There’s a story, and many people believe it, that Alydar, failing to best Affirmed for the third consecutive classic race, while galloping back to be unsaddled looked to the skies and placed a merciless curse on racing’s Triple Crown. “Never again!” demanded Alydar, and the Cosmos, sympathizing with the brave warrior’s unfortunate plight, echoed “Never again!” And since that day, 37 long years past, there has never been a thoroughbred to win the Triple Crown. Most of the failures came in the Belmont Stakes, the third and longest gem in the Triple Crown and for seemingly logical reasons, which might belie Alydar’s curse. But the weight of the failures, the unlikely circumstances time after time lend credence.
Just one year after Affirmed’s Triple Crown conquest of Alydar, Spectacular Bid was rolling through opponents like General Sherman danced through Georgia, equaling a track record in his second start at two years old, winning the prestigious Champagne Stakes in New York, then the Laurel Futurity, in which he set another track record, unheard of for a two-year-old in a route race. The Bid won an Eclipse Award that year, the first of three he would claim in his career. Spectacular Bid was trained by Grover “Bud” Delp, an obnoxious sort who plied his trade primarily in the Maryland area. He was ridden by a teenager named Ronnie Franklin who would never be mistaken for a whiz kid.
As a three-year-old, Spectacular Bid was gangbusters, reeling off five in a row, including the Hutcheson Stakes, the Fountain of Youth and the Florida Derby, all at Gulfstream Park, the Flamingo at Hialeah and the Blue Grass at Keeneland Race Course, becoming a 3-5 favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Delp famously advised the public to “Go bet! Go bet now!” Anyone who followed his advice was a happy camper as the horse prevailed by 2 3/4 over General Assembly.
Bumped early in the Preakness Stakes, Spectacular Bid stayed wide, easily taking command by the time he hit the stretch, winning by 5 1/2 over Golden Act. When asked bout Bid’s Triple Crown chances, jockey Franklin piped up, “He’s a cinch!” All racing people shudder at such remarks. It’s the racing equivalent of baseball’s refusal to discuss an ongoing no-hitter in the dugout, the gods will obviously be offended. Perhaps it was the fun-loving Loki who decided to place an open safety pin in Bid’s stall. The horse somehow stepped on it and the pin became embedded in his hoof, leading to an infection which was drilled to cure the problem. Spectacular Bid was never lame, however, and the pin’s relevance to his performance in the Belmont is questionable.
In the Belmont, Franklin rode The Bid with unusual aggression early in the race, taking the lead halfway through. He still had a clear lead entering the stretch but then began to struggle and was eventually overtaken by winner Coastal and second-place Golden Act. Some commentators speculated that Delp and Franklin had been intent on emulating Secretariat’s performance in the 1973 Belmont and their tactics were intended to maximize the margin of victory. If so, they quickly discovered there was only one Secretariat. Delp, who had denigrated Coastal’s chances before the race, thought Bid might simply “not be a mile-and-a-half horse.” Nonetheless, he abruptly fired Franklin and brought the legendary Bill Shoemaker in to ride Bid in subsequent races. Franklin admitted he had run a poorly-judged race and had very little experience race-riding over long distances. So, not a curse, right? Not so far.
In 1981, Wall Street financier Thomas Mellon Evans brought Pleasant Colony to the fore. The latter had won two of five starts as a Freshman, one being New York’s Remsen Stakes (by the disqualification of first-under-the-wire Akureyri), but couldn’t beat that horse as a three-year-old, losing three times. After Pleasant Colony’s fifth-place finish in the Florida Derby, Evans ditched his trainer and hired New Yorker Johnny Campo, never accused of being a nice man and occasionally investigated by racing authorities for untoward shenanigans. Ridden by Canadian Jeffrey Fell, Pleasant Colony then won April’s Wood Memorial Stakes by three lengths.
In the Kentucky Derby, Jorge Velasquez held off a powerful stretch drive by Woodchopper to win by three-quarters of a length, then came from behind to win the Preakness by a length over Arkansas Derby winner, Bold Ego. Pleasant Colony never gave the appearance of being a great horse, however, and few were shocked when he ran third in the Belmont to Summing and Highland Blade. Certainly no suspicion of a curse here.
