An Emerging Type of Star
Lava Man and Big Booster, omnisurface stars (Charles Pravata)
What do Monterey Jazz and Panty Raid have in common with Lava Man and Einstein? They’ve also won graded races on all three surfaces! I was a little surprised that the media missed Monterey Jazz joining this elite group when he won the American Handicap, not to mention that Pantry Raid was also on the list. Kevin of Colin’s Ghost noticed Monterey Jazz and o_crunk contributed Panty Raid.
Omnisurface Stars grew out of a twitter conversation in the spring between Kevin, Jessica of Railbird/Raceday 360 and myself when we were trying to think of other horses that have performed well on all three surfaces after Einstein won the Santa Anita Handicap. As it turns out there are quite a few that span the range of class.
While Parading could join the ranks of the the all graded winners ranks with a graded win on dirt, local stakes and allowance heroes Bold Chieftain, Proceed Bee, Fort Prado, Absoulute Heaven, Storm Treasure and Taletobetold all have won on all three surfaces. Other graded stakes winners who have won on all 3 but not in graded company include Big Booster, Christmas Kid, Court Vision, Dearest Trickski, Delightful Kiss, Parading and Zappa.
We’re also tracking those who have won on 2 of the 3 surfaces and have been in the money (ITM) on the 3rd surface. Forever Together, Molengao and Stream Cat belong to the all graded stakes club in the category. Awesome Gem, Booyah, Giant Oak, Nownownow, Santa Teresita, Sealy Hill, Slew’s Tizzy and Student Council all fall into this group but not at the all graded level.
These horses are not alone in their achievement and over time we hope to record them all. If you know of any or come across any horses not on the list while looking over a past performance (which is how we complied the data), please let us know! We have a contact form at the site that you can use.
As time goes on we’ll upgrade the site, perhaps adding separate docs to list dam, sire and damsire, although for now every horse name links to their Pedigree Query page.
In the meantime, we hope the project will shed light on this emerging achievement. And hey, as Swifty pointed out to me, it could even be a useful marketing angle to tennis fans!
Posted by dana on Jul 13 2009
Filed Under: Impressive, 2009, Giant Oak, Omnisurface Stars, Einstein, Internet, Lava Man, Inspirational, Charles Pravata, Racing
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In tennis it is called the “Career Grand Slam”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(tennis)#Career_Grand_Slam
Even more impressive is the Calendar Year Grand Slam, when you win all four tournaments (three surfaces) in one year.
Also impressive is the Career Golden Slam, in which you win all four tournaments and the Olympics Gold Medal in your career.
And most impressive is the Calendar Year Golden Slam, which has only been accomplished by one person: Steffi Graf in 1988.
So, some notable tennis names like Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Sampras never achieved any of these. There is a case to be made in horse racing that a horse like Panty Raid has accomplished more than Secretariat. Now, I, personally, would never say that, of course…but a debate could rage.
Trackback: - Notes for 2009-07-13
I wrote about the tennis/racing parallels last fall…interesting that in tennis, the expectation is that to achieve true greatness, one must succeed on all surfaces. In racing, we are far more content for athletes to be specialists, and in fact design our championships around the distinctions, encouraging that specialization.
I’m so grumpy when it comes to polytrack, I so dislike it—yet of course I admire Einstein and the others for their versatility. I’m leaving now before the crankiness kicks in—NOT the fault of the horses!
Swifty - I love that curling has a grand slam as well… and those are some excellent distinctions (calendar year golden slam? really?).
T- I don’t mind the specialist part but think that we should also recognize those that can perform across surfaces.
E - it’s good to know your limits.
I question this bold proclamation at the very top of the page:
Regardless of what you think about the various surfaces, they’re here to stay.
___________
When racetracks show 10%, 15%, 20% reductions in handle from meet to meet,and year to year they can easily start to reverse course. They can and they will.
They will if they have the funds to modernize their main tracks. They’re simply not going to stay in business
if they do not attend to the needs of the wagering public.
Steven Crist believes these will synthetics will be ripped out
in a few years, and I have no reason to disagree with him.
There will be a few training tracks or winter-tracks racing with them but certainly this mistake is not being proliferated at the major league level of thoroughbred racing. We shall come back to this post in about three years. Stay healthy. ;-)
Beyond the general need to nitpick, I’m not sure of your point… particularly since by time that happens, IF it does (and that’s a mighty big if, particularly at every track that has a synthetic main track), the copy on that page will have changed several times and probably not have the proclamation as it currently exists.
Funny aside, when I wrote that sentence I paused and thought about phrasing it as “they’re here, at least for now” but then continued with the current “here to stay” because I really didn’t think anyone would nitpick it… thanks for proving me wrong?
And I would sort of like to believe that would happen, but think it’s highly unlikely to happen everywhere. Perhaps in the next few years some tracks might revert, but all of them? I’ll wait and see. In the meantime, I think the project is worthwhile and useful.
I would be very curious to see Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra on the turf - we know they can both handle Polytrack (ahem), so what if they met up on a ‘neutral’ surface?
Personally, I’m very excited by horses who can handle multiple surfaces - let’s breed more of those!
Not exactly nit-picking but just looking to get an “ice-breaker” into the discussion.
The game is constantly evolving.
And ten years ago we would not have dreamed of seeing tracks waste $80 to $100 million on untested surfaces from coast to coasts.
Any change back (moving forward)
would require analysis of risk versus reward in the current economic climate. Those who are bold will reap the benefits.
It should be interesting to bookmark this
and come back for an analysis in the year 2013.
SF - That would be interesting and no doubt re: breeding. Kevin immediately suggesting also adding dam, sire and damsire but the spreadsheet is already pretty big. We’ll definitely be adding that info in at some point!
TKS - I thought you might be trying to activate a discussion :)
Yes, I’m always trying to stir that pot a little bit.
In my own inimitable way. LOL
As Ernie said: “It’s not the horse’s fault”.
The fact remains are we ever going to address the issue
of the fragility of the breed ?
Are we going to breed and race a better thoroughbred?
The kind that graced the tracks in the 70’s and early 80’s?