I CAN see the point of comparing horses - it enables us to hypothesise how our current hero would've gone when matched against our earlier ones.

Interesting to see Crash bring up the Might and Power vs Makybe Diva debate, and he's spot on - as I mentioned in another thread, she would not have kept up with him. Don't let your emotion get you carried away, and realise the truth:

Makybe Diva would not have kept up with Might And Power.

Not that it's a disgrace, greater than 99.99% of the horse's to ever win races wouldn't have kept up with him.

Just the way it is. He's the best horse of the last 25 years at least, her included. For those who'll dispute, before you do, line up how many Group 1 fields she beat by more than 3 lengths, and line up how many he did, and who he beat, then tell me she'd have kept up with him.

Well if we are going to compare for comparing's sake, then I would go by times, not lengths. 3 lengths in front of a field of 20 means nothing if such and such other horse did it by one length but 3 or 4 seconds quicker. That says more about the lack of quality of the horses behind the 3 length winner than it does about their own ability.

Also, if we are going to compare Makybe with Phar Lap, then it bears mentioning, unlike Phar Lap, Makybe's heart is of a normal size.

Funny how she came 4th in her first start in a maiden at Benalla. Makes you wonder next time you go to one of those country meetings that maybe you are witnessing the start of another wonderful career. No one would have believed that day that she would be as good as she is.

I think you'll find that the forecast for Cup day was for finer hotter conditions than the other 2 days.

u tell em sportz

I never said Might and Power was a better horse than the Diva, I was just getting the Diva's group record in perspective, I will say though she has been a very LUCKY horse with very little comp. in most of her races. She never had a Sunline [or any other greats] to compete against and Might and Power was retiring when the Diva kicked off her career.

Sunline had 45 starts: 31.9.2
23 Group wins and 13 of them were Group 1's Makes the Diva look a bit ordinary dosn't it. Apart from all the hype about the Melb. Cup, as a race it's very ordinary.

There was 3mm of unexpected rain that added to the watering for Cup day, so it was just that little bit wetter than what was aimed for.

Hi Bordi,

I think mention was made here earlier about the only trainers complaining had horses finishing 15th or worse. That is not true. The connections Of Excellent were far from happy and it ran third...in other words they felt that it was a genuine contender on a firm track, and who am I to dispute that?

There is no denying that the track was overly watered. It is the aim of racing clubs to provide a Good track for race day... not Dead or worse.. when you have trainers complaining well before race day, you know something is up..

Look, I think it was fantastic that Makybe Dive won. I also think its pretty awesome to see a horse win at 1400m, the Cox Plate and the Melb Cup in the same campaign.

Crash makes a great case about Might and Power and Sunline...

It's just so hard to compare horses..., times and winning margins included...in my opinion.

As they say "racing is the winner".



..

w924... i think you will find i also mentioned that it cant have been that wet for xellent to finish 3rd. his cox plate run was more then evident that he cannot compete with a soft track, hence why the track must have been far from soft. i also mentioned that for a GOOD track to be rated for the day, and with those whther forecasts, it is racing policy that the track be rated dead or soft on 6am of the racing morning.

ppl arnt paying attention to policy... if only you read abit more you would understand as it was all stated by the racing manager. he stated that for the last 4 years a policy has been put in place to provide the safest racing track they can. this means with a 32 degree day forecasted that the track MUST be dead or soft at 6am.....

and for someone to say that makybe has only won 7 group 1s and that it is not as special as might and power needs to get his head checked. we are not talking easy group ones, we are talking 3 MELB CUPS..... fields of vinnie oe and elvis, 1 COX PLATE.... oen of the toughest fields we have seen in modern times, 1 SYD CUP, 1 AUS CUP..... against elvis, 1 BMW..... against grand armee...... all against decent competition.

ohhhhh and one more thing... how can ppl say it was favourtism to the great mare when they gave her 58KGS.... it was a weight carryng record, which speaks for itself. this is why it makes these cup wins so special. she won them in a handicapped event.

Crash you are right - Sunline was a better WFA mare, esp at the Valley. If a peaking Sunline were in last weeks Cox Plate she'd have won.

As for the Melb Cup's, they weren't that strong.

She's a champion, but lets not go over the top. She reserved her best for 3200m, not 2000.