Will Frosted extend his Moment of Glory?

I was younger then, but I was in attendance to see Secretariat clinch the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont by 31 lengths, and I saw Forego miraculously get up to win the Marlboro Cup in the last jump while carrying 137 pounds. I was even there to see Seattle Slew run the most incredible race imaginable in a losing performance in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Those moments in time will last forever, and those horses will always be remembered for far more than a single race. For me, there will never be another era of racing as grand as the seventies. Despite my fondness for that golden age of racing, I am still able to appreciate terrific racing of today. The last ten years has given us many top race horses, and some of them are still in training right now. I suppose I will never let myself value modern horses above a handful of stars that I grew up with four decades ago, but every once in a while, something happens at the track so special, that I allow it to join my own personal pantheon of greatest moments at the races.

Because of the importance of the feat, last year’s Belmont Stakes, won by American Pharoah, certainly fits the bill. For sheer impressiveness of a performance, though, it was a race that happened on this year’s Belmont Stakes Day that takes the recent cake. Ironically, it was the horse that chased the Pharoah home that day, that came back one year later to run the best race that I’ve seen in a long, long time. Frosted not only baked the bread in this year’s Met Mile, but he served it up, only to devour it all himself. Like some of those moments in time mentioned above, it was a transcendent experience for this racefan to witness. It was the kind of race that all so poignantly reminds me why I love this sport so much.  

In most racing nations outside of the United States, the merit of a horse is judged more by the best effort that he or she is able to put forth, rather than the overall consistency of their season. There is something nice about this way of looking at race horses -- the ability to forgive an off day. On the other hand, there is something downright un-American about it. We demand excellence from our starts not just once or twice, but rather over and over again. So where does this leave Frosted? Should he be hailed as an exceptional horse, rightfully in the thick of the Horse of the Year race, or is he simply a very talented son of Tapit that cannot be completely trusted?

Even the biggest Frosted fan, like myself, cannot deny that his overall record pales in comparison to contemporaries such as American Pharoah, California Chrome, and Beholder. Sure, he’s run plenty of good races, but there are enough defeats there, whether second or worse, to wonder where the Met Mile performance came from. Surely a horse that can run a negative 8 ½ Thoro-Graph figure, the best number ever achieved, should be better than 5-of-16 lifetime. Yet that is the performance that Frosted turned in on June 11 at Belmont Park, and 5-of-16 is his lifetime record. Perhaps this dichotomy can be explained by a horse finally turning the corner?

It happens. Forego did not win his first stakes race until after 16 career starts were in the book. Frosted has already won four graded states, and three different million-dollar races within that many starts. Cigar was once floundering at 2-of-13 lifetime, before turning things around in a legendary way. Can Frosted really be compared to these all-time greats? No. Absolutely not. Not yet. However, his performance in the Met Mile can be compared to the best that either Forego or Cigar ever ran. It was that good.

While the fantastic runaway victory of Frosted two weeks ago leaves many of us salivating for more, we only have to look back one race further to see him coming up largely empty in the world’s richest race. That fifth place finish in the Dubai World Cup left many convinced that he would never be able to defeat California Chrome. A former Horse of the Year, that outstanding California-bred specimen is the one older male currently ranked higher than Frosted on the latest NTRA poll. The Met Mile has since given some who jumped to that conclusion cause for pause, but Chrome supporters still have an undefeated record this season, and a convincing victory over Frosted in which to point. Frosted, meanwhile, has newfound momentum as we move to summer racing.

While the Met Mile was spectacular, sensational, and special, we need to see more. Owned by Godolphin Racing, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, and ridden by Joel Rosario, Frosted will get his chance to string big wins together for the first time in his career, when he tackles Saratoga and the $1.25 million Whitney Handicap on August 6. Like the Met Mile, the Whitney is heavy in prestige, history, and importance on the New York racing schedule. Any horse that can string wins together in the Met and the Whitney is surely of Grade 1 quality, and any horse that can dominate his competition in both of those races, in such a way as Frosted won the first, would move said horse into a different category all together.

So the question then becomes -- will Frosted extend his moment of glory past his stunning performance on Belmont Stakes Day? Often the bridesmaid, seldom the bride, is this new version of Frosted ready to become a consistent star? That is, after all, what is valued in American racing above all else.