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No doubt author Robin Oakley has done a magnificient Job in his book ‘Britain and Ireland’s top 100 racehorses of all time’.He has given a sufficient touch of life to all the great legends ,articulately evaluating their prowess.His style of writing is lively and descriptive.Arguably it is one of the best horse-racing books of all.It is a treasure in ever horse racing fan’s library.However I felt his assesment had some serious errors which I am listing below.Readers,please do not take this in a deragatory spirit.Oakley has every right to his opinion and often the handicappers too could be innacurate.I have put the rankings of Oakley in the brackets next to the horse’s names.
1.He ranks Lamtaara(11) above Nijinsky(13),Shergar(32) ,Dancing Brave (17) or even Sir Ivor( 46).True Lamtaara had an amazing achievement in pulling of 3 big race wins constituting the Derby,King George and Arc creating a box-ofice sensation but his wins were not as authoritative as those of his father Nijinsky 11,Dancing Brave or Shergar. Nijinsky and Shergar displayed far superior ease while Dancing Brave produced considerably greater finishing burst.If Mill Reef another outstanding colt was ranked ahead of Lamtaara so should definitely Nijinsky,Dancing Brave and Shergar who as three years old carried a myth of invincibility.Where did Lamtaara equal Shergar’s 10 length Derby win,Dancing Brave’s superlative Arc finish or Nijinsky toying with his rivals in the King George?Morally even Sir Ivor or Crepello performed better than Lamtaara.Lamtaara was ranked 134 by timeform compared to Dancing Brave at 140,Nijinsky ay 138 and Shergar at 140.
2.It places Sea -Bird 11 in 4th place behind Sea the Stars (3 )and Brigadier Gerard(2) .True Sea Bird was French but if you are including him he must be ranked appropriately.Sea Bird was rated 145 by Timeform as against Sea the Stars rating of 140 franked to 136 by racing post.Even on Derby for Sea Bird could have been ahead of Sea the Stars.Not denying Sea the Star’s phenomenal talent,durability ,temperament or consistency he never matched Sea Bird’s superlative authority over better rivals.True Sea the Stars won over all distances ,won more races over a wider range of distances,displayed a dashing burst to pass his opponents and won 6 races in a season that no colt had ever done before.However the Stars did not equal the best of Sea Bird’s,Mill Reef’s or even Nijinsky’s performances.Arguably Mill Reef(8) rated 141 at timeform was ahead as a purely middle-distance runner while the official rankings still rate Dancing Brave ahead at a mark of 138.Anyway I don’t mind Sea the Stars ahead of all of those but object to his being placed ahead of Sea Bird.Over the middle distance of a mile and a half the best performances of Mill Reef,Nijinsky,Shergar or Dancing Brave were marginally better than Sea the Stars.
3.Excluded some great champions like Balymoss,Dahlia ,El Gran Senor and Troy.Dahlia won 2 king George’s and Benson and Hedges Gold cups back to back.It conquered the 1973 Arc hero,Rheingold(38) by a margin of 6 lengths in the 1974 King George.Dahlia was the most versatile racemare ever.True she was French but her best wins were recorded in England.Troy was a middle-distance great in the class of Generous or Alleged.His 1979 Epsom Derby win was accomplished by a margin of 7 lengths where he literally swept the field like a racing care accelerating.Troy was boxed in about 7 th place at Tattenham corner and in the straight 2 furlongs out looked like a Greek God emerging .Dicken’s Hill looked set to take the lead 2 furlongs out when Troy came sailing along like a motorboat passing canoes.It was the best Derby performance since Sea Birds’ of 1965.Troy won the Irish Derby in smashing style but was hard-pressed in the King George.Troy got a timeform rank of 137 ahead of Nashwan raeted at 136 or Sir Ivor(46) rated at 135 and The Minstrel rated at 133.Ballymoss won the king George and Arc in the same year and an Irish Derby the earlier year.I think he overshadowed the likes of Swain(62) or Pilsudski(58).Remember he was rated 136 at timeform ,ahead of even Sir Ivor and on par with Crepello.El gran Senor equalled the best performances of Sir Ivor and Nijinsky when winning the Guineas and Vincent O’Brien ranked him in the class of Nijinsky.Few Guineas have been won with such superlative authority.I would have still substituted Troy to The Minstrel(70) ,Ballymoss instead of Mtoto(72) El Gran Senor instead Fantastic Light or Dahlia instead of Shahrastani.(99)
4.Not rated stalwarts like Bayardo(67)rated at 141 ,Hyperion(26) rated 142,Dubai Millenium(36) rated at 140 or Ormonde(51) in the correct place.These stars were on par with or Mill Reef.Dubai Millenium ,on Dubai world cup form was arguably the best ever colt over 10 furlongs while Hyperion as a 3 year old won the Derby and St.Leger as impressively as any race Mill Reef won.Nashwan ,no doubt a superstar was overshadowed in performances by these colts but is still ranked above them.Amazingly Nashwan(21) is rated even above Shergar(32 ) who was convincingly better at his best in the Derby.Personally to me Crepello(59) would edge Nashwan.I even feel Oakley has revealed a bias towards stars of the modern generation like Swain(62),Pilsudski(56) and Fantastic Light(40) in preference to great horses of previous years like Crepello,Bayardo or Generous.Strangely Grundy(41) with a timeform rating of 137 rated below Fantastic Light.Grundy won an Epsom Derby.Irish Derby and King George.Generous rated at 139(r.p.rating of 136) by timeform is again rated below The Minstrel rated 133 by Timeform and 56 places behind Alleged(33) who had a timeform rating of 138.Generous won the King George in 1991 by the then record distance of 7 lengths in addition to both the Derbies and was rated in the class of Mill Reef or Nijinsky by timeform. Arguably Generous was the best flat British middle distance horse of the 1990’s.
