Great Horses in history never to be HOY

[zinn21]

TJ wrote:

zinn21 wrote:
Swaps....

Hi Zinn,
Swaps won HOTY in 1956. The year after Nashua defeated him in a match race and was awarded horse of the year over Swaps, who I believe was undefeated in 1955.....till he lost that match race to Nashua. TJ

I stand happily corrected..

[horsenuts]

"At three he took the Swale Stakes in the fastest 7 furlongs of the Gulfstream Park meeting in a time of 1:22 1/5, the Grade II Gotham Stakes, the Grade I Wood Memorial, the Grade I Belmont Stakes, the Grade I Whitney Stakes, the Grade I Travers Stakes, the Grade I Woodward Stakes, and the Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup.

In the Gotham, Easy Goer's winning time of 1:32 2/5 for the mile set a new track record, was the fastest mile ever run on dirt surface by any three year old thoroughbred in history to this day, and was 1/5 of a second off of Dr. Fager's world record.

Easy Goer also missed the stakes and track record in the Whitney by 2/5 of a second (established by Fred W. Hooper's Tri Jet), and the Travers by 4/5 of a second (held by General Assembly). In 3 of these races (Whitney, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup), Easy Goer defeated older horses, becoming one of the few 3-year-olds in modern American racing history to accomplish such a feat.

Easy Goer is the only horse in history to win the Whitney, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup. Additionally, he is one of only two horses to win the Champagne, Belmont Stakes and Travers. He was one of the last American-trained horses to win two Grade I races at a mile and a half on dirt (Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup). Easy Goer's 1989 3-year-old campaign was most likely the greatest in American racing history, without yielding any year end championship awards."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Goer

I classify Easy Goer as a great horse....... better than either Zenyatta or RA. Some of his races were incredible.......... and had he been able to run strictly at Belmont he may never have lost. Unforunately, he was not as agile around two turn mile tracks and the cat quick Sunday Silence could get the jump on him going around the turns.

EG is arguably the best horse to never be named HoY.

[TJ]

Great stat, TJ!!! What did Discovery do to garner HOY?

Hi Jagger,
Hall of fame inductee, Discovery was nicknamed The Iron Horse because of his ability to carry high weights. He started slow at 2 but ages 3-5 he won 3 consecutive Brooklyn Hndc's and Whitney Stake's. He was a top Handicap horse and carried great imposts (as much as 139lbs) to victory. His career record was
63 starts-27-10-10 with ernings of $195,000. TJ

[TJ]

"At three he took the Swale Stakes in the fastest 7 furlongs of the Gulfstream Park meeting in a time of 1:22 1/5, the Grade II Gotham Stakes, the Grade I Wood Memorial, the Grade I Belmont Stakes, the Grade I Whitney Stakes, the Grade I Travers Stakes, the Grade I Woodward Stakes, and the Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup.

In the Gotham, Easy Goer's winning time of 1:32 2/5 for the mile set a new track record, was the fastest mile ever run on dirt surface by any three year old thoroughbred in history to this day, and was 1/5 of a second off of Dr. Fager's world record.

Easy Goer also missed the stakes and track record in the Whitney by 2/5 of a second (established by Fred W. Hooper's Tri Jet), and the Travers by 4/5 of a second (held by General Assembly). In 3 of these races (Whitney, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup), Easy Goer defeated older horses, becoming one of the few 3-year-olds in modern American racing history to accomplish such a feat.

Easy Goer is the only horse in history to win the Whitney, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup. Additionally, he is one of only two horses to win the Champagne, Belmont Stakes and Travers. He was one of the last American-trained horses to win two Grade I races at a mile and a half on dirt (Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup). Easy Goer's 1989 3-year-old campaign was most likely the greatest in American racing history, without yielding any year end championship awards."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Goer

Hi Jim,
That was a great post.....he's probably, by far the winner of Tuc's interesting thread! You know I forgot about that....probably because I always thought of him as a champion. He was inducted into the hall of fame and was champion 2YO....but he did deserve more. When Easy was a 2YO Alysheba won HOTY, when he was 3 Sunday Silence beat him out and at 4 Criminal Type was HOTY. I think Easy Goer was better than all 3 of those...TJ

[Tucumcari]

Easy Goer is one of my all time favorites!

