ARROGATE’S CASE FOR HALL OF FAME
A few minutes after the Breeders’ Cup Classic, I received a text asking whether or not Arrogate deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.
A very interesting question, for sure.
Had he won, instead of finishing off the board in a strange and dull effort, there is little doubt in my mind he would receive strong consideration when his eligibility starts five years from now.
Instead, the horse whose brilliance and power once prompted comparisons with the greatest of the greats ended his career with three consecutive losses.
For the record, Arrogate retires with a record of 7-1-1 from 11 starts and leading North American earnings of $17.4 million.
Next in line on that score is California Chrome at $14.7 million.
Arrogate retires with just four stakes wins in his career, a terrific quartet indeed.
They are the $1.25 million Travers at Saratoga, the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, and the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
Arrogate won them in suc-
cession, and in the Travers revealed his superior talent by getting 10 furlongs in 1:59 1/5.
In the long history of Saratoga, the oldest race track in the country, no horse had ever gone under two minutes at 1 ¼ miles.
But what about seven career victories, and four stakes wins?
Is that Hall of Fame material?
On one hand, with victories over the marvelous California Chrome, and a 2-to-1 edge in his rivalry with Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Gun Runner, there is little doubt Arrogate at his best topped his generation.
On the other hand, if both he and Gun Runner entered the Classic in top form, we can only wonder about what kind of show they would have put on.
Perhaps all three will be enshrined one day.
I thought it would be fun to take a look at Hall of Fame members with similar records.
Tiznow, a foal of 1997, has just eight career wins.
Two of them, however, were in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, along with scores in the Super Derby, San Fernando, Goodwood, and Santa Anita Handicap.
Tiznow won seven stakes.
A.P. Indy, a foal of 1989, also has just eight career wins.
Six of them were stakes, the Hollywood Futurity, San Rafael, Santa Anita Derby, Peter Pan, Belmont, and Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The filly Winning Colors, a foal of 1985, had eight wins, of which five were stakes.
They were the Kentucky Derby, La Centinela, Santa Anita Oaks, Santa Anita Derby, and Turfway Park Budweiser Breeders’ Cup.
Majestic Prince, a foal of 1966, won nine of ten starts.
He won the first nine in succession, including the Loz Feliz, San Vicente, San Jacinto, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness.
Yet that tremendous run could not deliver the 3-year-old championship to Majestic Prince.
That title went to Arts and Letters, who after finishing second to Majestic Prince in the first two legs of the Triple Crown turned the tables in the Belmont.
Arts and Letters won the Met Mile before the Belmont, and then followed with wins in the Jim Dandy, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup to earn the title.
Artful, a filly born in 1902, won only six career starts, four of them stakes.
Two of those stakes were very big, the Futurity Stakes over males including the great Sysonby, who, it was later learned, had been drugged.
At age three, Artful defeated older males and the great filly Beldame in the Brighton Handicap.
Like Arrogate in the Travers, Artful turned in a hard-to-believe race in the White Plains Handicap as a 2-year-old filly in 1904.
Under 130 pounds she set a world record of 1:08 for six furlongs, a truly phenomenal performance for that time.
Her record stood for 50 years.