5.Tudor Minstrel (22) with a timeform rating of 144 is rated below Nashwan (21) with a rating of 136 and 19 places below Brigadier Gerard who had the same handicap rating.Tudor Minstrel’s brilliance in the 1977 Guineas was the equal of the Brigadier at his best .No doubt Nashwan’s achievements were stupendous but he did not equal Tudor Minstrel’s performances.
comparison of flat racehorses in Racing Post or Timeform ratings with rankings of Oakley on 100 greatest racehorses .In brackets next to the horse’s names are Oakley’s rankings .
Nijinsky11(13)-rated 138,franked to 140 by racing post while Lamtaara (11) rated 134.
Sea Bird 11(4) -rated 145 while Sea the Stars(3) rated 136 by R.P.and 140 by timeform
Dancing Brave(17) -rated at 138 and Mill Reef(8) rated at 141 while Sea the Stars(3) rated with 136 by racing post and 140 by timeform.
Shergar(32) -rated at 140 while Nashwan(21) rated at 136 .
Troy rated 137 not included while Nashwan(21) rated at 136,the Minstrel(70) rated at 133 and Galileo(24) rated at at 132
Crepello(59) -rated 136 behind Galileo(24)with a timeform rating of 132.
Ballymoss -rated 136 by Timeform ,winner of an Irish Derby,,King George and Arc has also been excluded like Troy.
Generous (89)- rated 139 by timeform and r.p.rating of 136 is rated below The Minstrel(70) rated 133 by Timeform and 56 places behind Alleged(33) who had a timeform rating of 138.
Tudor Minstrel (22) with a timeform rating of 144 is rated below Nashwan (21) with a rating of 136 and 19 places below Brigadier Gerard(3) who had the same handicap rating of 144.
Hyperion(26) with a rating of 142 is rated below Nashwan(21) rated at 136 and Galileo(24) rated at 132.
comparison of rankings of chasers amongst 100 best racehorses of Oakley.rankings of horses are in the brackets next to their names.
Monksfield(63) with a timeform rating of 180.is rated far too down .At his best ‘monkey’ was almost the equal of Night Nurse.Monksfield should have atleast been in the top 40.Although justice has been done to Best Mate(16),Istabraq(25) and Flying Bolt(14) I feel Night Nurse (27)has been ranked too low.The timeform rating of Night Nurse of 182 was the highest ever awarded to a hurdler which would have placed just behind with Best Mate who was rated with 182.Similarly Pendil was too good to be placed at 73.Pendil rated at 178 was in the class of the very best and should have been ranked just ahead of Silver Buck(56) and L’Escargot(20).The same was the case of Captain Christy rated at 184 by timeform,if you asses his record.Both Pendil and Captain Christy had more class than L’Escargot who only overshadowed them in the Gold Cup and Grand National.In the King George they were superstars.Infact Mill House(39) with a rating of 187 should have been placed ahead of ‘L’Escargot.In any other era he would have been a superstar.Above all it was a gross error to place the great ‘Desert Orchid’ or ‘Dessie’ who was rated at 187 below even Best Mate.Arguably 2 chasers missed out were Stalbridge Colonist and Master Oats.Stalbridge Colonist had a historic win over Arkle in the Hennesy while Master Oats rated with 178 gave one of the most authoritative displays of superiority ever seen in a Gold Cup.Easter hero rated 190 by timeform was ranked at 44th ,24 places below ‘L’escargot and 28 below Best Mate.To me the author’s criteria was incorrect in placing stalwarts like Monksfield.Easter Hero,Night Nurse,Mill House,Desert Orchid,Captain Christy and Pendil behind ‘L’Escargot.Not underming ‘L’Escargot’s unique achievements of winning 2 gold cups and a national but for sheer class and impact he was surpassed by those stalwarts.
