SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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WAR EMBLEM
In 2002 Bob Baffert was back with War Emblem, a 20-1 shot in the Derby, owned by Saudi Prince Ahmed Bin Salman. War Emblem went wire to wire to win the Derby by four lengths, then held off several horses to win the Preakness. But he stumbled out of the gate at the Belmont and never recovered, losing to a 70-1 shot, Sarava. His jockey was Victor Espinosa and he had a strange career record of 7-0-0 in 13 races. He either won or was out of the money, as he was in the Belmont. Bob Baffert: "He was so one-dimensional and such an irritable horse as it was, as soon as he was behind horses, I had to sit there for 2½ minutes waiting for the race to be over."
The Derby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQd2XrLqrc
The Preakness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDTrsNOuraQ
The Belmont:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYcdUcjQNu4
FUNNY CIDE
A bunch of racing fans from Sackets Harbor, NY got together to create “Sackatoga Stable”, the name, being a combination of Sackets Harbor and Saratoga. They bought a Kentucky horse named Funny Cide. It seemed such an unlikely story that maybe this horse could break the Triple Crown jinx just based on his Cinderella Story. He was trained by Barclay Tagg and ridden by Jose Santos. He won the 2003 Derby by almost two lengths over favored horses Empire Maker and Peace Rules.
Then we saw something that has become more common in recent years: because of the emphasis on the Triple Crown, the owners of competing horses who hadn’t won the Derby pulled out of the Preakness to rest for the Belmont, leaving the Derby winner to win the Preakness easily and set up a Triple Crown chance that was at least partly an illusion.
But then the Miami Herald ran a bogus story with a misleading photo suggesting that Santos had cheated in the Derby: “The photograph, with accompanying comments, was posted highlighting what appeared to be a metallic object in Santos's right hand as he and Funny Cide crossed the finish line. Due to the angle from which the photograph was taken, it appeared that Santos was holding an object in his right hand, and so raised suspicion that he had cheated to win the world-famous race. The results of the investigation showed that in reality Santos did not have an object in his hand and it was the angle of the photograph that only made it appear otherwise. Other photographs and angles showed absolutely nothing in Santos’s hand and revealed that it would have been virtually impossible for him to be holding anything.”
“
Blood-Horse magazine's Steven Haskin wrote: "Pimlico stakes coordinator David Rollinson had to go out and recruit Preakness Stakes horses when it looked like only six or seven were going to run. All was calm that first week after the Derby. Then, EmpireMaker was officially declared out, leaving only six confirmed starters. Then Midway Road came in. Then all hell broke loose when the Miami Herald's bogus story and photo of Santos cheating in the Derby appeared. Empire Maker suddenly jumped back in, his Triple Crown hopes alive once again. Hours later, when the inferno began to subside, he was back out. Then Peace Rules
officially came in.”
It didn’t matter. Funny Cide blew them all away by almost 10 lengths, the second greatest margin of victory in Preakness history. It made Funny Cide the overwhelming favorite for the Belmont. But Funny Cide got stuck along the rail, where the mud was thickest on a wet day, and finished third the well-rested Empire Maker. "Looking back, Tagg wondered if Funny Cide's 9¾-length victory in the Preakness and his overly fast workout the week before the Belmont weren't the results of an on-edge horse who had little left for the final leg of the Triple Crown. Tagg was quoted as saying, 'He didn't need to have his adrenaline popping through his head every time a bunch of people came running down the aisle way.'" (all quotes from Wikipedia).
A gelding, Funny Cide had a long racing career, from 2002-2007. In 38 starts he was 11-6-8. He had to overcome some physical problems, including a respiratory ailment. But he earned the boys from Sackets Harbor $3.5 million off of a $22,000 investment.
A ten minute documentary on Funny Cide:
SMARTY JONES
A year after Funny Side, along came Smarty Jones, a horse given a name that had been an nickname for the owner’s strong-willed mother. The owners were Pat Chapman and her husband Roy. The trainer was John Servis and the jockey Stewart Elliot. The Chapmans had originally hired Bobby Carnac to train the horse but he was murdered by his mentally disturbed stepson. In addition to that shock, Roy Chapman’s health was fading and they felt the need to close down their operation except for four horses, one of them being Smarty Jones and to move into a smaller house to get money to pay for Roy’s and Smarty’s care. Then Smarty hit his head in a starting gate accident, was knocked unconscious and went into shock. Then his head swelled up: he’d fractured his eye socket.
