I think Nijinsky's only defeat was in the Arc de Triomphe, and in my opinion Piggott left it abit late to make his challenge on Sassafras, but what a tussle, right to the post !!
@timpinn...I was new to horseracing and thought I'd invest on the Brigadier each way in that race against Mill Reef and My Swallow. Boy, you should have seen the faces of the smart guys who backed Mill Reef !! I couldn't live it down over the years since; but sadly most of my mates have passed on. J Mercer rode the Brig and Geoff Lewis, Mill Reef.
He won the King George and broke the track record Over 12f ! Great horses in their day all of them. Stats will always show that when Mill Reef took on the Brigadier, there was only one outcome. History shows Brig 1 Mill Reef nil !
Nice to look back, however none of those would have got near the Brigadier who in my opinion was the greatest of them all. Just a shame he was not entered for the Derby.
@timpinn superb though the Brigadier was he was never at his imperious best over 10 to 12 furlongs. He was essentially a miler whose sheer depth of class got him home over longer. Both Nijinski and Mill Reef would have beaten him comfortably over 12 furlongs whereas neither would get a blow in at less than 10.
Just watch nijinskys dewhurst win to see how good he was.That he was so highly strung makes its even more remarkable that he did so much.Still the best derby winner in my eyes and the beating he gave blakeney was just awesome.All about opinions fo course but those who saw nujinsky knew they saw one of the best ever.
Although Piggott never rode Sea Bird, he finished second to him in the 1965 Derby on Meadow Court, he did rate Sea Bird as one of the greatest racehorses he had ever seen and superior to both Sir Ivor and Nijinsky.
i believe all the horses you have named are legends in the own right but nijinsky won over 1mile 1mile and half and mile 6f the last horse to do the triple crown afterthe st leger win the horse had ringworm and lost alot of weight and just got beat in the arc sea the stars did not run in the st leger and i dont think it would get 1mile 6f nijinsky was my vote for the best paul1965
Read Phil Bull or listen to Jim McGrath of Timeform and take on board their views on race times. Although important they are no the main factor. Sea Bird ran races against other horses. He won ALL of his 3 year old races without coming off the bit - agaimst classic and group 1 horses. Glennon said he still had gears left that remained unused - such was his brilliance.
Shergar dawdled to victory in a very slow time. One the slowest Derby times in 100 years. Did that make him a bad horse? No !
How good a year was 1970 ? I don't ask that in order to be controversial. A great horse can't control what opposition it faces. What about Shergar and his Derby win ? That's one of the great Epsom spectacles : how good was he, before he was abducted ?
Here we go again. Dancing Brave would have been too fast blah blah blah. No he would not. Where Dancing Brave had to be cajoled and bustled along before hitting top gear, Nijinsky could stroll along regardless of pace and then quicken immediately when asked. Gyr ( son of Sea Bird ), who was trained in France and finished runner - up here, was highly regarded by his trainer, Etienne Pollet, who delayed his retirement because of the horse's potential. Nijinsky thrashed him out of sight.
It's not how quickly a horse can produce his turn of foot but the turn of foot he can produce. Ridden properly Dancing Brave would have beaten Nijinsky, much as I love Nijinsky from the footage I've seen. This is one of my favourite Derbys. I love to see horses win in this way. But you are too dismissive of Dancing Brave. It doesn't matter how long a horse takes to hit its highest gear - it's how fast he actually goes when he hits it. Dancing Brave was faster then Nijinsky at full pelt.
"Here we go again" - you're so arrogant, Mr.PapaBill. The top speed is what you ought to be looking at. Dancing Brave only took a few strides to hit it anyway so I don't really know where you're coming from. If Dancing Brave's top speed was faster than Sea Bird's and both had been ridden intelligently (i.e. with these facts in mind by a decent jockey) then Dancing Brave would have won. you make it sound as if DB needed an eternity to get going. Even if that's so, you start your run earlier ...
Nijinsky looks SO good in this race. But when you watch the way that Dancing Brave eats up the turf when brought from the impossible position which Starkey had managed to get him into you can only draw the conclusion that Dancing Brave would have been too fast for Nijinsky. Nijinsky's other victories were impressive but not truly emphatic. In the KG Blakeney was a good match for him.
