Newsflash: Curlin is a monster. His Stephen Foster romp while carrying a small anchor on his back confirmed as much. As far as most are concerned, he is the best horse in the world - hands down. This much is undisputed.

But here are a few questions that I pose to you: Where does he rank on the list of best horses since 1979? And if he is not yet among your top horses now, what does he have to do the rest of his career to crack your list?

If Curlin's career ended today he would have posted a 9-1-2 record from 12 starts, with earnings of $9.3 million. He has five grade or group I victories, including the Preakness, Breeders' Cup Classic and Dubai World Cup. He has a Horse of the Year title and is well on his way to a second.

From what Steve Asmussen has been saying the last few days, it seems as though Curlin could be pointed to France's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October. A victory there would give him a group I on turf, which would build his impressive résumé even more. If he does indeed go that route, it seems Curlin would have a turf prep race in July over here before heading to France, have one race in France prior to the Arc, and then likely close out his career on Oct. 5. Obviously, this would mean skipping the BC Classic at Santa Anita and the highly-anticipated match-up with Big Brown.

Should he win the Arc Curlin will have, in my mind, done enough to be considered the best horse since Cigar - who he would also pass in earnings to become the world's all-time money earner.

Better than Cigar? No way. Curlin will likely end his career with only 15 starts - one fewer than the 16 consecutive wins that Cigar posted. In all, Cigar was 19-4-5 from 33 starts with two Horse of the Year titles. His body of work is just too vast for Curlin to top him.

But what about other great North American horses in the last 30 years? Obviously he is not in Spectacular Bid's class, but what about Skip Away, Sunday Silence, Easy Goer, Alysheba, Slew o' Gold or even Personal Ensign? More recently, how does he compare to Silver Charm, Holy Bull, Point Given, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex and Barbaro?

I'm curious to see where people stand on this. Assuming Curlin wins his last three, including the Arc, here is how I would rank the top 10 over the last 30 years:

1. Spectacular Bid
2. Cigar
3. John Henry
4. Skip Away
5. Sunday Silence
6. Easy Goer
7. Curlin
8. Alysheba
9. Silver Charm
10. Point Given

Your thoughts?

The final results of the poll are in!

Surprisingly, Point Given won by a large margin, garnering more than 30% of the votes. I was a bit surprised, not that you guys voted him the winner, but that he won by so much. I bet that if we took this poll again in six months, Curlin's votes would go way up!

Thanks to everyone who voted.

Since we had a good response to that poll, here's another one that we can have some fun with:

Who was the best horse since 1979 to fall one leg short of the Triple Crown?

It has happened 10 times in the last 30 years, most recently with Smarty Jones in 2004. I'll give you my top three and you guys can cast your vote below.

3. Smarty Jones: He was a length short of going undefeated for his career and may have been the best horse since Cigar (although I would argue Point Given). I'm still not convinced that he couldn't have run as a 4-year-old, but he is a true champion nonetheless.

2. Sunday Silence: Although he could not get the elusive Belmont against the great Easy Goer, he beat him three other times as a 3-year-old, including the BC Classic. Was 9-5-0 from 14 starts and had a victory as a 4-year-old, which gives him the nod over Smarty.

1. Spectacular Bid: Take a look at the PPs. He was a man amongst boys. Was 26-2-1 from 30 starts and won 10 stakes in a row before the Derby, most by a large margin. I don't think there is anyone who would argue that ‘Bid should have been a Triple Crown winner. Proves how hard it is (and how much luck you need). His 4-year-old year (Nine consecutive graded stakes wins) might never be duplicated.

As we inch closer to the 2008 Kentucky Derby, there is one certainty that we can all agree on: There will only be one winner and a whole bunch of disappointment. With that in mind, here's an interesting question to ponder:

Since 1978, who was the best Derby starter that did not win? In other words, which horse started in the Derby, did not win, but achieved greatness either prior to or after the first Saturday in May?

I chose the last 30 years as a reference for this question, in part because that was the last time we had a Triple Crown winner, but also because I am too young to remember any further back.

As I began to look back on this, obvious names came to mind: Curlin (third in 2007 Derby, won Preakness and BC Classic), Point Given (fifth in 2001 Derby, won Preakness and Belmont), Easy Goer (second in 1989 Derby, won Belmont and five grade I races after that), and of course Alydar, who was second in all three legs of the Triple Crown in 1978.

But after picking the brain of esteemed colleague Evan Hammonds, we came up with a bunch of others. What about Risen Star, an underrated colt who was third in the 1988 Derby, but went on to win the Preakness and the Belmont (by a whopping 14 ¾ lengths)?

There is also Victory Gallop, who was second in the 1998 Derby and Preakness, then went on to capture the Belmont, and the Whitney the following year.

Or we can go back to champion 2-year-old Arazi. He won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 1991 as part of an eight-race winning streak, then finished eighth in the Derby the following year before being taken back to France where he was a group II winner.

How about Holy Bull? After a disappointing 12^th in the 1994 Derby he reeled off six victories in a row, including the Haskell and Travers.

Evan came up with a pair of good ones - Johannesburg and Slew o' Gold. Johannesburg, like Arazi, did his best work before the Derby, winning seven of his first eight races in Europe before finishing eighth in the 2002 Run for the Roses.

Slew o' Gold was a monster. The son of Seattle Slew was fourth in the 1983 Derby, but still went on to become champion 3-year-old, and the following year won an Eclipse Award as an older horse.

Those are the 10 that we came up with. Let me know what you guys think. Please vote below and we'll crown a champion in a few weeks.

For the record, my vote goes to Point Given. I admit, I am a little biased because he is my favorite horse of all time, but you can't argue with what he did - 9 for 13 in his career, won two legs of Triple Crown, 3-year-old champion, first horse to win four $1 million races in a row. He was a man amongst boys. Easy Goer would probably be my second choice.

For results of the poll go here