Did you know? 10 furlongs

• 1:55.66! For those that haven't been around as long, that's the World Record for 10 furlongs on dirt set by Revenge in the 2003 Hollywood Gold Cup.
• Just to put that number in a little bit of perspective, Spanish Midnight finished second in that race. It was the 19th fastest time ever, 1:58.76, and he finished 19 lengths back! The second fastest time ever is Pegasus Song's 1:57.79, which is about 13 lengths slower. This year's winning time of the Kentucky Derby, 2:00.59, is about 30 lengths slower. It's just an amazing performance that will never be equaled...guaranteed.
• Thunder Arctic holds the turf record of 1:57.93. Even though it isn't unreachable (there are 6 other times within a half second of it), it's still been on the books since 2004.
• 10 furlongs has been attempted 780 times on dirt and 1,018 on the turf.
• It should come as no surprise to anyone (though with the number of entries these races always get, maybe I shouldn't assume) that the slowest times ever are from 2YO's. Except for VERY, VERY rare exceptions, they just aren't ready for these type of distances. On dirt, a 2YO colt by the name of Evidente, ran the slowest 10 furlongs of 2:12.32 in 2007. Another 2YO colt, Vivencial, holds the "record" with a 2:14.11 in 2008.
• Some more fun with perspective. On dirt, Thunder Arctic ran 2:12.25...for 11 furlongs. Just think about that, Evidente could have started a furlong in front of Thunder Arctic...and lost! For turf though, it's a little more amazing. The top 60 times for 11 furlongs are all better than Vivencial's time!
• To make the top-100 on dirt, you need to run 1:59.87 (Dansilver - 2005). On turf, 2:00.16 is the magic number (Blushing Approval - 2007 and Precious Elegance - 2008).
• On dirt, there are 21 horses that appear in the top-100 multiple times. Eight of the multiple-timers have 2 top-100'2: Braveheart, Broken Dream, Dancing Delaware, Dansilver (not too shabby, when 10 furlongs really wasn't his thing), Enlightenment (8th and 11th!), Perfect Bell, She's A Prize (probably a surprising name to most), and Troll Tower. Two horses appear three times: Hideaway and War Machine. The four-timers is a nice looking group: Isca's Revenge, King Midas (not bad for a horse that only raced 13 times in his career!), Revenge, Spanish Midnight, and Take A Gander. Two horses appear five times: Congenial (done in three separate years) and Thunder Arctic (the only five times he tried 10 on the dirt to boot!). There's one horse each with 6 and 7 appearances: Precious Elegance and Madam De Francais respectively. Appearing an incredible 9 times is Lazy Loper. What's even more amazing though, is that's not the best! Pegasus Song makes the list 10 times!
• 25 horses make the top-100 multiple times on the turf. Ten horses make the list twice: Flow Diagram, Imogen White, Jenny's My Gal, Memcay, Scenic Sheba (the only two times she's tried it, you're welcome Foxie!) , Secret Talent, Sir Empire, Sobriety, Spiritual (one of her two was a race in which she finished LAST of 6, talk about a loaded field!), and Troll Tower. The three time horses: April Carrot (she's come a long way, actually has the slowest time ever for 8.5 on the turf!), Fine Memories, Pegasus Song, Pefect Bell, Precious Elegance, Princess Royale, Smart Money, and Thunder Arctic (I was actually surprised to see him with only three, then I went and checked...it's out of only four tries, and the other one sits at 103.) Three horses with 4 appearances: Alytrain, Broken Dream, and Lazy Loper. She's A Prize has 5 of the top-100, and only two of them are from wins! There's a three-way tie at the top with 7 appearances: A Bus (oh yeah, those are the only 7 times he tried it!), Missmelodramatic, and Tranquil Scene.
• Thirteen horses appear on both lists. Lazy Loper (9 dirt and 4 turf) and Pegasus Song (10 dirt and 3 turf) lead the way with 13 each. Precious Elegance (6 dirt and 3 turf) is next with 9. A Bus (1 dirt and 7 turf) and Thunder Arctic (5 dirt and 3 turf) are tied with 8. She's A Prize (2 dirt and 5 turf) has 7. Broken Dream (2 dirt and 4 turf) has 6. Perfect Bell (2 dirt and 3 turf) has 5. Troll Tower (2 dirt and 2 turf) has 4. Three horses are tied with 3: Dancing Delaware (2 dirt and 1 turf), Memcay (1 dirt and 2 turf), and Sobriety (1 dirt and 2 turf). Hold That Train is the only one to do it just once on each surface.
• The most likely track to see a top-100 time on the dirt has been Churchill Downs with 17. Following right behind are Hollywood Park and Nad Al Sheba with 16 each. On the turf, it's Hollywood Park with 25 and Arlington International with 23.
• The most likely race to produce a top-100 time for dirt is the Hollywood Gold Cup with 16. On turf, it's the Arlington Million with 23.
• The fastest times per surface rating obviously start with Revenge's WR of 1:55.66 on a "fast" track. The best on "good" is War Machine's 2:00.08 (116th best). The best on "heavy" is New Millenium's 2:01.93 (352nd best). The best on "muddy" is also New Millenium's 2:04.35 (619th best). The best on "sloppy" is False Demon's 2:02.84 (478th best). The best on "slow" is Thunder Arctic's 1:59.38 (59th best).
• On the turf side of things, Thunder Arctic's WR of 1:57.93 was set on "firm". The best on "firm to good" is Perfect Bell's 1:58.62 (11th best). The best on "good" is A Bus at 2:00.01 (79th best). The best on "hard" is Alytrain's 1:58.00 (2nd best). The best on "soft" is Poker Run's 2:02.27 (439th best). The best for "yielding" is A Bus again with a 2:00.13 (98th best).
• Three horses sit in the top-100 lists with times achieved when they were 6YO's: Blushing Approval, Congenial, and Sir Empire.
• The horses that broke from the furthest outside post position and run a top-100 time both did it for the same stable. Case Closed broke from the 19 hole on dirt and ran the 74th best time. On turf, it was Dancing Delaware coming from post 15 to run the 44th best time.
• Case Closed is also the only horse to make one of the lists in an ungraded race.
• The breakdown per grade level on dirt is: G1 - 90, G2 - 8, G3 - 1, and ungraded - 1. On turf: G1 - 86, G2 - 13, and G3 - 2. I know that equals 101...there's a tie for the 100th spot.
• The breakdown per year for dirt is: 2003 - 7, 2004 - 12, 2005 - 6, 2006 - 11, 2007 - 23, 2008 - 25, and 2009 - 16. On turf: 2004 - 5, 2005 - 9, 2006 - 13, 2007 - 24, 2008 - 28, and 2009 - 22.