Best Stephen Foster Winner

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

KRG — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:01:06 GMT

You have to be kidding me with Saint Liam over Awesome Again and Street Cry he ran about 3 good races in his entire career the only thing that made him was how he passed R.I.P, thats the only reason because ppl show pity for him

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

jed_dog — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:31:12 GMT

Victory Gallop by far. Jerry Baily even said that that was the greatest move by a horse he had ever been on, including Cigar!

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

SV — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:45:46 GMT

Victory Gallop, Street Cry, and Awesome Again are top 3 for me.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Michelle — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:46:05 GMT

I am partial to Perfect Drift due to his longevity. He retired at age 9 with 50 Starts which consisted of: 11 Wins, 14 Places, 7 Shows; He Won 7 Graded Stakes and Placed in 14 Graded Stakes with earnings of $4.7M. What a truly GREAT race horse. We need more horses like him, The Tin Man and Evening Attire that we can follow for several years. Maybe Mine that Bird will stay healthy and we can watch him for several years.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

AudraMarie — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:48:18 GMT

Ummm CURLIN. totally

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

OLD TIMER — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:48:36 GMT

Go Phil! I agree it was Perfect Drift # 1. The old boy kept showing us his tenacity for years and in this world of retiring every good horse after 3, it's nice when a great gelding comes along and we can enjoy their exploits for longer than one or two years. He gets my vote.

Second is Black Tie Affair. I do not recall if he won the Foster the same year he was Horse of the Year, however he ran everywhere from New York to Nebraska and again entertained the masses. Plus he won at sprints as well as the classic distances.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

LAZMANNICK — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:22:35 GMT

Awesome Again:

I truly think this was a very underrated horse. He went six for six and ended his year bey beating one of the strongest Classics ever and yet he doesn't get a lot of respect.

If Curlin would have done what he did you wouldn't hear the end of it. In saying this, I am not knocking Curlin. I was with this horse from his first race on and he will always be one of my favorites.

I wonder how much the fact that A.A. was owned by Frank Stronach had to do with it.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Bad Brad — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:04:35 GMT

To da3hoss : Thanks for acknowledging that about Perfect Drift . He didn't win a lot of stakes races but he was competitive in most and raced all over the country , a record 5 time BC Classic runner. winner of $4.7 mil. He gained respect and appreciation from fans for this.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

TWIN SPIRIES DERBY HAT MAN — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:09:08 GMT

PERFECT DRIFT, COMES FROM A SMALL BUT BEAUTIFUL HORSE FARM IN MISSOURI, AND BEATS HOY MINESHAFT IN THE STEPHEN FOSTER....RAN 3RD IN 2002 KY.DERBY....LIVING WELL AT THE KY. DERBY MUSEUM PADDOCK...GO VISIT HIM .

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

da3hoss — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:57:15 GMT

Bad Brad , one thing for sure...PD is a great horse simply because he ran at the top levels for so long...

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Bad Brad — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:08:08 GMT

Hands down , no matter what anyone says ..... My buddy PERFECT DRIFT with a handride over Horse of The Year Mineshaft in 2003 .. . Mineshaft had been carrying even more weight when he ran in Europe and his owner , Mr. Farish of Lanes End Farm even said BEFORE the race that weight would NOT be an issue in the outcome. Some cry that it was . Perfect is currently at The KY Derby Museum in their paddock area behind the building during Churchill meets. He gets daily walks to the paddock along with visits to the track to be ponyed which he still enjoys .He is there so all of his fans can see him.

To Bob D.- I wish Einstein would have won today ,, great horse ...saw him in person win Woodford last two years.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

rolo from ky — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:15:01 GMT

VICTORY GALLOP, nuff said.

last race today at belly, bet the 4 hoss all u want on turf. all u want.

BULLSBAY is my pick in SF CAP.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Bob D. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:33:42 GMT

After this Saturday - Einstein.....

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

loplop — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:39:32 GMT

I think Southern Image is the best horse to not win the S.F.H based on track conditions. He gets beat by a 60-1 shot in the slop. This extremely irks me since I own the saddle cloth from Southern Image in that race!

