Arrogate: Best Horse since 1973?

[tubby_mcgee 686]

IMO, Arrogate is better than Spectacular Bid, California Chrome, Point Given, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper and yes...better than American Pharoah was.

Obviously careers nowadays are hard to compare yesteryear. Horses are more fragile, more adapted to sprint, and are retired once the connections know they can make more by breeding.

 

Here is some verbiage from brisnet.com (this was before the Dubai World Cup)

 

Indeed, his victory in the $12-million Pegasus World Cup vaulted him past California Chrome and behind only American Pharoah as the most accomplished this decade, but from a numbers standpoint he’s faster than both and it’s not close.

With a four-year-old campaign still to come, it’s difficult to think that anyone in training is likely to give him any trouble, so his races this year will be as much about defining his place among American Pharoah and Ghostzapper among top horses this century and generational greats like Cigar, Skip Away, and Spectacular Bid.

The numbers, of course, are spectacular. Not only did Arrogate run the fastest race ever in the history of Brisnet.com Speed Ratings when posting a 124 for winning the Travers Stakes but also has strung together three consecutive 112 (or better) performances (Brisnet.com Speed Ratings go back to 1990).

Only 591 stakes from 53,526 such races since 1990 have registered a 112 or better rating. That’s just 1.1% of stakes races in that air, and he is now one of 20 horses to have reached that plateau at least three times. Housebuster and Skip Away are tied for the most stakes-winning performances of 112 or better with 7 such races.

Here is the list of horses who have won at least three stakes with a Brisnet.com Speed Rating of 112 or better: Beau Genius, Bernardini, Black Tie Affair (4), Cigar (5), Congaree (4), Criminal Type (4), Curlin (4) Fabulous Strike (4), Ghostzapper (5), Housebuster (7), In Excess (3), Invasor (4), Kela (3), Left Bank, Medaglia d’Oro, Mineshaft, Orientate, Skip Away (7), Summer Squall.

This is extremely lofty company, of course, and he is just another winning 112 away from being in a list that is almost exclusively made up of Racing Hall of Fame members.

 

He surely ran a 112 or better (which was referenced in the article). The rating has not been assigned yet as far as I know.

Came out slow, then got bumped and squeezed in first 40 yards. Everyone thought it was over, except the horse and jockey.