Tommy Smith said:
Greatest horse of our time, but not as good as Phar Lap. Big Red won 37 of his last 41 races, including North Americas biggest race which was on dirt and in the heat of Mexico shortly after a long boat trip, now THATS a horse. Ive seen footage of the race and he toyed with Americas best on a surface he'd never raced on.
37 wins by the age of 5 until the Americans posioned him, whereas the Diva won 15 races by the age of 7.
No doubt the Diva will go down in history, but i just hate how people want to gloss over history by calling her the greatest Australasian horse of all-time.
Agreed, the melbourne cup....because it is so hyped is extremely overated. She wasn't handicapped enough IMO, Phar Lap was at 68kg after only winning one cup. Diva would not have been close carrying that sort of weight. And yes, the track was doctored for her. Weight for age is always the true indicator IMO and although she has proven herself in that too, she has nowhere near the record of some horses.
Measure a horse on it's group one wins, not just the Melbourne cup. Phar Lap and Kingston Town were our best ever and probally will never be surpassed....incredible records up near 80%. Phenomenal to say the least.
Don't get me wrong, she can lay claim to been the greatest stayer in history and she is a true champion, up there with Sunline as the greatest Mare in Aussie history but i feel alot of people got caught up in the hype.
Study Phar Laps or Kingston Towns careers, you'll soon realise why it is ridicolous to rate her higher then those two. Or even watch the Phar Lap movie that has been recently released on DVD.
Btw, Phar Lap in his carrying say 5 kgs more then the diva would have beaten her in all three melbourne cups.
