I understand frustration leads some to make some pretty large and loud claims. Usually, I feel it best to simply ignore those loud voices and move along, but from time to time, the voices become too loud, and to remain silent seems to lend credence to what they are saying. For months now, I have witnessed individuals claim those who are not convinced that California Chrome is a great horse are somehow not true fans of the sport. Typically, those claims are never supported by any hard facts to show why those who don't believe so are less than real fan, much less to support why the horse is deserving of the mantle "great horse".
Let me start by establishing that I do not feel California Chrome is a great horse. I know that won't come as a surprise to those who have followed me on social media sites and those that used to but unfollowed me due to that stance. Here's a big difference though - I don't condemn anyone who believes he is or think they are any less of a horse racing fan or that they are somehow damaging the very fabric of the sport. Another big difference, I am happy to share with you the reasons why I don't think he's a great horse. Perhaps one day he will be deserving of that title, but in today's racing world, I find we are all too quick to latch that label on a horse, most likely we have been so long without a Triple Crown Winner. Note that I don't feel a horse has to win the Triple Crown to be a great horse, but that seems to be all that many modern race fans follow and base their opinions. on. So why don't I think California Chrome is great? To start, let's look at race record. I won't stretch back into the history books and dig up truly great horses like Secretariat or Man O'War or Ruffian or any number of the horses of days gone by. Those horses all ran in different eras, with different goals and values and on much different surfaces from today's horses. I give you two other modern era horses to consider: Curlin, who I feel is deserving of the great horse mantle, and Shared Belief, who I feel is very close to being deserving of that mantle. Horse Entered W P S California Chrome 18 9 3 1 Curlin 16 11 2 2 Shared Belief 11 10 0 0 Based on win percentage (any position but first is a loss), Shared Belief is the clear leader of these three with an amazing 90% winning percentage. The fact that he has raced less than either of these two horses is one of the reasons that I haven't called him a great horse yet. Curlin comes close to a 70% winning percentage while California Chrome only has managed a 50% winning percentage. For me a 50% winning percentage is not enough to stamp a horse as great. Even if you want to look at the race record from the stance of finishing in the money rather than win percentage, California Chrome still lags well behind the other two. Looking deeper into the race records of these three reveals that while Curlin never finished worse than 4th and Shared Belief has thus far never finished worse than 4th, California Chrome has finished 6th in three different races and 5th once. There may be some who would take it back to acknowledged greats like Secretariat and say, well his race record shows only a 76% winning percentage. While that is true, Secretariat amazingly never finished worse than third and on top of that, he accomplished amazing feats on the track. That's another way a horse, to me, can be considered truly great. What has California Chrome accomplished that has been an amazing feat on the track? He did not win the Triple Crown, he did not set any records in any of his wins, either in terms of time or lengths won by. You might say, well what great feat did Curlin accomplish? I point to the Dubai World Cup. He followed in the footsteps of another great horse by the name of Cigar and won. Not only is the race itself a test, but the trip is a rough, as we rightfully heard Art Sherman state over and over again. Both of those two managed to not only win the race, but come back and still win more races. Neither California Chrome nor Shared Belief have accomplished any such feat yet. They might still yet, but I can't call either a great horse yet. There is one other big area that I believe all great horses have, something far more difficult to explain or pin down. It can't be quantified in numbers or measured in hands, but it is something that I have witnessed in the big names and even cheap claimers - the will to win. Despite what some animal rights "advocates" would have you believe, I have spent enough time around racehorses and ex-racehorses to know that some of them not only love to run, but love to win. You can see it in the way they carry themselves and how they fight on the track. They may not win every race, but they want to. You'll hear racetrack writers wax poetic about the grit, the determination that this one or that showed in a race, and you know what they mean. Alone it doesn't make a horse great, but I've never seen a horse that I would call great that didn't have it, and that for me is the big reason I don't think California Chrome is ever likely to break through to the ranks of greats. I think Curlin's greatest example of such a moment came in a moment of defeat, the 2007 Belmont Stakes. I was there on the rail that day, and I wasn't rooting for Curlin. I had come to see Rags to Riches, a filly I felt should have gone in the Kentucky Derby. She would not disappoint me, but I saw two horses that day that both had "it", that indomitable will to win. In that race, Curlin made me a fan of his, too. I felt similar on the day Zenyatta lost the Breeder's Cup Classic to Blame. In that moment of defeat, she showed she too had "it". Shared Belief showed me that will in the Pacific Classic, his first race against older horses in which he was held wide much of the race. Instead of folding, Shared Belief found that inner strength to have his nose hit the wire first. As I watched the Dubai World Cup this weekend, and as I have watched the other races of California Chrome unfold, I have not seen this will to win in him. He seems quite content to let other horses go by him. I know some will point out he was wide in the Dubai World Cup. That might be true, but if you look at the data, he only went three feet longer than the eventual winner and take a close look at the Pacific Classic from 2014 - again, there you will see a horse taken wide who still found the will to win. The racing history books is filled with the tales of the great ones and their will to win. For me, I don't see that will to win in California Chrome. That doesn't make him a bad horse. That doesn't make me hate him. In fact, in all my years, I only ever said I hated a horse once and that was Affirmed. I was not quite four years old yet and he was continually beating my hero and love Alydar. Then, that was my natural reaction. Over the years, I've come to admire Affirmed and could never hate him, even though I still like Alydar better. I would never "bash" a horse either. Perhaps there are some bashing California Chrome. I don't like it if they do, but I won't go as far as some to say this is driving away potential new fans from the sport. If it did, they probably weren't destined to be fans anyway, and I argue there is a lot more wrong with horse racing that the industry needs to address if they want to build their fan base, but that is an argument for a different time and place. The beauty of horse racing like any other sport I follow (and in fact the beauty of our country) is that we can disagree. However, in disagreeing, we should state our opinions, back it up with facts and at times agree to disagree. Making blanket statements and labeling others as less than true fans from an emotional point is no better than my four year old assessment that I hated Affirmed for beating Alydar.
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