol. He's at least 4-5 clear of the rest of the field.  Talk about a horse born the wrong year.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fd5BBpxCuY


14. Wise Dan - The best american turf horse in recent memory.  There was about a 2 year period from 2012-2013 were wise dan was basically an ATM machine. He was gonna win. didn't matter how far they ran, didn't matter where they ran, soft turf, hard turf, didn't' matter. cash it.  Won the breeders cup mile 2 times, taking it to the best the eruos had to offer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWlVXT216io


13. Rags to Riches-  From probably the most prolific horse racing family at least in america, out of the super mare better than honour she's a half sister to belmont winner jazil, breeders cup marathon winner man of iron, and the most overrated racing horse in american history rotfl, casino drive. they knew she would be good before she even hit the track, as they paid 1.9 million dollars for her as a yearling and she did not disappoint.  That 2007 Filly crop was REALLY good and she made short work of them in the oaks, beating 2006 breeders cup juve winner dreaming of anna and proud spell, and another really good filly i'm forgetting.  With her sire being AP Indy, who won the belmont they aimed at running her against the boys in the belmont and she beat Curlin and Hard Spun.  What happened to her after the belmont is one of the biggest crimes in american racing history as todd the butcher pletcher ran her out there after an injury way too soon and she was never the same.  But on her A game she was every bit the filly that Rachel was, in the deepest crop of 3YO's in recent memory.


12. Afleet Alex - Most of the great horses, except tiznow, were good 4YO horses who raced past the triple crown trail. You have a bunch of "triple crown stars" like smarty jones, big brown, american pharaoh so far, barbaro (rip :() California chrome, that are really their own subgroup, that made a bunch of noise in the TC trail and then either didn't after or retired. If you put all of them in the starting gate and told me to place a wager on the winner, I'd take afleet alex and laugh all the way to the bank.  I love me some smarty jones, I'm from Arkansas how can I not?  I'm a big fan of barbaro as well but afleet alex, was just better than they were, and was a darn ride by Jeremy rose in the derby, deciding to stick to the only dead part of the race track, from winning the triple crown.  he was probably the most athletic race horse i've ever seen. You looked at him and you just knew, like, if afleet alex was a dude, he'd be a NBA player or something. he was just an athlete, as shown by his preakness win where he baically falls to his knees, gets up and still wins going away.  IF they kept him in training i would not have been suprised in the least bit if they entered him in the melborne cup, i honestly think he would relish the 2 mile trip. this horse could run for [CENSORED] ever.


11. Saint Liam - Even though he was in one of if not the best stretch duel of the 21st century in the 2004 Woowdard with ghostzapper and even though he won the 2005 breeders cup, no one ever gives this horse any love. He didn't really get going until about the middle of his 4YO year but for a year and a half or so, he was really good. One of the more underrated horses in recent memory. Even though he won 4 grade 1's and won a breeders cup classic, his best race is still his lost to ghostzapper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Y1EDBJ4lk


10. Midnight Lute -  A chronic breathing problem kept him from carrying his speed at longer distances, but at anything below 7F he was one of the best sprinters in his prime i've ever seen. He had a devastating late kick that could gobble up just about anyone. It was basically like watching zenyatta in a sprint race. He won the 2007 breeders cup sprint on a sloppy track, and won that race for fun going away, then came off a 10 month layoff, and a 10th place finish in a prep, to win the breeders cup sprint again in 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8SSRqn6wmQ that race still gives me chills


9. Lava Man - If american horse racing was ran only in the state of California, lava man would very well be the best race horse of all time lol.  I don't think there's ever been an easier toss in horse racing than Lava Man shipping outside of California.  But IN California, from 2006 -2007 he was untouchable.  Could run equally well on all 3 surfaces as well, turf, dirt and polytrack. Won the Sanita Anita Handicap 2 times, the Hollywood Gold cup THREE times and the pacific classic once.  He'd have been 2-3 spots higher than this if his trainer / owners didn't get silly and ship him to dubai/ japan / anywhere other than sanita / hollywood park lol


8. Rachel Alexandra - This was pretty hard. 1. Because you have to basically judge Rachel her 3YO year not her 4YO year and 2. she's got to go somewhere on the list. I feel comfortable putting rachel here. In her prime, this is where I think she belongs. I think she's better then the horses below this in her prime A 3YO season.  I honestly believe she would have won the triple crown had the owner ran her in the derby.  She beat the boys not once, not twice, but three times in a span of 4 months (Preakness, Haskell, Woodward) the last time beating older males.  While I think zenyatta was the better horse overall, i think Rachel in 2009 was better and deserved HOY that year.  Everyone talks about her Preakness, but her Woodward IMHO was easily the best race of her life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysO_Fhc8Fpw this race is criminally underrated, that's race horse time and she was worked every bit of it.



