Another dominating performance by Frankel which was expected. Frankel may be the best horse ever at a flat mile on the flats or around 1 bend. With that said, I get tired of hearing that he is the greatest horse ever. The highest rated horse in the world. This type of talk is just dumb to me. Rankings should be based on surface, distance. You cannot compare sprinters, milers, to mile and half horses, dirt horses. For example, I would bet the house on Danedream, Nathanial against Frankel and Black Caviar at a 1 1/2miles, but Frankel and Black Caviar are both rated higher than them. One is a sprinter (Black Caviar), One is a miler(Frankel), 2 are European Classic horses. You just cannot rank these against each other. IMO
PS: I am also sick and tired of hearing trainers, owners etc.. say "He don't have anything to prove" There is plenty to prove still. For example can you win around two turns? Can you win on very firm turf which is only what 1.5inches thick? Can you ship to another country? Can you run on dirt? Can you win at a mile and half? He could come to the Breeders Cup to answer some of these questions, but of course they will not come.
"his domination of ALL his rivals has been great.Hard not to see him as one of the best ever.JMHO"
Nobody is arguing the fact that Frankel is great. The question is what is he great at? a mile? 7F? over the flats? around one bend? at his home tracks? How do you compare his greatness to Sea-bird who timeform rated 145? Sea-Bird won the classic races at the classic distance for European racing. Frankel dominates mile races. I just dont see how you can compare the two.
Another example. Midnight Lute was one of the best sprinters I have ever seen and personally would put him against ANYONE at 6F. With that said, I am not going to compare him to Cigar or any other classic distance great. It's apples and oranges and Frankel has proved nothing except that he is great at home at a mile. Over there I would put Frankel against anyone at a mile all time. We will learn more about his greatness in 3 weeks.
Just curious: Right now at 1 1/4, who would you bet Frankel or Giant Causeway?
Well I am talking about when he was in his prime. You know the one that one 5 grade 1's in a row, came over here and challenged himself in the classic only to lose by a nose to Tiznow.
Thought you said right now. My bad. Anyway Giant's Causeway, which was a terrific horse no doubt, ran six of his nine three-year-old turf races at seven furlongs or a mile and there was some doubt about his ten furlong ability as well until he did it. His first try at the trip wasn't until summer of his 3YO and he ran a doozy betting Kalinisi, Fantastic Light and Sahkee. After that he raced two more miles and two more at ten, one of which, the Irish Champion was a virtual walkover against a below quality field.
Frankel's last two are scheduled at ten furlongs at York and Ascot and they are rumored to be considering the Moulin at Longchamp as a tune-up. To answer your question, I
d take my chances with Frankel and I'd guess most European experts would probably say the same thing.
And what if Frankel loses one or both of those 10F races, what would the experts say then? I think it is also fair to say that Frankel has never met anyone as good as Kalinisi, Fantastic Light and Sahkee. Of course that is just my opinion.