But then came the good horse, Alysheba, in 1987, time for irony to raise its tousled head. For Alysheba, you see, was sired by none other than Alydar. Surely, the curse, be there one, would relent at the behest of its perpetrator. Or would it? Some curses have a mind of their own. As a two-year-old, Alysheba had only a maiden win to his credit and, when he underperformed at three, he was scoped and discovered to have an entrapped epiglottis. Surgery was successful and he was entered in the Kentucky Derby despite having only the one victory, something which could not happen today due to the earnings requirements. Alysheba won a slow Derby (2:03 4/5), then knocked off the Preakness, both races which permitted the use of Lasix, which was not legal in New York State, where the Belmont would be run. He finished a poor fourth, Bet Big killing the field by 14 lengths. No curse involved, obviously it was the Lasix situation.
This is where things really get suspect. In 1989, Bob Baffert’s Sunday Silence surprised Easy Goer in the Derby and the Preakness but was second to that colt in the Belmont. In 1997, Silver Charm, a very nice Baffert colt, won the first two legs of the Triple Crown before Touch Gold caught him at the wire in the Belmont. Then, in 1998, Real Quiet dominated the first two races before losing by an eyelash to Victory Gallop’s impossible stretch run. Three seconds in a row to foil a Triple Crown, the third requiring a detailed photo investigation to determine the winner. Nobody was dismissing the curse now. Later disappointments followed with Charismatic (1999), War Emblem (2002), Funny Cide (2003) and the very popular Smarty Jones in 2004. In the 2008 race, Big Brown was injured and did not finish (a bad advertisement for his namesake, UPS). Worse yet, in 2012, I’ll Have Another suffered a pre-race injury and didn’t even start. Last year, everybody’s favorite, California Chrome finished an undistinguished fourth, and maybe that was because the curse sought to punish an undeserving owner. There’s too much evidence here to ignore. The hex is on. What do we do about it?
According to Magic, Spells & Potions, a simple way of “drawing out” curses and hexes is to use a salt medicine pouch, worn over the heart. This would have to be okayed by the Belmont stewards but we don’t see a problem there. Horses are allowed to wear earmuffs, for crying out loud, how could a little salt medicine pouch hurt? So here’s the deal; first, get a piece of wax paper. Then, write on it carefully (ever try writing on wax paper?) what you know about the curse….who cast it, where it came from, when it started. Then, place three spoonfuls of salt into the paper and make a little bundle you can tie with a piece of string. After that, place it over the heart of the victim for three days and three nights, including race day. The salt will draw out the curse and take it into itself.
Will it work? Hey, what have you got to lose? And if you win the race, you’ve got a great story. I’m going to try it, myself, next time I go to the cardiologist or have an IRS audit. I’ll let you know how it works out. Always assuming, of course, that I’m not in jail. That’s a curse of a different color.
Dead Horse Walking
Our Lexington pal, Bill Mauk, forwarded a note from his son, Fletcher, containing the….um, unorthodox workout schedule of Belmont entry Mubtaahij. You remember Mubtaahij, if not the spelling of his name: he was the colt born in Ireland, raced in England, then Dubai, flown to Chicago via Amsterdam, quarantined for the requisite period and finally vanned to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. Shockingly, he didn’t win. He did finish eighth, though, beating ten others—not too bad considering the circumstances. Anyway, we all know now that his trainer, Mike de Kock (an obvious natural for the chicken-fighting business) is not indisposed to doing things differently. Here’s the work chart provided by Equibase: on May 17 on the inner turf track at Belmont, five furlongs in 1:01.11. Three days later on the Belmont dirt track, a half-mile in 48.34. Four days later on the Belmont dirt, five furlongs in 1:03.16. Three days later, again at Belmont: 38.05. and three days after that, five-eighths in 1:01.05. Not burning-up-the-track times for a horse at this level but a lot tougher than a stout gallop. Fletcher thinks if Mubtaahij wins, de Kock will have singlehandedly rewritten the training books.
