I was trying to stay out of this, especially since I wasn't making figures back then. I gave Easy Goer a fractional negative, PG a huge negative 2 1/2, I think. Athletes in all sports are getting better, and the Babe Ruth analogy is a good one--he was better relative to his time, but today's players are better athletes.
Keep in mind that the track Secretariat ran over was super-fast (several track records equaled or broken that week), and none of the horses behind him ever won another race of any kind. I would also add that knowing what I do now I certainly would not trust Ragozin's figure--it was probably the only 2 turn race on the card, and a short field with the only other good horse breaking down, and (probably) the others running X's. He may have just paired Secretariat to his Derby number, which might be what I would have been forced to do too.



TGJB