March Madness - Derby Style
Check out March into May, a 64 horse bracket pitting past Derby winners against one another. The four regionals are 1981-2008, 1951-1980, 1921-1950, and 1875-1920. The number #1 seeds are Alysheba, Secretariat, Citation, and Exterminator. Winners of each head-to-head matchup are determined by fan voting.
Some thoughts on the brackets
The 1951-1980 regional is the toughest. The top four seeds are all legitimate final four horses - #1 Secretariat, #2 Seattle Slew, #3 Affirmed, #4 Spectacular Bid. They rank #2, #9, #12, and #10 in the Bloodhorse's list of the Top 100 Thoroughbreds of the 20th century. 1921-1950 is not far behind and is very deep - there are seven triple crown winners in this regional.
Breaking down the bracket by the Bloodhorse's list
1987-2008: 3
#1 Alysheba (42), #2 Sunday Silence (31), #3 Silver Charm (63)
1951-1980: 10
#1 Secretariat (2), #2 Seattle Slew (9), #3 Affirmed (12), #4 Spectacular Bid (10), #5 Swaps (20), #6 Northern Dancer (43), #7 Majestic Prince (46), #8 Riva Ridge (57), #9 Carry Back (83), #11 Genuine Risk (91)
1921-1950: 10
#1 Citation (3), #2 War Admiral (13), #3 Count Fleet (5), #4 Whirlaway (26), #5 Assault (33), #6 Gallant Fox (28), #7 Twenty Grand (52), #8 Omaha (61), #9 Zev (56), #14 Johnstown (73)
1875-1920: 4
#1 Exterminator (29), #2 Regret (71), #3 Sir Barton (49) , #4 Old Rosebud (88)
A stunning omission - Foolish Pleasure, #97 on the Bloodhorse list, was left out of the field of 64. Wow. He'll clean up in the NIT against the likes of Giacomo, Kauai King, Grindstone, Hoop Jr, George Smith, and Spokane.
Some upsets in the making
#12 Smarty Jones leads #5 Ferdinand 56% - 44% (I agree)
#12 Aristides leads #5 Hindoo 51% - 49% (I disagree)
#11 Apollo leads #6 Ben Ali 58% - 42% (I disagree)
#10 Ben Brush leads #7 Leonatus 69% - 31% (I agree)
#9 Real Quiet leads #8 Charismatic 60% - 40% (I agree)
My elite eight would be Alysheba v Sunday Silence, Secretariat v Affirmed, Citation v Count Fleet, and Exterminator v Sir Barton. My final four would be all the #1 seeds. In the championship, I would match Big Red v Old Bones. I suspect that Secretariat will win but I doubt that Exterminator will even make it out of his regional. In ranking the greatest horses he'd ever seen, racing columnist David Alexander put Old Bones second behind Kelso and ahead of Man o'War and Citation. Exterminator won 50 of 100 races lifetime including 41 stakes races. The filly Regret or the first Triple Crown winner Sir Barton will attract votes from those who have forgotten or never learned about arguably the greatest the horse of the first half of the 20th century.
Some thoughts on the brackets
The 1951-1980 regional is the toughest. The top four seeds are all legitimate final four horses - #1 Secretariat, #2 Seattle Slew, #3 Affirmed, #4 Spectacular Bid. They rank #2, #9, #12, and #10 in the Bloodhorse's list of the Top 100 Thoroughbreds of the 20th century. 1921-1950 is not far behind and is very deep - there are seven triple crown winners in this regional.
Breaking down the bracket by the Bloodhorse's list
1987-2008: 3
#1 Alysheba (42), #2 Sunday Silence (31), #3 Silver Charm (63)
1951-1980: 10
#1 Secretariat (2), #2 Seattle Slew (9), #3 Affirmed (12), #4 Spectacular Bid (10), #5 Swaps (20), #6 Northern Dancer (43), #7 Majestic Prince (46), #8 Riva Ridge (57), #9 Carry Back (83), #11 Genuine Risk (91)
1921-1950: 10
#1 Citation (3), #2 War Admiral (13), #3 Count Fleet (5), #4 Whirlaway (26), #5 Assault (33), #6 Gallant Fox (28), #7 Twenty Grand (52), #8 Omaha (61), #9 Zev (56), #14 Johnstown (73)
1875-1920: 4
#1 Exterminator (29), #2 Regret (71), #3 Sir Barton (49) , #4 Old Rosebud (88)
A stunning omission - Foolish Pleasure, #97 on the Bloodhorse list, was left out of the field of 64. Wow. He'll clean up in the NIT against the likes of Giacomo, Kauai King, Grindstone, Hoop Jr, George Smith, and Spokane.
Some upsets in the making
#12 Smarty Jones leads #5 Ferdinand 56% - 44% (I agree)
#12 Aristides leads #5 Hindoo 51% - 49% (I disagree)
#11 Apollo leads #6 Ben Ali 58% - 42% (I disagree)
#10 Ben Brush leads #7 Leonatus 69% - 31% (I agree)
#9 Real Quiet leads #8 Charismatic 60% - 40% (I agree)
My elite eight would be Alysheba v Sunday Silence, Secretariat v Affirmed, Citation v Count Fleet, and Exterminator v Sir Barton. My final four would be all the #1 seeds. In the championship, I would match Big Red v Old Bones. I suspect that Secretariat will win but I doubt that Exterminator will even make it out of his regional. In ranking the greatest horses he'd ever seen, racing columnist David Alexander put Old Bones second behind Kelso and ahead of Man o'War and Citation. Exterminator won 50 of 100 races lifetime including 41 stakes races. The filly Regret or the first Triple Crown winner Sir Barton will attract votes from those who have forgotten or never learned about arguably the greatest the horse of the first half of the 20th century.
I can't believe Smarty Jones only was seeded 12th in his bracket. Shouldn't more consideration be given to how the horse was vs. his peers at the time of his Derby? Off the top of my head the only Derby winners in this bracket I would have placed ahead of him--based on how they seemed right after their Derby wins--would have been Big Brown, Barbaro, Sunday Silence and Fusaichi Pegasus. Again, I am thinking how they were at that point in their career vs. their own peers.
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It makes a big difference. The brackets rank horses based on their careers.
Here are three examples -
Alysheba was eligible for an N1X allowance before he won the Kentucky Derby.
Ferdinand's Derby win appeared to be a fluke thanks to favorite Snow Chief getting caught up in the vicious early fractions set by future sprint champion Groovy. Snow Chief came back to win the Preakness convincingly and was named champion 3yo.
Exterminator was a 30-1 longshot that was purchased to be a workout partner for 2yo champion Sun Beau.
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