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Opinion: Top 12 Racehorses of the Past 50 Years

Now, there is something called passion, and when you have it about something, it takes you very deep into that thing. If you are a horse racing enthusiast, and you also have passion for the history of the races, you would definitely want to know the names of the best racehorses in history.

Now we are going to take a look at the top races of the past 50 years and come up with the 12 best racehorses within those years. This may not be an easy task to carry out because everybody will always have his own criteria of measuring who the best is. But there are some sa horse races where the entire world agrees that the horses did great. Those would have their names written in the golden book of horse racing. While we will center mostly on South African horses, we will be talking about other horses that had made great strides within the years under review.

Black Caviar
She is actually one of the top racehorses of the last 50 years. Foaled in 2006, this horse that is from Australia ended up winning 25 out of the 25 races she raced in. She was retired undefeated. The victories included 15 Group One victories, eclipsing the previous mark set by Kingston Town in Australia.  She was named the official World Champion Sprinter in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Black Caviar was trained by Melbourne-based trainer Peter Moody, and was largely ridden by Luke Nolen. She was retired on 17 April 2013.

Peppers Pride
He is a native of the United States of America, and one of the undefeated horses in history. He was foaled in 2003, and out of the 19 races he participated in, he was never defeated by any other horse.

Karayel
He has a Turkish origin, and was born in 1970, probably one of the oldest horses we will discuss here. This horse, just like some others, took part in 18 races and won all of them in his history of horse racing.

Personal Ensign
He is from the United States and was foaled in 1984. The reason she made this cut is because out of the 13 races he got involved in, he did not lose any. This leaves him as one of the undefeated horses in history.

Sentinel
He is one of the best horses that ever attended sa racing. He was foaled and bred at the Hartford house in South Africa. Within his active years, he succeeded in winning 29 races. He is the type of house that is nicknamed a super sprinter. In Cape Guineas in 1972, he made name with the dead heat with rival In Full Flight.

Elevation
He did something that many horses cannot, and have not been able to do even when the horse racing betting odds were in their favor.  He won a hat trick in Holiday Inns Handicap. He also won the SA Derby and came second at the Met.

Politician
He is the horse with the most interesting name in SA racing in the context of when he was named and politics of the time. Bred by Scott Bros, he went ahead to win 11 races within the grade two and grade one levels. From 1976 to 1980, he was the horse of the year.

Wolf Power
He is one South African horse that won many group one races. But it did not end here. He garnered a back to back Queens Plates in 1983 and 1984. This horse also sired 334 graded stakes winners from the level of 500 starters in 16 crops.

Mowgli
Within twelve weeks, this horse won the six races of current group one status.  This achievement has is a record never marched in the equine history till now.

Colorado King
He won the Cape Derby and the Durban July group one races. During his time, he won 10 races in South Africa. However, he was not allowed much time there, as he was exported to America. There, he won the Hollywood Gold Cup, and went ahead to match he world record of 9 furlongs.

Hawaii
Hawaii has a retinue of trophies to his name. He won 15 races while competing in South Africa. When exported to America, he also won 6 races too. One of them is the Belmont Man O’War Handicap.

Sea Cottage
This is the horse that came out victorious in 20 races out of the 24 he participated in. It was during the Durban July in 1966 that he was dead heated with Jolly. He was most famous for a conspiracy that led to him being shot in his hind quarter before one of his July appearances.
 

Image of Politician from Scott Bros

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