Takes down the $10 million Dubai World Cup. It's tough to say this when a horse has such a small career and so few races, but I'm going to say he's the best thoroughbred to come down the pike since Secretariat. An amazing animal.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

That's the nature of the game anymore -- you win a few races (in some cases, even just one big race) and then retire to stud. Too much money to be made there vs. risking a broken leg or some other injury -- or the horse proves it was a fluke stretch he was in and starts turning in show finishes. But that Animal Kingdom is a pretty impressive beast... not ready to put him in Secretariat's class myself, but still pretty damn good.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

whoa JOR

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Well, you could make a case that Spectacular Bid was as great as anyone. Then there's Seattle Slew. And you've got Alysheba and Point Given, maybe Risen Star. But I'd put Animal Kingdom among those horses.

Like I said, the campaigns are so different now, it's hard to compare, but what this horse has done is almost unbelievable. There certainly hasn't been a horse since Secretariat that is as indifferent to racing surface or distance. He won the Spiral on Polytrack at Turfway, then won the Derby on at a buck and a quarter on dirt. He came off the shelf with no preps and would have easily whipped Wise Dan at a mile on the turf in the Breeder's Cup if not for an impossible trip. Then he won on Tapeta in Dubai. Supposedly he's headed for Royal Ascot. If he wins there, it's going to be tough to argue that he isn't among the elite horses in history.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I thought JORR was going on a trip to Disney World

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

JOR I have Curlin,Cigar,Sip Away,John Henry,and this horse (and of course Big Red)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C9qRAtPLVw

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Walt, those are all great horses, but with the exception of Curlin, none of them was a force in the Triple Crown races. For me, if we're talking about the greatest American horses, they have to have made a statement in the Triple Crown.

The demands of that series tests a horse like nothing else. Being asked to go a mile and a quarter the first Saturday in May, then shortening up to what can really be an extended sprint with the hairpin turns on the layout at Baltimore just two weeks later, and finally stretching back out to a buck and a half in the Test of Champions at Belmont.

And I'd be more willing to put Curlin in that exalted company if he hadn't been beaten by a filly.

All that said, I love John Henry. He is the workingman's horse. I've got a picture of him on the wall of my office with the Shakespeare quote as a caption. "Some are born great, some achieve greatness..." And of course, Forego had the misfortune of being born the same year as you know who.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don