But could Dancing Brave have won at 12f if he'd laid up with the pace in 3rd or 4th? I'm not saying he couldn't, but his Arc win was that of a 10f horse switched off at the back whereas he got to the front far too soon in the King George and didn't really show his best form that day. The 86 race couldn't have been set up better for him. If he'd been in a 'poorer' Arc, run with rogue pacemakers and odd sectional timings, I'm not sure he would have won!
Horses are not machines. You can't just look at a horse and say "he didn't stay". Dancing Brave stayed and stayed but he was relaxed until asked to go. We can't be sure that he wouldn't have got 14f - tell me that's preposterous and explain your conclusion ! He was a great horse and the mark of a great horse is that it can win over almost any distance - sprint, middle distance, long distance. DB was only tried over 8-12f, and didn't fail. Nijinsky was a remarkable horse, though, that's for sure.
It's a moot point whether Dancing Brave was really a 10f horse. Eddery complained after the KG that no-one had told him that DB tended to idle when he hit the front. He brought him a tad too early in that race - but it was still spectacular how he surged clear of everything except the perennially unlucky Shardari. But that says nothing about DB's staying ability. He was a relaxed horse until spurred into action. I think he would have won the Leger too. Nijinsky was the last one to do it.
DB was ridden much closer to the pace over 8-10f but was always dropped out Spencer style over 12f. Being more handy would have been fine imo providing he only hit the front 1f out or later. As he broke the course record in the Arc staying the trip clearly wasn't a problem. However, if the race had been run a little slower it could well have been the Derby all over again.
These old Epsom Derbys always look much more impressive somehow - "epic" you might say. The crowds may still be very good today but they certainly knew how to create a kerfuffle back in the '70s. The two greatest sights in horse racing : the runners entering the long final straight in the Derby, with the open-top buses and the rising excitement, and the final straight in the Grand National. These poor horses - they're the real heroes !
Nijinsky was very good on his day, but very temperamental. Irish jockey,Liam Ward, rode Nijinsky six times and won all. Lester rode him seven times and lost two. Piggott said Sir Ivor was tougher than Nijinsky but less brilliant. He did say that both Sea Bird II and Mill Reef were superior to Nijinsky over a mile and a half.
Probably the greatest Derby winner, nay, racehorse ever. Never off the bridle the entire race and no other horse could live with his devastating acceleration. Such a beautifully built animal, perfectly balanced with power to spare. There will probably never be another triple crown winner because owners and trainers have no regard for the St. Leger anymore. It's too long for today's horses. Nijinsky's record will stand forever.
greaT comment totally agree with your comments what horse will ever do the triple crown again ringworm was the only thing that stopped him winning the arc piggott said in his book he lost so much weight but he only just got beat by saffras what a horse
A great horse and a great race. Coming down the straight, he looked the least likely of the four, but suddenly turned it up and came right through them. Great run. Great horse. Thanks for putting this up.
Nijinskys trademark was his turn of foot, pity Lester (as he admitted himself) gave him a not so good ride in the "Arc" and O'Brien admitted running him too soon in the Champion, otherwise he would have retired unbeaten, but a truly great horse nonetheless,
Fantastic turn of foot. I love to see races won in this way.
PS - Why can't the new technology reproduce old footage in better quality ? It seems a bit of a ludicrous contradiction to me. The pictures were perfectly clear at the time, so why aren't they now ?
I m p r e s s i v e
legapelo 1 week ago
I love Nijinsky!!!!!!! The best Horse for me!!!
Amado2009able 3 months ago
black caviars great grandfather!
EllenD159 4 months ago
I think Nijinsky's only defeat was in the Arc de Triomphe, and in my opinion Piggott left it abit late to make his challenge on Sassafras, but what a tussle, right to the post !!
macvatu 4 months ago
@timpinn...I was new to horseracing and thought I'd invest on the Brigadier each way in that race against Mill Reef and My Swallow. Boy, you should have seen the faces of the smart guys who backed Mill Reef !! I couldn't live it down over the years since; but sadly most of my mates have passed on. J Mercer rode the Brig and Geoff Lewis, Mill Reef.
macvatu 4 months ago
He won the King George and broke the track record Over 12f ! Great horses in their day all of them. Stats will always show that when Mill Reef took on the Brigadier, there was only one outcome. History shows Brig 1 Mill Reef nil !
timpinn 4 months ago
Nice to look back, however none of those would have got near the Brigadier who in my opinion was the greatest of them all. Just a shame he was not entered for the Derby.
