Top 25 American Thoroughbreds (Part I)
The world rankings for American thoroughbred horses include some of the most talented horses in the history of the sport.
Skip Away
Skip Away has been ranked as the 25th American race horse who is the champion of the Hollywood Gold Cup. However, the horse was unable to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes nor the Belmont Stakes – a key to horse racing greatness in America.
Apart from these races, Skip Away has given remarkable performances and has proved his mettle in the sport. Skip Away was just three years old when it won the Woodbine Million, Jockey Gold Club and the Haskell Invitational Stakes. The race horse also managed to win the three-year-old Race Horse of the Year award when he won the aforementioned races.
Skip Away is the only race horse to have run in all the races of the Triple Crown and the Breeder’s Cup since 1984, although he did not win any of these horses. Skip Away’s victory in the Jockey Gold Cup was particularly significant for its breeders and trainers because he held off Cigar in this race. Cigar had a streak of 16 victories to his record that summer before he lost to Skip Away in this race.
In 1997, Skip Away won the Jockey Club Gold Cup for the second time running. It also managed to win the Massachusetts Handicap along with the Breeder’s Cup Classic to his credit. The year 1998 was a very bright year for Skip Away’s athletic career since he was awarded the Eclipse Award for winning the Horse of the Year award. When Skip Away retired, he had to his career a total of 18 wins out of 38 races that he contended in. His earnings were less than just one race horse and that was Cigar.
Alysheba
The race horse which occupies the 24th position on the American thoroughbred rankings is Alysheba, which has been trained by legendary trainer Jack Van Berg. After winning the Kentucky Derby in 1987, this horse did not lose a single race.
The horse went on to win the Triple Crown with a fantastic leg and gave a brilliant performance in the Belmont Stakes to finish in the fourth position. Alysheba won the Super Derby at Louisiana before he was shipped to Hollywood for his meet at the Breeder’s Cup Classic in the same year.
At the age of four, the talented horse race won the three stake races at Santa Anita. These stakes included the Big Cap race against champion race horse Ferdinand. Alysheba retired as one of the richest horses with earnings of about 7 million dollars from 11 wins from the 26 races that he competed.
Round Table
Round Table has been ranked as the 23rd place in all-time American thoroughbred race horses. At the age of just three, this horse has earned more 600,000 dollars. The most significant victory that Round Table won was at the United Nations Handicap at Atlantic City.
In the following year, this race horse won the Santa Anita Handicap and Gulfstream Park Handicap. Despite some of his great victories in the most significant races, it won the Horse of the Year title only once. In total, Round Table has won 43 races out of his 66 starts.
Cigar
The 22nd place is owned by Cigar. This race horse was the best of his time, when practically, there was just one talented thoroughbred in the shape of Holy Bull competing against it. The races won by Cigar include the Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas, Gulfstream Park Handicap in Florida, Hollywood Gold Cup in California, Pimlico Special in Maryland, Woodward at Saratoga Race Course and the Jockey Club Gold at Belmont.
After retiring with earnings of 10 million dollars, Cigar lives at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Azeri
Azeri is listed as the 21st best American thoroughbred race horse. Its biggest achievement was his two consecutive victories at the Apple Blossom Handicap in Arkansas. After recovering from injury at the age of four years, it was this thoroughbred’s first victory.
The last race that Azeri ran was the Breeder’s Cup Classic. At the time of his retirement, Azeri had 17 wins out of the 24 races that he participated in.
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