Comparing Justify to Accelerate …
Looking back over the past 15 years or so, there have been 25 cases when a horse won 4 or more Grade 1s in a single year: Year Horse G1 wins 2003 MINESHAFT 4 2003 SIGHTSEEK 4 2005 SAINT LIAM 4 2006 INVASOR (ARG) 4 2006 LAVA MAN 4 2007 RAGS TO RICHES 4 2008 BIG BROWN 4 2008 ZENYATTA 4 2009 GIO PONTI 4 2009 RACHEL ALEXANDRA 5 2009 ZENYATTA 4 2010 PROVISO (GB) 4 2010 ZENYATTA 5 2013 BEHOLDER 4 2013 WISE DAN 4 2014 CALIFORNIA CHROME 4 2014 MAIN SEQUENCE 4 2014 UNTAPABLE 4 2015 AMERICAN PHAROAH 6 2016 SONGBIRD 4 2017 GUN RUNNER 4 2018 ACCELERATE 5 2018 JUSTIFY 4 2018 MONOMOY GIRL 5 2018 SISTERCHARLIE 4
Note that 2018 was "a banner year", with four such runners. Also note that Zenyatta was the only one with multiple years. Five times a runner won 5 or more, and Accelerate matched Monomoy Girl last year, but remember she was DQd from the Cotillion Grade 1 win at Parx. Just sayin' I personally put higher stock in Justify's undefeated triple crown accomplishment, breaking 'the Apollo curse' in the process. Your thoughts?
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