7. Invasor - One of the more underrated horses in the last 15 years, when he was on he was really tough to beat.  He was an underdog his entire career for the most part, even though he won the Uruguayan triple crown.  He was the underdog to "super 3 YO" Bardinani in the 2006 breeders cup, and even though he won that, was the underdog against the much much hyped Discreet Cat in the 2007 dubai world cup, and won both.  In fact he only lost one race in his life, 3rd in the UAE derby (to discreet cat the previous year in 2006). The fact that he was from south america and not owned by an american owner, and the fact that he wasn't the flashiest of horses, he gets overlooked a lot but he was really really good.


6. Tiznow - Outside of his breeder's cup classic resume his record is nothing great, but he's the only horse to ever win back to back breeders cup classics. And he just didn't win breeders cup classics, he won probably 2 of the best renditions of it, beating coolmore super horse giant's causeway in the first, then topped it off by coming out next year at Belmont, not 2 months after 9-11 and beating Godolphin (arab) superstar shakee in 2001. That 2001 race was probably the best from top to bottom, at least one of the top 2-3. Albert the great, tiznow, shakee, Galileo, were all legit.  Tiznow wins for america! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0QqdYJeCts  (jesus christ look how much bigger tiznow is than everyone else lol he's [CENSORED] huge)



5. Point Given -  I don't know what happen to him in the derby but he should have won the triple crown.  A combination of point given not being on his A game and monarchos running a once in a lifetime derby kept us from seeing a triple crown that year. I don't think anyone was beating monarchos that day lol. But he was easily the best of that crop and one of the best of the last 15 years.


4. Candy Ride-  But wait you can't rate a horse that only ran 2 times in america this high. If you're this good, yeah, you can.  First of all he never lost a race. He never came close to losing a race. He absolutely toyed with Medaglia d'Oro who was LEGIT in the pacific classic and set a track record, with not much more than a few tabs on the neck from krone. He was just as good if not better on turf as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lJDkGz7p3Y In his prime he'd give curlin and GZ a serious run for their money



3. Curlin - This was pretty hard.  I'm a curlin fan but I don't care for Steve  A at all and he was obviously juiced up.  Plus the last part of his 4 year old campaign left a lot to be desired. The whole turf thing was a joke and he beat up on some pretty crappy older american horses. But from about September of 2007 to  June/ July of 2008 he was the best race horse on earth and at his best, he belongs here. I think if he was born in other year in the 2000's other than 2004, he would have been a triple crown winner. That 2007 crop of 3YO's was as deep as I've ever seen, and he was the best of the bunch, but only probably Secretariat would have been good enough to beat that crop of horses 3 consecutive times.  His maiden win is probably the most impressive maiden I've ever seen in my life.


2. Zenyatta - I admit, I was "team Rachel" back in 2009 lol. I still think that there was a 2-3 month period in rachel's career where Zenyatta would want no part of her (one of the biggest Frank ups in horse racing history is not making that race happen). But Zenyatta was an absolute beast.  Anytime you win 19 races in a row and like 10-11 grade 1's in a row you're [CENSORED] good.  She was huge and would just gobble up mares and horses alike in the stretch.  I think at the end they got way too conservative with her to keep the streak going and never really pushed her until the classics, but she was amazing.  You can make a strong, strong argument she's the best racemare in american history




1. Ghostzapper - Anyone who knows me already knew who this was gonna be before they read the list lol.  I'm a HUGE ghostzapper fan; he's the horse who single handily took me from a casual fan to a hardcore horse racing guy.  I thought there were horses this good every year and I sadly mistaken.  Ghostzapper is not as known by as many casual fans becuase he did not really get cranked up until he was 4 so he missed the triple crown, but on his game, he was virtually unbeatable. He could beat you going long, he could beat you going short. He could beat you coming from the back, he could beat you on the lead. He could beat you when you pushed him 10 wide in the turn in a 10F race (and still run a 120+ beyer in the process), he could beat you in the slop.

He didn't just win races.  He ran FAST.  He was freakishly fast.  He still holds the record for the fastest Breeders cup classic ever, and that was his first time in his life ever going 10F.  He either set the track record, or just about set the track record in every race of his career after he was 3.   The only slight against ghostzapper is that he was brittle as all get out.  He only races 4 times in 2004 but that's all he needed.  His win in the 2004 Woodward is one of the most impressive races I've ever seen out of any race horse, ever.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Y1EDBJ4lk



I know i'm gonna catch some slack for including candy ride and not goldivoka and oujia board, but they are not US based. Candy Ride for a time was US based.
Zenyatta better than Curlin ?....Don't think the second lady of racing could beat Curlin when he was good...matter of fact, I don't see her beating Rachel either
The long Grey line will never fail our country.