[horsenuts]

"At three he took the Swale Stakes in the fastest 7 furlongs of the Gulfstream Park meeting in a time of 1:22 1/5, the Grade II Gotham Stakes, the Grade I Wood Memorial, the Grade I Belmont Stakes, the Grade I Whitney Stakes, the Grade I Travers Stakes, the Grade I Woodward Stakes, and the Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup.

In the Gotham, Easy Goer's winning time of 1:32 2/5 for the mile set a new track record, was the fastest mile ever run on dirt surface by any three year old thoroughbred in history to this day, and was 1/5 of a second off of Dr. Fager's world record.

Easy Goer also missed the stakes and track record in the Whitney by 2/5 of a second (established by Fred W. Hooper's Tri Jet), and the Travers by 4/5 of a second (held by General Assembly). In 3 of these races (Whitney, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup), Easy Goer defeated older horses, becoming one of the few 3-year-olds in modern American racing history to accomplish such a feat.

Easy Goer is the only horse in history to win the Whitney, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup. Additionally, he is one of only two horses to win the Champagne, Belmont Stakes and Travers. He was one of the last American-trained horses to win two Grade I races at a mile and a half on dirt (Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup). Easy Goer's 1989 3-year-old campaign was most likely the greatest in American racing history, without yielding any year end championship awards."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Goer

Hi Jim,
That was a great post.....he's probably, by far the winner of Tuc's interesting thread! You know I forgot about that....probably because I always thought of him as a champion. He was inducted into the hall of fame and was champion 2YO....but he did deserve more. When Easy was a 2YO Alysheba won HOTY, when he was 3 Sunday Silence beat him out and at 4 Criminal Type was HOTY. I think Easy Goer was better than all 3 of those...TJ

The stats say otherwise regarding EG versus SS. They met 4 times as 3 year olds in the worlds biggest races the 3 TC races and than the BCC. SS won 3 of the 4 with his 3 wins all coming on standard two turn mile tracks. Only on the big Belmont track with the wide sweeping turns was EG able to show what he could do. But much like Alydar versus Affirmed many couldn't accept that Affirmed got the upper hand in most instances.

And FWIW SS was a great sire in Japan.

[TJ]

"At three he took the Swale Stakes in the fastest 7 furlongs of the Gulfstream Park meeting in a time of 1:22 1/5, the Grade II Gotham Stakes, the Grade I Wood Memorial, the Grade I Belmont Stakes, the Grade I Whitney Stakes, the Grade I Travers Stakes, the Grade I Woodward Stakes, and the Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup.

In the Gotham, Easy Goer's winning time of 1:32 2/5 for the mile set a new track record, was the fastest mile ever run on dirt surface by any three year old thoroughbred in history to this day, and was 1/5 of a second off of Dr. Fager's world record.

Easy Goer also missed the stakes and track record in the Whitney by 2/5 of a second (established by Fred W. Hooper's Tri Jet), and the Travers by 4/5 of a second (held by General Assembly). In 3 of these races (Whitney, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup), Easy Goer defeated older horses, becoming one of the few 3-year-olds in modern American racing history to accomplish such a feat.

Easy Goer is the only horse in history to win the Whitney, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup. Additionally, he is one of only two horses to win the Champagne, Belmont Stakes and Travers. He was one of the last American-trained horses to win two Grade I races at a mile and a half on dirt (Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup). Easy Goer's 1989 3-year-old campaign was most likely the greatest in American racing history, without yielding any year end championship awards."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Goer

Hi Jim,
That was a great post.....he's probably, by far the winner of Tuc's interesting thread! You know I forgot about that....probably because I always thought of him as a champion. He was inducted into the hall of fame and was champion 2YO....but he did deserve more. When Easy was a 2YO Alysheba won HOTY, when he was 3 Sunday Silence beat him out and at 4 Criminal Type was HOTY. I think Easy Goer was better than all 3 of those...TJ

The stats say otherwise regarding EG versus SS. They met 4 times as 3 year olds in the worlds biggest races the 3 TC races and than the BCC. SS won 3 of the 4 with his 3 wins all coming on standard two turn mile tracks. Only on the big Belmont track with the wide sweeping turns was EG able to show what he could do. But much like Alydar versus Affirmed many couldn't accept that Affirmed got the upper hand in most instances.

