Horses that made remarkable progress as a 4yo

Two horses stand out for me, namely:

Harbinger and Busted.

Can anyone think of any other horses that made their name as a 4yo?

 

Manduro maybe? or was it as a 5 yo he really started to excel. can't remember.

 

The Duke surely?

Went from a maiden winner who had good placed efforts to a five times Group 1 winner.

I give you - Duke Of Marmalade - http://www.racingpost.com/horses/ho...=horse_race_record&bottomHorseTabs=horse_form

 

Harbinger is an interesting one. Did he not have a setback as a 3yo? It's funny I still think of him as somewhat unexposed. He didn't have many runs as a 3yo and there were excuses for his poor runs. Then he came out as a 4yo, beat a couple of not overly special fields in nice fashion, battered a talented lot in the KG and pissed off again. I would love to have seen more of him, it's hard to say how good he was.


Halling would be my pick for a horse who progressed from 3 to 4.

 

You missed the best one, Ron- Exbury.

 

The brilliant Mtoto.

 

Pilsudski and Fantastic Light both improved with age

 

Although he showed promise as a 3 year old did anyone really expect Dylan thomas would win the king George and Arc as a 4 year old?

 

There are quite a few aren't there. When I get time I'm going to refresh my memory on these.

 

Katchit

 

"if Katchit wins the Champion hurdle I'll swim the Channel"

 

Singspiel had won at only a maiden and a listed event in nine efforts prior to his 4-y-o season where he won the Canadian Internation and Japan Cup.

 

Singspiel and Pilsudski started off as 4yos in the same race with the former at 11/10fav and the latter at 16-1. Singspiel won but by the end of the year you'd have to say Pilsudski was probably the better of the two, judged on Pilsudski beating Singspiel in the Breeder's Cup.
Busted seemed to come from nowhere as a 4yo but he did win what is now considered the leading Irish (Epsom) Derby Trial. Harbinger was highly rated as a 3yo and was highly touted after his win at Chester as a maiden. He looked good after his Gordon Stakes win but got injured if I'm not mistaken.
Of all these plus Fantastic Light, Dylan Thomas, Duke of Marmalade and Exbury only Pilsudski didn't run in Group races as a 3yo.

 

Halling hadn't either

 

Well spotted GGW, I purposefully didn't mention him. He's one of the few Cambridgeshire winners to step up. Good horse.










iy

 

Just another thought on this. It is amazing how many of the recent examples given here were trained by Stoute.