Peppers Pride and Horse Racing Prejudice

Contrary to your comments about Peppers Pride, she was not scratched from the race when hurricane Dolly hit Ruidoso Downs Racetrack. The entire track was flooded and had to be rebuilt and all races were cancelled and recarded a month later. She was scratched on Aug. 31, but not because she could'nt beat the conditions but because the track was not deemed safe for her by her connections. That was the only race she was ever scratched from in her entire career and had she run and been injured they would have never been able to justify that decision. Have you ever seen the mare that won that race perform again? No. Why? Injured on that day on that slick, muddy track. Peppers Pride holds the modern day world record for most consecutive wins and the most consecutive wins without a defeat. She is the undisputed, undefeated , CHAMPION ! Call it luck if you like but it has never been done before Peppers Pride did it.

Thank you for pointing out that all races were canceled on the date of the one scratch - the articles I read did not mention that.

As far as your comment about calling her "the undisputed, undefeated , CHAMPION", I do not agree. She is undefeated; there is no arguing that. She is a champion in New Mexico. But what type of company did she run against there?

But did she run against Zenyatta, Proud Spell, Music Note, Eight Belles, Intangaroo, or Ventura this year? These mares are contenders for horse of the year honors in their respective categories - and Zenyatta is up for Horse of the Year honors against the boys (impressive names like Big Brown and Curlin - who I happen to think is the undisputed champion, but that's another blog entry). These are true champions who ran in Grade I races around the country against the best of what the US and world had to offer this year.

Peppers Pride is the undisputed champion when it comes to the most consecutive wins without defeat in modern times. The record does not stipulate where or with whom a horse must race but that they win the most races in a row. There have been millions of races run since the 1900,s and no horse has been able to accomplish this feat at any level of competition. Pepper has earned over 1 million dollars and 14 of her wins were in stakes races. There are a 100 ways to lose a horse race but only one way to win and I think Big Brown and Curlin are great examples of this. They are great horses but they could not escape defeat, even when the odds said they were unbeatable. Horse racing is a fragile sport and the number of things that can change the outcome of a race are numerous and many are completely out of the control of the trainer or the horse ( Jockey, gate handler, other horses in the race, weather, track condition, track surface, etc.). There are also statebred programs in every state that races and yet no horse has been able to get past 16 wins until Peppers Pride and she won 19. This was no easy task and may never be repeated.

Yes, Peppers Pride achieved something that had never been achieved before. She does hold the record of most consecutive wins in the US. It hadn't been done before and no horse will probably come close for quite some time. She should be, and has been, recognized for that.

While there are state-bred programs in most states, I do not agree that they are comparable. Comparing New Mexico with Kentucky or even New York or Florida is like comparing apples and oranges. Not only is there a much, much larger pool in Kentucky, the quality is vastly better too. How many stallions stand in New Mexico with six-figure stud fees? (Whether they are worth that is debatable, but you can argue something is worth whatever people will pay.)

My main point is that when Citation and Cigar set their winning streaks (the old record) at 16 apiece, they ran in stakes company across the country and world. They did not stay in the familiarity of their home states. They took more risks while her owner and trainer opted not to do that.

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