And FWIW SS was a great sire in Japan.

Hi Horsenuts,
I know the stats.....but most that saw Easy Goer's brilliance could never agree that Sunday Silence was better. For some reason Pat Day took a while to realize what he was sitting on.....he moved way too soon in the Preakness, then waited way too long in the Breeder's Cup. All those that thought this remember his Belmont as Easy Goer's coming out party:>)
Watch his Belmont...Sunday Silence had no trouble with the wide turns of Belmont Race Track.....no horses ever do, if Easy Goer wasn't in there Sunday Silence would have won the Triple Crown. TJ
Watch his Belmont... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0YmoD8c ... re=related

[wilf]

Easy Goer did all this on a nasty set of ankles to boot!! You would often see a photo of Shug sitting outside Easy Goer's stall reading the form while the champ munched on a hay net standing in ice.

[Tucumcari]

I don't think I had ever taken in how wide his (EG's trip was. I was in the eigth grade when this race ran... I was so in love with that big red horse.. That Belmost was one of the best races!!!

[TJ]

I don't think I had ever taken in how wide his (EG's trip was. I was in the eigth grade when this race ran... I was so in love with that big red horse.. That Belmost was one of the best races!!!

Hi Tuc,
Take nothing away from Sunday Silence.....but I think I would have read Pat Day the riot act after this Preakness. If he sat chilly, as was his MO, I think he could have won it.....but Pat Valezuela played possum and outsmarted Day through the lane and reversed the outside position that was Day's had he not made a pre-mature move. TJ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjLZ1lLcfWA

[TJ]

There was a real nice 3YO colt in 1965 named Tom Rolfe, he finished his career as a 4YO with a record of 32 starts 16-5-5. He was Champion 3YO colt in 1965, Moccasin a 2YO filly and Roman Brother a 4YO colt were named co-HOTY's...they went that far they could of went for the hat trick:>) TJ

[subrosa]

...Moccasin a 2YO filly and Roman Brother a 4YO colt were named co-HOTY's...:>) TJ

So there was a precedent for naming two horses as co-HOTY. 2009 would have been a good year to repeat with Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra.

[charlie]

The year of Moccasin and Roman Brother, each was HOTY on different polls. There were a couple back then, Morning Telegraph (Racing Form) poll, Turf and Sport Digest poll (that might have been Moccasin), and I think a TRA poll.
Carry Back, Mongo, Prove It, and Gun Bow were among horses that would have been HOTY contenders running during the Five Year Reign of Kelso.

[bdw0617]

Omaha


/thread

[TJ]

The year of Moccasin and Roman Brother, each was HOTY on different polls. There were a couple back then, Morning Telegraph (Racing Form) poll, Turf and Sport Digest poll (that might have been Moccasin), and I think a TRA poll.
Carry Back, Mongo, Prove It, and Gun Bow were among horses that would have been HOTY contenders running during the Five Year Reign of Kelso.

Hi Charlie,
There has always been three groups represented in the Eclipse Awards (the three you mentioned)...none had individual honors, it was a committee made up of people from these three organizations. At that time, as is today... it was the NTWA (National Turf Writer's Association), The Morning Telegraph (today's Daily Racing Form, only change) and the NTRA (National Thoroughbred Racing Association). That was the first and last time they split the year end honors voting. They put a ruling on the books thereafter not to allow a split decision. That ruling was challenged this past November 2009 and was voted on mainly because most thought last year was a good time to do it again....but it was voted down with NTRA and NTWA voting against the change. TJ