Comparison of timeform handicaps and ratings of horses by Oakley.rankings of horses posted in brackets next to horse’s name.
Monksfield(63) rated with 180 ranked behind Silver Buck(56)
Mill house(39) rated with 187 and Desert Orchid(31) rated with 187 ,ranked below ‘L’Escargot (20) and Best Mate(14) with a rating of 182.Easter Hero (44) with a rating of 190 placed behind all these stars.
Pendil (73) with a rating of 178 and Captain Christy(56) with a rating of 184 placed behind Dawn Run(22)
I congratulate Robin Oakley again for his truly outstanding effort but felt some corrections were necessary.I particularly applaud his selections and ratings of greats like Sir Ivor and Crisp.I complement his rankings of Golden Miller,Mill Reef,Brigadier Gerard,Frankel,Arkle,Sir Ivor,Crisp,Kauto Star,Cottage Rake,Roberto,Rheingold etc.I liked his version on Roberto who at his best was a superstar.I agree that Robin Oakley has explained that he has not just assesed speed but given impact a criteria.I still mantain that Nijinsky made more impact on the public than Laamtaara while Shergar at his peak was more popular than Nashwan.Arguably a bias has been shown to the modern stars who did not neccesarily join the all-time great club.His rankings contradict a lot of the timeform rankings but i do agree that timeform does not always give the accurate picture.I applaud his effort in assesing jumpers against Flat horses .At times I wonder whether jumpers could be compared or ranked with flat racehorses.I feel Oakley could have shown a little more respect to the official handicapping in his assesment and thrown more light on performances over sheer impact.
Quoting Peter Durward Harris :
The author concedes that selecting his top 100 was hard, and putting them in a particular order was also hard. We could argue forever about his selections and the order in which he places them, but it is interesting that while some people have dubbed Frankel as the greatest horse ever, the author rates him third to Arkle and Brigadier Gerard in this book, which is mainly limited to British and Irish horses, but also includes the French-trained Sea Bird, who he lists at number 5.Despite the title, which might suggest that these are the best 100 of all time, the list is dominated by horses from the past half century or so. That said, there are more horses from further back in time than I expected, and they include Trespasser (91), the only horse I’d never heard of prior to buying this book. Trespasser was apparently the best hurdler of his era (the early 1920`s), so he is obviously entitled to consideration for an entry in a book like this. More predictable inclusions from a time that few if any people alive today can remember are Golden Miller (7), Sceptre (9), Bahram (15), Pretty Polly (19), Hyperion (26), Easter Hero(44), Brown Jack (47), Ormonde (51), Bayardo (67), Ard Patrick (69), Mumtaz Mahal (71), Ciminella (73), The Tetrarch (77) and Blue Peter (80). Only one of those horses represents the nineteenth century, that being the 1886 Triple Crown winner Ormonde, and there is no representative of the eighteenth century, but the author has done better than I expected in selecting horses from before his lifetime.
Mill Reef, the horse that aroused my interest in racing, is here at number 8, while Sea the Stars (4), Kauto Star (6) and Red Rum (10) complete the top ten.
American readers will find a few familiar names here, with Nijinsky (13), Pebbles (18), Ouija Board (43), Giant’s Causeway (48), Daylami (65) and Roberto (76) having been successful either in the Breeders’ Cup or at stud. Dayjur (87) is remembered for jumping a shadow in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, which he would otherwise have won. Not quite a Devon Loch moment, but Dayjur made it into this book while Devon Loch didn`t, except for a mention in the piece on Dayjur.
Thanks for taking the trouble to write about this. Opinions will of course always differ. Robin Oakley writes a regular column in The Spectator, nearly always informative and always a pleasure to read(although his racecourse sorties seldom go north of Newmarket).
For my part, the greatest performance by a flat horse in Britain in my lifetime was by Roberto in beating Brigadier Gerard at York, but I doubt too many would agree.The first racing book I ever bought was Julian Wilsons 100 Greatest Racehorses [I wrote inside to ‘to me from myself 5 May, 1989’; a friend then bought me an updated one which included Desert Orchid.I love these sort of books; may have to treat myself again.
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