What about the Brigadier?

[Himself]

Harsh Thakor,

I said that Nijinsky would have most likely been officially rated the best of all had he won the Arc and retired undefeated.

I wrote that before Frankel arrived on the scene, so I stand by that. However, it does not mean that I, personally, rate him as the greatest middle distance horse – although he is right up there.

If you read through many of my posts, you will find that I consider Sea Bird II to be the top middle distance performer. He had an aura and brilliance about him, allied to such a magnificent and effortless galloping action, that not even such a beautiful animal as Nijinsky could match.

Even so, I do wonder if he could have won a Triple Crown like Vincent O’Brien’s Northern Dancer colt ?

Many great judges have differing views on which horse they consider best of all. Tony Morris ( John Randall’s co-author of that august publication ), for instance, ranks Sea Bird II above all others, and most tellingly, both gentlemen have agreed that he should rank number 1 on their list in the one hundred greatest horses of the (20th) century.

Phil Bull was another who ranked Sea Bird II as the best he had ever seen.
Alex Bird, the well known professional punter, rates Mill Reef at the top of the tree – largely influenced by the amount of money he won backing the little horse, no doubt.

Others of an older generation will say Ribot, whilst others of a younger generation will not toloerate any horse given precedence over Dancing Brave ; equally so with fans of Brigadier Gerard – and of course, our American friends will close their ears and shut their eyes if you dare mention Secretariat in anything other than the glowing terms.

Our own, dear Sir Henry Cecil, will not countenance any colt or filly being placed above Frankel – and why would he ? Yes, we have rankings and ratings, speed figures and statistics, but at the end of the day we all have our own favourites and no amount of arguments and debates, reasonings or reckonings can ever budge us from our intransigent and biased views.

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