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Rita — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:20:30 GMT

I love Curlin!!! He's the greatest. I went to see him at the farm--just an amazing horse.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Phil — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:59:35 GMT

It always amazes me how it's conveniently forgotten that great form has a tendency to not hold up to time, which would explain why so many "great" horses get retired before they show the chinks in their armor...to Curlin's credit, they ran him just long enough to "tail off" at the very end, and get beat on a track that was really not to his liking. In recent memory, the Paulsons were also very sporting of running Cigar long enough where time finally ran the mickey out of him, and he was not entirely the same horse at the end that he was in the middle...but as a racing fan, thats how it should be, we should see how long horses can maintain excellence...heck...Kelso started getting beat, Forego started getting beat, and just at about the point that they did, their owners wisely said, enough is enough...I prefer that to a horse being put on the shelf prematurely....so what about PERFECT DRIFT....when he won the Stephen Foster, he was as good as any horse in the United States...this was a fabulous horse, and he ran forever. He's my number 1, if only for that reason. Long-term quality. No other horse in that race, with exception of Curlin (who ran TWO YEARS...(hurray!)....at a high level--maybe Saint Liam too)...thats it.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Goober — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:08:43 GMT

Thsi was a no-brainer! CURLIN!!!

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

da3hoss — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:43:07 GMT

#1: 91-1 Seek Gold beating Perfect Drift by a nose,(Calvin B riding)

Hey, where's 2x winner Recoup the Cash?

Happy Ticket, we remember you, "foaling complications".

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

GunBow — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:05:49 GMT

I think Curlin was the best overall horse to win the Stephen Foster. However, I place the actual Foster performances of Street Cry, Victory Gallop, Awesome Again, and Perfect Drift above Curlin's performance last year.

The Beyer speed figures for past Stephen Fosters:

2002 Street Cry- 118

1999 Victory Gallop- 118

1998 Awesome Again- 118

2003 Perfect Drift- 117

2001 Guided Tour- 117

I think Golden Missile either ran a 115 or 117. Saint Liam and Curlin earned 110 figs for their comfortable wins.

As good as Black Tie Affair was, the Stephen Foster was only a grade 3 then, and carried a much smaller purse. I think it was in 1998, when Churchill basically doubled or tripled the purse, that the Foster became a truly national race.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Bellwether — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:14:23 GMT

SEEK GOLD...ALL HEART...BRED MORE GELDINGS!!!...

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

WWSTP — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:50:52 GMT

CURLIN! The Mighty CURLIN! Number 1!!!!!!!! They had him boxed in on the rail for the majority of the race and Robby rode him ever so patiently until Curlin could finally slip between horses and make his signature run from the inside rather than the outside. Awesome, durable, flexible, gorgeous horse!!! Worth noting is Einstein came in second, and he is gaining a lot of respect this year. Hope he takes this Stephen Foster.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Churchill Charlie — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:36:05 GMT

Guided Tour's Foster upset victory over Captain Steve was as exciting a stretch drive as you could hope for. And defeating an odds-on favorite coming off a Dubai World Cup victory was no small accomplishment for the great gelding Guided Tour.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

cat thief — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:21:19 GMT

Victory G. set the record I think it still stands, could be wrong. I had Street Cry in the Dubai race "the other Goldphin there" and he confirmed his greatness in the Foster. And third, St. Liam's Foster very very good. Curlin 4th.

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Blood-Horse Staff — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:25:05 GMT

It should be working properly now.

You may need to clear your cache and vote again:

In Firefox, go to Tools/Clear Private Data/select "Cache" (you may want to deselect anything else, if you don't want to lose saved passwords, etc), then "Clear Private Data Now."

In IE, go to Tools/Internet Options. From the General tab, chose "Delete" under Browsing history, then select the "Delete files" button next to "Temporary Internet files."

re: Best Stephen Foster Winner

Julie L. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:12:28 GMT

My top 3 are -

Curlin - #1

Black Tie Affair - #2

Saint Liam - #3

Black Tie Affair does not get enough credit as a great racehorse. I ranked him above Saint Liam as I very well remember his racing days. I watched last year's Stephen Foster and what more can be said about Curlin. In my eyes he is the greatest.