Cross Breeds

Can you think of any race horses that you would consider to have been overshadowed by their foes?

I was wondering if anyone could think of Thoroughbred's that were over shadowed by their peers. The only ones I could come up with were Sham,Fair Play,Alydar,and I suppose Hard Spun. Most of these guys will be remembered because of the horses who they usually were behind.I know some turned out to be great sires and that's how they are remembered(such as Fair Play with Man O' War),but forget that. Also,if you have any photos of any of these horses,exspecially Sham could you tell me where to find them?

Public Comments

1. Coal Town by Citation
2. Kelso.
3. Alydar may have been slightly overshadowed by Affirmed on the track, but he sure wasn't in the breeding shed !! He was a much better sire than Affirmed- his get and grandget are still winning stakes races, in fact, and some of them have gone on to produce champions of their own. As for horses which got overshadowed otherwise, I would have to add Gallant Fox to that list, even though he won the Triple Crown. He was only mediocre at best when it came to siring offspring- as far as I know, there were only two of his colts which did anything- Omaha, who was another TC winner, and Flares, Omaha's brother and winner of the Gold Cup at Ascot in England. Another one of his colts, Golden Broom, was overshadowed by Seabiscuit- that horse and the "Biscuit" were colts together, and formed a rivalry that never ended- but Golden Broom got beat more than once by Seabiscuit. And on a side note, Fair Play is remembered for far more than just siring Man 'O War- he sired any number of top racehorses, and was also known as a steeplechase sire as well- quite a feat in those days.John P. Grier, another contemporary of Man O'War, probably also belongs on the overshadowed list. This was one of the only horses which ever came close to beating "Big Red" as he was nicknamed, in an actual race- in his case, it was in the Dwyer Stakes at Saratoga. That race became an unintentional match race, although it was never billed that way. PS: Easy Goer was sired by ALYDAR, NOT Secretariat.
4. Lets not forget Run Dusty Run. He had the misfortune of being a three year old the same year as Seattle Slew, finishing second to Slew in the Derby & Belmont, and third in the Preakness. History may have remembered RDR more kindly had his number been allowed to stand in the Travers that same year; but some bumping in the stretch with Jatski DQ'd him to second. Apparently, it was at least something of a questionable call on the part of the stewards, and they got an ear full from RDRs trainer, Smiley Adams. This may sound odd, as he is very highly regarded, but losing 3 out of 4 to Sunday Silence has somewhat taken some of the the sheen off the otherwise brilliant career of Easy Goer. Easy Goer fans may vociferously disagree, but I was a big fan of the son of Secretariat myself! Watch the '89 BCC. Pat Day sets Easy Goer down for the drive somewhat after the top of the stretch, angling him to the inside, only to have the hole he was shooting for close on him. He then had to pull EG up, angle him to the outside to set him down for the stretch drive a second time - and then only lost by what Tom Durkin called a "desperate neck". Had EG had a better ride in the stretch, he probably would have won by a length, and the series between he and Sunday Silence would have stood at two apiece, and fans of SS and EG wouldn't be having the debate about which of the two was better, which still goes on to this day.