osulldj,

Your opinion of Octaganal is interesting. I still get thrilled by his performance in the Warwick Stakes of 1996 when S. Dye set him alight and caught the others "napping" and he kept on giving, to offset the others, which, included, "Juggler."
The very fact that I remember this race, considering that I view in excess of 150 races per week, shows that , in my opinion, this, may have been, "the performance of the decade."
Let's hope that his son achieves the high
standards set by his dad and we can acclaim Lonhro as a "true champion."

Cheers.

My definition of "Champion"

Overcome adversity and bad luck and still be able to WIN.
Beat the very best horses racing in the very best races.
Smash track records and run fast sectionals.
When "out of form" or "unfit" still be able to run a gallant race finishing close to the winner.
When asked to rise in class responds.
Able to win over a wide variety of distances.

Now horses such as Lonhro are very handy, but he is yet to win in the very best races against the very best opposition, each time he has been asked to rise to that level has failed for one reason or another.
There's no doubting he is brilliant without earning the "Champion" tag.

Northerly has fulfilled many of the above criteria, yet has a poor record in Handicaps and recent Sydney form has to cast a shadow.

Again he is brilliant, but not yet a "Champion".

There's no point labelling a horse a Champion of the era - what does that mean?
He is the best racing at the moment because we have nothing better?
Could be, but then does he deserve to be up alongside Phar Lap in history?

Don't think I'm trashing the good horses racing today, and both horses are ************ fantastic, but the debate is over Champions, and we have yet to see anything measure up to the true meaning of the word.

xanadu,

Yes I remember that day well, it was electrifying. I think though without a doubt his best and most memorable moment was when he won the Mercedes classic beating Arkady to break the then prize money record. It was a Big O day with a huge crowd turning up for the moment, people carrying signs, painting their faces cerise, wearing Occy caps etc. The scene was set but Shane Dye got himself in an awkward spot rounding the turn and he looked no hope part way up the straight. He continued to dig deep a got very close but on the line he looked to everyone to have been beaten, even the caller sounded disappointed. When his number went into the frame the crowd just went off, a skywriter drew a massice O in the sky, people were in tears...it was the most emotional moment I have ever seen on a race course. It also helped that I had a fortune on him at 1/1 as well :smile:

I have watched the race replay more than 100 times and I still say he looked beaten on the line but the photo showed his nose in front.

The great billy idol (shane dye) even admitted it wasn't one of his greatest rides....he said "it wasn't me today, it was all the horse".


Just thinking about it gives me goose bumps...Octagonal is one of my favourite ever horses and his framed picture hangs proudly my wall. Despite that he didn't dominate for an extended period of time, it was really only that brilliant season and in the latter stages a couple of weaker G1's including the Mercedes I talk about. For that reason I find it hard to label him a true champion.

My admiration is more of an emotional one for all sorts of reasons...but that's ok....he doesn't need to be a champion for me to admire him in that way.