timpinn 6 months ago
@timpinn superb though the Brigadier was he was never at his imperious best over 10 to 12 furlongs. He was essentially a miler whose sheer depth of class got him home over longer. Both Nijinski and Mill Reef would have beaten him comfortably over 12 furlongs whereas neither would get a blow in at less than 10.
tigerarmyrule 4 months ago
I am old enough to remember nijinsky,mill reef,sir ivor,but none of them would beat sea the stars .He was brilliant with a street fighters attitude.
jim582011 6 months ago
I am old enough to remember nijinsky,mill reef,sir ivor,but none of them would beat sea the stars .He was brilliant with a street fighters attitude
jim582011 6 months ago
@jim582011 disagree nijinsky would have beaten sea the stars easy
ricknblack 4 months ago
What a wonderful Derby and as for Nijinsky, this was the greatest of them all!!
Highlander542 7 months ago
The greatest!
johlufc 1 year ago
i own his granddaughter 15hh tb, poppy! she's really calm compared to him!
blondehorselover101 1 year ago
Nijinsky the greatest racehorse since Sea Bird, End of story!
ASupremeOwl 1 year ago
Just watch nijinskys dewhurst win to see how good he was.That he was so highly strung makes its even more remarkable that he did so much.Still the best derby winner in my eyes and the beating he gave blakeney was just awesome.All about opinions fo course but those who saw nujinsky knew they saw one of the best ever.
mjraffe 1 year ago
Although Piggott never rode Sea Bird, he finished second to him in the 1965 Derby on Meadow Court, he did rate Sea Bird as one of the greatest racehorses he had ever seen and superior to both Sir Ivor and Nijinsky.
tarqogan 2 years ago
i believe all the horses you have named are legends in the own right but nijinsky won over 1mile 1mile and half and mile 6f the last horse to do the triple crown afterthe st leger win the horse had ringworm and lost alot of weight and just got beat in the arc sea the stars did not run in the st leger and i dont think it would get 1mile 6f nijinsky was my vote for the best paul1965
kidxstream 2 years ago
Sea The Stars??
Wyncy422 2 years ago
Read Phil Bull or listen to Jim McGrath of Timeform and take on board their views on race times. Although important they are no the main factor. Sea Bird ran races against other horses. He won ALL of his 3 year old races without coming off the bit - agaimst classic and group 1 horses. Glennon said he still had gears left that remained unused - such was his brilliance.
Shergar dawdled to victory in a very slow time. One the slowest Derby times in 100 years. Did that make him a bad horse? No !
MrPapaBill 2 years ago
How good a year was 1970 ? I don't ask that in order to be controversial. A great horse can't control what opposition it faces. What about Shergar and his Derby win ? That's one of the great Epsom spectacles : how good was he, before he was abducted ?
zarakhast 2 years ago
Here we go again. Dancing Brave would have been too fast blah blah blah. No he would not. Where Dancing Brave had to be cajoled and bustled along before hitting top gear, Nijinsky could stroll along regardless of pace and then quicken immediately when asked. Gyr ( son of Sea Bird ), who was trained in France and finished runner - up here, was highly regarded by his trainer, Etienne Pollet, who delayed his retirement because of the horse's potential. Nijinsky thrashed him out of sight.
MrPapaBill 2 years ago
It's not how quickly a horse can produce his turn of foot but the turn of foot he can produce. Ridden properly Dancing Brave would have beaten Nijinsky, much as I love Nijinsky from the footage I've seen. This is one of my favourite Derbys. I love to see horses win in this way. But you are too dismissive of Dancing Brave. It doesn't matter how long a horse takes to hit its highest gear - it's how fast he actually goes when he hits it. Dancing Brave was faster then Nijinsky at full pelt.
zarakhast 2 years ago
"Here we go again" - you're so arrogant, Mr.PapaBill. The top speed is what you ought to be looking at. Dancing Brave only took a few strides to hit it anyway so I don't really know where you're coming from. If Dancing Brave's top speed was faster than Sea Bird's and both had been ridden intelligently (i.e. with these facts in mind by a decent jockey) then Dancing Brave would have won. you make it sound as if DB needed an eternity to get going. Even if that's so, you start your run earlier ...
zarakhast 2 years ago
Nijinsky looks SO good in this race. But when you watch the way that Dancing Brave eats up the turf when brought from the impossible position which Starkey had managed to get him into you can only draw the conclusion that Dancing Brave would have been too fast for Nijinsky. Nijinsky's other victories were impressive but not truly emphatic. In the KG Blakeney was a good match for him.
zarakhast 2 years ago
But could Dancing Brave have won at 12f if he'd laid up with the pace in 3rd or 4th? I'm not saying he couldn't, but his Arc win was that of a 10f horse switched off at the back whereas he got to the front far too soon in the King George and didn't really show his best form that day. The 86 race couldn't have been set up better for him. If he'd been in a 'poorer' Arc, run with rogue pacemakers and odd sectional timings, I'm not sure he would have won!
