"I had used the long train ride to study the form in Paris-Turf, the French racing daily. Try as I might, it was impossible to find anything that might beat Miesque in the Jacques Le Marois, which would be her first try against older horses. In the paddock she looked impeccable ..."

Freddie Head pays tribute to the champion mare.

"Night was stealing across the huddled knolls and woodland beyond, enveloping ochre, gold and russet in the same gloom. We knew, now, that she was not invincible. She was better than that."

"First of all, the trainers were polled, and the collective memory of trainers like Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, Ben Jones, Bert Mulholland, and others stretched back a long way. For the most part, it didn’t go back to Imp or Miss Woodford, however. They were responding to the oral tradition of the best mares of the 19th century handed down to them as yardsticks by their mentors. Second, that Miss Woodford -- nearly three-quarters of a century after she was born -- was considered fifth-best is staggering. That is serious respect."

"Looking back on it, I think I liked Real Quiet so much before the Derby because he was the second stringer. He was the stablemate to the star, the underdog. Famously, or rather infamously, nicknamed 'The Fish' because of his narrow physique, he was a bit on the plain side. That didn't matter though. He went on to win the Preakness, but lost the Belmont in a photo finish to Victory Gallop, who had finished second to him in the previous two races."

"Real Quiet, who died today, was the victim of what I believe was the most vicious beat in the history of horse racing when he was nosed by Victory Gallop in the 1998 Belmont Stakes. Not only did that photo cost Real Quiet a sweep of the Triple Crown and rare racing immortality, Victory Gallop's nose also cost him a $5 million bonus. As one who feels he has made it his life's work to perfect the art of the rotten beat, I have always empathized with Real Quiet."

"He was the first exceptional horse that came to Pennsylvania [to stand at stud] ... He set the stage for more good horses to do the same."