IRISH BLOODSTOCK FORUMS :: View topic - SEA THE STARS / GALILEO

TOPOFTHEHILL»Fri Aug 12, 2022 5:48 am
I will leave the ratings to someone else, Sea The Stars was the better racehorse, probably one of the best 3 in my lifetime. Why do we need to know, because we just do. Why do we need to know exactly how high mount Everest is? because we do. Why do we need to know how far the sun is from the earth, or for that how far London is from Cheltenham, its a human response. Thats why we have racing to establish that my horse is better than your horse, why because if we breed we want to use the best stock, or maybe its just so I can say my horse is better than yours, Its the basis of practically all sport. I am faster than you, my team is better than yours. Its possibly a relatively harmless way of establishing dominance in a sort of civilised way. Historically men used to do this by killing each other, animals do it for food or mates or territory, and maybe we do it for the same prime evil reasons. Reply

Squid»Fri Aug 12, 2022 7:42 am
They never raced against each other so we simply do not know. The distance the sun is from the earth is a FACT. The height of Mt Everest is a FACT. The distance from London to Cheltenham is a FACT. The speculation of which horse is better than the other when they never raced against each other is a GUESS. And it is not about the time of the race etc.. the conditions, going, weather etc would be different so FACTUAL comparisons is not possible. Reply

Shine On»Fri Aug 12, 2022 7:54 am
Top I think Squid has a point. When you say my team is better than yours that is okay because those teams will have played against each other. But you can't say the team you were on 30 years ago is a better team than the Club has now. Reply

TOPOFTHEHILL»Fri Aug 12, 2022 12:14 pm
Of course he has a point and a very valid point too. But even though we don't know for sure one of those horses was better than the other. We just have no way of finding out and really its not about the horses at all. If you go back to the origins of racing one owner who had probably bred the horse would say to his mate my horse is better than yours and I will put up 100 pounds to make a race to prove it. Now if you think your horse is better than mine put up an equal stake and we will find out by racing each other and then its all about details. Distance, where the race is run and so on. But all this is really an irrelevance what they are saying is I am a better breeder or simply a better person than you. Its all about expressions of dominance. Ratings sort of do that and frankly they do it just as well as the distance from the earth to the sun. Someone has come up with a number but unless we can come up with a valid reason to challenge it is is regarded as FACT which it absolutely is not. Everest was a good example as it has been several different heights through history. We just seem to have this need to compare stuff even if we really can't. Is this years Manchester City side better than United back in the early noughties. Impossible to say but we compare games played and points accrued and goals scored and goals conceded. Its what makes us fundamentally humans. Reply

amadán»Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:00 am
A reason we need to know which horse was the better runner is people want to know what produces top racehorses. There will be more interest from breeders in the better runner as a future stallion, and also there will be renewed interest in the sire of the good runner, and in the dam and damsire of the good runner. ............................................. Look at the horses that finished second to those two. One or two were middle of the road sires (or NH sires), producing a few good horses, probably not getting the quality mares. Galileo: Taraza; Milan; Exaltation; Golan; Morshdi; Fantastic Light Sea The Stars: Dark Humour; Mourayan; Delegator; Fame And Glory; Rip Van Winkle; Mastercraftsman; Youmzain Reply

Shine On»Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:03 am
But that is not proof of anything - it is an opinion. Maybe a good opinion but not proof. Reply

Irish Paddy»Sat Aug 13, 2022 16:21 pm
As I see it, SEA THE STARS was the better racehorse and GALILEO is the better sire to date. Reply