A quite fantastic horse, mind.
ComteLafon 2 years ago
Horses are not machines. You can't just look at a horse and say "he didn't stay". Dancing Brave stayed and stayed but he was relaxed until asked to go. We can't be sure that he wouldn't have got 14f - tell me that's preposterous and explain your conclusion ! He was a great horse and the mark of a great horse is that it can win over almost any distance - sprint, middle distance, long distance. DB was only tried over 8-12f, and didn't fail. Nijinsky was a remarkable horse, though, that's for sure.
zarakhast 2 years ago
It's a moot point whether Dancing Brave was really a 10f horse. Eddery complained after the KG that no-one had told him that DB tended to idle when he hit the front. He brought him a tad too early in that race - but it was still spectacular how he surged clear of everything except the perennially unlucky Shardari. But that says nothing about DB's staying ability. He was a relaxed horse until spurred into action. I think he would have won the Leger too. Nijinsky was the last one to do it.
zarakhast 2 years ago
DB was ridden much closer to the pace over 8-10f but was always dropped out Spencer style over 12f. Being more handy would have been fine imo providing he only hit the front 1f out or later. As he broke the course record in the Arc staying the trip clearly wasn't a problem. However, if the race had been run a little slower it could well have been the Derby all over again.
Newworldman66 2 years ago
you should watch the king geroge again then because piggott eased off in the last half furlong he could have beaten blakeney by alot more,
kidxstream 2 years ago
These old Epsom Derbys always look much more impressive somehow - "epic" you might say. The crowds may still be very good today but they certainly knew how to create a kerfuffle back in the '70s. The two greatest sights in horse racing : the runners entering the long final straight in the Derby, with the open-top buses and the rising excitement, and the final straight in the Grand National. These poor horses - they're the real heroes !
zarakhast 2 years ago
Nijinsky was very good on his day, but very temperamental. Irish jockey,Liam Ward, rode Nijinsky six times and won all. Lester rode him seven times and lost two. Piggott said Sir Ivor was tougher than Nijinsky but less brilliant. He did say that both Sea Bird II and Mill Reef were superior to Nijinsky over a mile and a half.
MrPapaBill 2 years ago
jesus lester could hardly pull him up! only getting going coming to the line!
Damotf 2 years ago
He was cantering when the pressure was on! When the brakes were released ... well, we just watched it, didn't we?
One impressed Aussie.
jamessquire1 2 years ago
Probably the greatest Derby winner, nay, racehorse ever. Never off the bridle the entire race and no other horse could live with his devastating acceleration. Such a beautifully built animal, perfectly balanced with power to spare. There will probably never be another triple crown winner because owners and trainers have no regard for the St. Leger anymore. It's too long for today's horses. Nijinsky's record will stand forever.
toomuchrose 2 years ago
greaT comment totally agree with your comments what horse will ever do the triple crown again ringworm was the only thing that stopped him winning the arc piggott said in his book he lost so much weight but he only just got beat by saffras what a horse
kidxstream 2 years ago
A great horse and a great race. Coming down the straight, he looked the least likely of the four, but suddenly turned it up and came right through them. Great run. Great horse. Thanks for putting this up.
tassiered 2 years ago
Nijinskys trademark was his turn of foot, pity Lester (as he admitted himself) gave him a not so good ride in the "Arc" and O'Brien admitted running him too soon in the Champion, otherwise he would have retired unbeaten, but a truly great horse nonetheless,
liamg353 2 years ago
Fantastic turn of foot. I love to see races won in this way.
PS - Why can't the new technology reproduce old footage in better quality ? It seems a bit of a ludicrous contradiction to me. The pictures were perfectly clear at the time, so why aren't they now ?
zarakhast 2 years ago 2