A couple of months back, Dan Illman, in his DRF blog post of April 25, 2012, provided a list of the top winning synthetic Beyer Speed Figures of all time (the topic was prompted by Wise Dan's victory in the Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland, for which he earned a Beyer of 117).
Having some spare time on my hands, I decided to create a spreadsheet showing the Sire, Grand Sire, and Dam Sire for each of the horses on the list. I then went and reviewed each of the charts for all the races on the list. I decided to add in the non-winners in the listed races who had Beyer's of 108 and above (based upon Beyer's Beaten Length Adjustment Chart, an online version of which can be found here).
Those horses whose Beyers were computed using the Beaten Length Adjustments Chart are noted with an "E" following their Speed Figure.
I also decided to toss in a few "Honorable Mentions" onto the list; that is, horses whose Beyers were below the 108 cutoff. Those so added were:
Street Sense (second to Hard Spun in the 2007 Kentucky Cup Classic)
Barbeque Eddie (second to In Summation in the 2008 Palos Verdes HC)
Henrythenavigator and Tiago (second and third, respectively, behind Raven's Pass in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Classic)
Model (second behind Zenyatta in the 2008 Clement L Hirsch HC).
Finally, I added three horses for which I do not have even an estimate of Beyer Speed Figures, but I thought belonged anyway:
Ball Four - Winner of the 2006 Kentucky Cup Classic (note that the 2005 and 2007 winners are on the list, while Ball Four's time in 2006 was faster than both of them; in fact, it was the track record for the distance at the time)
Carriage Trail - Winner of the 2008 Spinster Stakes, in which she set the track record that Wise Dan just broke (note that the horse that finished a distant second behind Carriage Trail that day was Model)
Applauding, Hammers Terror and Atigun - Both Applauding and Hammers Terror set new track records at Keeneland at their respective distances this past Fall as two year olds, while Atigun finished just a neck behind Hammers Terror.
There are several horses that made the list more than once; for those horses, I've left their initial spot on the list in normal text, while highlighting in yellow each of their subsequent appearances. For example, Cost of Freedom first makes the list with his 115 Beyer in the 2010 Miles Tyson Stakes. When you see Cost of Freedom three more times further on down the list, those entries are highlighted in yellow.
As you view the list, you'll notice that certain names crop up again and again. Here's a few more multiple occurrences that may not be readily apparent:
Northern Afleet (Amazombie's sire) and Stradivinsky have the same dam sire, Nureyev;
Whiskey Wisdom (Verne's Baby's sire) and Raven's Pass have the same dam sire, Lord At War (ARG);
Thunder Gulch (Go Between's grand sire) and Hard Spun have the same dam sire, Turkoman;
Thunderello's (Monterey Jazz's sire) dam sire was In Reality. In Reality sired Relaunch, Cost of Freedom's dam sire. Relaunch is also the dam sire of Ghostzapper, who sired Pacific Ocean.
Grindstone (Summer Bird's grand sire) was sired by Unbridled, who is the grand sire of Zensational and Fatal Bullet, and the dam sire of Pacific Ocean.
Forestry (Applauding's dam sire) and Tiago have the same dam sire, Pleasant Colony. Forestry's sire was Storm Cat, whose name is all over the spreadsheet. Storm Cat's sire was Storm Bird, who is the dam sire to Grindstone (see above). Storm Cat's dam sire was Secretariat, who was also the dam sire of Summer Squall. Summer Squall, the dam sire of Summer Bird, was sired by Storm Bird (which, by the way, means that Summer Squall and Storm Cat have the same sire and the same dam sire).
Anyway, I'm sure if you do some digging through the data, you'll find your own fair share of siblings, cousins, and what-not. Hopefully the spreadsheet will be easily accessible for everyone by clicking the link. As always, let me know if you think you spot any errors in my work.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
No comments:
Post a Comment