All due respect to Fletcher, but we see few trainers following this regimen, good performance in the Belmont or not. It’s too risky. While de Kock’s horse may tolerate such a schedule—and that remains to be seen—many other horses would not. It’s a throwback to the first half of the twentieth century, when horses were tougher and raced more often with few repercussions. Why are today’s horses different? Many of the runners from that earlier era were bred, raised and raced by their owners, the majority of them wealthy sportsmen with their own farms. The races were, on average, longer then, not demanding of the early speed necessary today. Most of today’s racehorses are raised by breeders to sell as yearlings or two-year-olds. In the latter public sales, the young colts work either an eighth of a mile, a quarter or even three-eighths and the times are recorded and published. Videos are also taken of each work and made accessible to potential buyers. Speed is critical. You won’t be getting a pretty penny for a horse with a slow work, whatever the excuse. For breeders, therefore, speed pedigrees are all-important. People are looking for sires which have the ability to produce precocious babies. The circumstances being what they are, most races today are sprints, races run at less than a mile and as short as 4 1/2 furlongs. Horses with sprint pedigrees do not lend themselves to longer races. There are still individuals and farms, of course, which concentrate on producing classics horses, but their numbers are dwindling. The lack of rugged distance horses today is one of the main reasons for the lack of recent Triple Crown winners and also for the annual grumbling about the tight schedule of the three races and even the distances. A win by American Pharoah would prove a Triple Crown can still be achieved and, temporarily at least, quiet the complainers. One more good reason to root for the favorite.
The Champ Arrives At Belmont
Who Can Beat American Pharoah?
Maybe nobody, especially if it rains. And it’s supposed to. Pharoah’s wet track wins in Arkansas and Maryland might have been his two best races and few of his rivals have been successful in the slop, if they experienced it at all. There are good horses in this race, however. Materiality is an interesting contender, having come up big in the Florida Derby after throat surgery. He is capable of getting the lead and holding it well into the race. A mile and a half? Who knows? None of the horses in the race have ever gone that distance, the opportunities being what they are. This horse got off to a terrible start in the Kentucky Derby when he was slow out of the gate from his inside 3 post, was crushed by the mob and still finished a good sixth. Materiality has the outside gate for this one, which seems like a good thing until you realize that only five Belmont winners have come from that post position in the history of the race.
Frosted, another off to a miserable Derby start, ran near the back of the pack early in that race, picked it up with a half-mile to go, roaring down the stretch to be fourth. A better start here gives him an excellent shot. Madefromlucky won the Peter Pan Stakes on this same racetrack and winners of that race have historically run well in the Belmont. Beaten twice already by Pharoah, however. Last year’s winner, Tonalist, upset California Chrome, and that wasn’t the first surprise for Peter Pan winners. Tale Of Verve made a big closing run to be second in the Preakness but it is unusual for horses who drop far back to sweep by the field in this race. Bill Mauk thinks Keen Ice has a chance. We should have asked him why. Needs a fast pace, which doesn’t seem likely, to get much. Frammento would be better off taking the kids to the beach, although they do pay something for fifth.
The Envelope, Please….
1. Amercan Pharoah will win, barring terrible racing luck, an Act of God, or the difficulties incurred by his schedule. He is simply the best horse, and it’s not close.
2. Frosted probably isn’t beating the champ at any other distance but this is a unique opportunity. Depends on how hard Pharoah has to run earlier in the race.
3. Materiality would be wise to go to the front, slow it down and hope for the best. If he does this, he may hold on, at least for second.
Yes, Bill the Optimist is picking a Triple Crown winner. Sooner or later, some horse is going to win one and this is an awfully nice horse. The length of the race can be a friend as well as an enemy. It allows a horse an imperfect start, there’s plenty of time to recover. There are some decent horses in here but none of them is in any danger of being mistaken for Secretariat. American Pharoah will almost certainly win.
That’s all, folks….
