Dancing Brave downgraded to make Frankel best of all time

BQQ

http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/article/2/8398815/frankel-champion-of-all-time-since-1977

A more legitimate question to ask seems to be 'Why now?' as opposed to 'Why?'. Smith said that the "recalibration process" had been underway for three or four years, but it can't be just me wondering if the completion of this process might have been expedited simply so that Frankel could be crowned as the all-time (had time begun in 1977) champion.

Whether he's the best or not is debatable, but it seems they were hell-bent on giving him the title one way or another.
Marketing and PR seems to be the deciding factor these days.

klairondavis

BQQ wrote: »

http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/news/article/2/8398815/frankel-champion-of-all-time-since-1977



Whether he's the best or not is debatable, but it seems they were hell-bent on giving him the title one way or another.
Marketing and PR seems to be the deciding factor these days.

Phil Smith began a process of looking at Arkle and Flyingbolt's ratings a few years ago. It didn't last long.

Morgans

right or wrong, why it has been done is here

http://www.ifhaonline.org/resources/2012Rankings/WTR2012_RecalibrationPaper.pdf

barney4001

I always considered Brigadier Gerard the best flat horse i ever seen


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_Gerard_(horse)

UrbanSea

Morgans wrote: »

right or wrong, why it has been done is here

http://www.ifhaonline.org/resources/2012Rankings/WTR2012_RecalibrationPaper.pdf

Surprised Danedream got such a low rating of 128, Peintre Celebre is often forgotten about when talking about great horses. Maybe it's because he wasn't owned by Juddmonte or Coolmore, wasn't a hype horse

Morgans

barney4001 wrote: »

I always considered Brigadier Gerard the best flat horse i ever seen


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_Gerard_(horse)

yep. several would have him and Sea Bird II up with the best. This goes back to 1977 though.

eddiezero

I think the OP is fairly accurate in his assessment that this was always going to be heavily biased toward modern day achievers such as Frankel given that many of this committee wouldn't have held their current roles in the late 70s and 80s.

I find it a somewhat tenuous conclusion that horses are more likely to be downgraded on account of 15 handicappers currently ranking the best horses in the world rather than 3 back in 1977. How many of the BHA handicappers comprise this 15 and how likely are they to vote against the head handicapper Phil Smith in their assessment?? Not very I would have said.

A smoke and mirrors technique to highlight how far the current administration has come and how unsophisticated the system was back in the "day". After all how could them lads have come up with such unrealistic ratings for the likes of Arkle & Flyingbolt?? Sure they must have worked it out on the back of an envelope....

So in summary Frankel is the greatest horse and Phil Smith the greatest handicapper.
q.e.d.

mdwexford

Ditch Arkle and the boys and confirm Kauto as the best ever too sure.

Harry Angstrom

I wonder if they'll now fix the anomaly where they rated Old Vic ahead of Nashwan in 1989??