My goodness. Songbird is just flat out a joy to watch. Such a shame they won't run her with the boys - I think she's absolutely the best 3 y.o. in the country.
I rather see her shipped back west to take on Beholder and Enola Gray, she needs to face the best of the older fillies and mares first before taking on the boys.
+keithlamontbraggs I think I'd rather have seen her in the Haskell. But at the same time, I'd also like to see her in the Pacific Classic. That may a bit extreme (with Chrome, Beholder, and Dortmund), but I honestly think she has the goods to handle the boys and older horses like her sister did.
+TC20131020 Don't misunderstand for a second, Zenyatta was a GREAT horse. But her style just doesn't match up fillies like Ruffian, Rachel, and Songbird. She'd spot them too much space and just never be able to catch them.
yes i noticed that and thats why i bet bird song..how can ya not bet bird song with songbird running same track and day..coicidence was too strong for me not to bet
Here's a link to the results chart of the 2016 CCAO from Equibase, on pdf file... www.equibase.com/premium/eqbPDFChart.cfm?tid=SAR&dt=07/24/2016&ctry=USA&day=D&STYLE=SAR&RACE=10&BorP=B And this is a link to Songbird's and the rest of the field's past performances prior to the Coaching Club American Oaks today. Scroll down to July 24th, "Carina Mia", "Saratoga - Race 10". Then click on "Ultimate PPs". This should bring up the PPs for the 2016 CCAO (for all 5 of the entries). Again, it's on pdf file. Past Performances are from Brisnet. www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/briswatch.cgi/public/SpendThrift/MALIBU+MOON/1997/summary.html
To my knowledge - Songbird is ALREADY the 4th best filly or mare in US history - only Ruffian, Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra where rated higher.. though you can bet before she's finished, she'll be strongly compared with Ruffian - and be ranked higher than Zenyattta and Rachel - she's a freak - and to me, she's the filly version of AP! XD
***** You greatly underestimate her ability. She's Timeform 130 .. Chrome is 132.. Beholder 131.. Dortmund 127+ .. She'd have a weight allowance, which means she's the one to beat (assuming she wants 10f, which I think she does). Frosted's been a revelation this season but he hasn't faced anything like Songbird (in 2016).
4th all time?...Lmaoooooo...shes not even in the top 10 yet...her times of her races are soooo SLOWWWWW...she has faced terrible fields..NEVER faced males yet...Beholder past her prime beat Songbird..Beholder was a much much much better horse..Beholder in her prime would have jogged past Songbird in this race and won by over 5 lengths..please stop posting nonsense
Terrific Troll 5 lengths!? and you're telling me I post nonsense! Songbird had a long campaign in 2016, Beholder came out later and took a while to hit top gear.. there's little between them on ratings and I still believe she's one of best we've seen.. She'll slammmm all comers in 2017! XD
She was tested and emerged victorious pulling away, but not against an elite field. In my opinion, it's still way too early to pit her against the boys. She would not beat an elite male field in my opinion. Not yet. And now you have Enola Gray improving with three impressive wins at short and long distances. Makes for an interesting 3 yr old 2016 final 5 months.
She was going pretty easy at the end after rejecting a talented filly and drawing off by 5+ lengths. I did notice, however, that her time was nearly 3 seconds off the track record.
+TC20131020 : the track was probably deep ; that's why the time was not faster. The jockey did ease her near the finish. She did prove that when challenged, she is very game. But not against an elite field. Let's wait and see. But she and Enola Gray make for an interesting filly late season. Right now if there was a match race between the two at 7F or less, I would chise Enola Gray; but longer than 7F, Songbird would be my choice.
As a teen during the 1970s I worked in the stables at Belmont Racetrack and was lucky enough to be around horses like the one-and-only Ruffian and Forego, and also many famous trainers and jockeys. Although there were three Triple Crown winners in the 1970s (Secretariat '73, Seattle Slew '77, and Affirmed '78) I, unfortunately, wasn't around there for any of them. (I worked from '74 to '76). However, I did get to meet Secretariat's groom, nicknamed "Shorty". A good friend of my worked for Secretariat's trainer's son, Roger Lauren. Secretariat was of course trained by Lucien Lauren. Anyway, Ruffian would pass by our barn in the mornings when she went to work out. One morning I got the courage up (as a 16-year-old goofy teenager) to go into her barn and ask her trainer, Frank Whitely, if I could see her. Not knowing then of his "slightly bent" but wonderful sense of humor, he played with me at first, replying with something like, "Boy, why do you want to see that horse?" Feeling nervous and a bit ashamed I was about to walk away. Just then he said OK and happily walked me over to her stall. There she was, the one-and-only legendary Ruffian with her name boldly engraved on the brass name plate attached to her dark brown leather halter. Ruffian, with little doubt, was the greatest filly of all time, tying or breaking a stake record in many of her starts. She would always lead from the break and steadily widen her lead through the race, pulling away by big margins at the end. She won her first race by a whopping 15 lengths, I believe tying or breaking the track record for 5-1/2 furlongs. I also got to meet her jockey Jacinto Vasquez. He used to sometimes work out horses for the trainer I worked for at the time. I never asked him any questions about Ruffian.
That's a wonderful story, TC, I wish I could've met Ruffian as well, must have been a pleasure. Would you compare Songbird to Ruffian, since you've been around long enough to witness both, or are those silly comparisons?
Hmmmmm. Ok. one main competition and the other 3 were totally hopeless Longshot in this 5 horse field. Controlling speed on a speed favoring, inside bias with a very small field. it is 100% the truth.
you have to be very stupid...saratoga is the opposite of a speed favoring track..and yesterday was not speed biased either...songbird is a great horse..enjoy her while she lasts
