I feel that the tags "champion", "greatest", immortal" should only be given when the horse or competitor has retired. With hindsight the true picture emerges. As you said Xanadu, they win under any and all conditions, often with massive weight penalties or injuries.

Each year we have champion 3yo, sprinter, horse of the year etc. These titles are bestowed at the end of the year, not part way through and then only for that year. So a horses entire race history must be reviewed before bestowing a "champion" tag. And then only for that horses era.

On northerly, he is a great horse. A good horse can fluke a major win, not successive Cox plates, Australia cups, a caulfield cup plus many other G1 races. I think the recent Sydney carnival performace will prove to be the differance between a great horse and a champion.

A champion does not always win, but only gets beaten by other good or great horses. Also a champion always races to win, which means a trainers etc. race tactics can blur the picture. Of modern horses Sunline stands out in this regard. Yes, yes Northerly got beat by Freemason in the BMW in one hell of a race. But his other race loses?

In conclusion, "champion" is the highest accolade, so very few should be considered and even fewer qualify.

horse cents