But, somehow he recovered completely and everyone’s luck began to change. He came back to win three races as a two year old, the last by 15 lengths with the fastest time of any two year old of his generation. He continued his streak right into the 2004 Kentucky
Derby, becoming the first unbeaten Derby winner since Seattle Slew. It was the first Derby appearance, much less winner for the owners, the trainer and the jockey as well as
the horse. Smarty won by almost three lengths, only the second horse from Pennsylvania to ever win the Derby. He then crushed the Preakness field by 11 ½ lengths, the largest margin ever. It seemed we were finally going to have the 12th Triple Crown winner. Smarty Jones became a national sensation, increasing attendance at the Belmont by 17,000 and TV ratings to the highest level in 14 years. Bids for breeding rights were reaching up to $50 million.
At the Belmont, he ran a mile and a quarter in a time that would have won all but 3 Kentucky Derbys in history. But this was the Belmont and he was caught for the first time in his life by a 36-1 shot named Birdstone. He was subsequently retired due to chronic bruising of ankle bones. His career record was 8-1-0 in nine races. Because he’d won a huge bonus offered for winning the Rebel Strakes, the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Derby, he had career earnings of $7.6 million.
This clip has all three races. I really thought he was going win it this time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq-zB-KoNhU
BIG BROWN
Four years later, a horse came along that everybody thought really had the stuff to go all the way. And he seemed to have the name for it, as well. Both Man O’ War and Secretariat were called “Big Red“. Here came “Big Brown”. A Kentucky horse, he was named in honor of UPS. He changed owners twice and wound up owned by IEAH Stables, which was run as a hedge fund. Very modern. He also changed trainers but wound up in the care of Rick Dutrow and was ridden by Kent Desormeaux, who had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown with Real Quiet a decade before.
No underdog, he was an undefeated 2-1 favorite to win the Derby and didn’t disappoint anybody, winning by nearly five lengths. Unfortunately this race is more remembered for the breakdown of the second place finisher, Eight Belles, who had to be euthanized, (I hate the term “destroyed“).
Big Brown then won the Preakness by more than 5 lengths as a 1-5 favorite. He was the overwhelming favorite to win the TC. I remember asking people who knew more about horse racing than I did why this horse would be the one when so many had failed. They just told me that this horse was on a whole other level than those others.
But he had a history of cracks showing up in his hooves and a three-incher showed up in big Brown’s left front hoof after the Preakness. Wikipedia: “For the Belmont Stakes, Big Brown wore a second set of stainless steel sutures on the inside of his hoof. Hoof specialist Ian McKinlay changed the sutures a week before the race and attached an acrylic and fiberglass adhesive patch to the hoof. Although Big Brown missed three days of training prior to the race, his gait and attitude seemed unaffected” Dutrow referred to the injury as “a little hiccup”.
Big Brown was still a 3-10 favorite. “He was rank in the early stages of the race, and nearly ran up on the heels of eventual winner Da' Tara. Then Desormeaux tried to swing Big Brown to the outside during the first turn and bumped into Tale of Ekati. Da' Tara won the race by 5¼ lengths while Big Brown finished ninth, becoming the first Triple Crown hopeful to finish last in the Belmont. Kent Desormeaux pulled the horse up in the homestretch, later saying something was amiss and stating immediately after the race, "I had no horse" although no physical abnormality was ever found…Two weeks after the Belmont, a picture revealed a dislodged shoe on Big Brown's right hind leg that could have been the cause of his poor performance. The shoe might have come loose during the race and gotten pushed back in while he was running.” It was the only race of 8 that Big Brown didn’t win and he finished last: 7-0-0 in 8 races.
A 26 minute documentary on Big Brown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mMtmrO-7LE
I’LL HAVE ANOTHER
In subsequent years no other horse seemed to step up to the plate in the Triple Crown and the popularity of racing seemed to be fading. Then along came another Kentucky horse, named “I’ll Have Another”, named not after a desire for adult beverages but for his owner’s, (J. Paul Reddam”), attitude toward for his wife’s chocolate chip cookies. From such things come the names of race horses. He was trained by Doug O’Neill and ridden by Mario Gutierrez. He won three of his five races leading to the 2012 Kentucky Derby.
He used a great stretch run to catch Bob Baffert’s favored Bodemeister and win by a length and a half. Bodemeister was nonetheless installed as the favorite for the Preakness. I’ll Have Another again caught him down the stretch, this time winning by a neck. The two races remained people of the battles between Affirmed and Alydar 34 years before and made them wonder if they would see a third and another Triple Crown.
But Baffert pulled Bodemeister out of the Belmont. Then I’ll have another developed a tendon problem and was scratched. There was speculation that a new rule that all the horses for the Belmont had to be stabled together in one barn for three days before the race so they could be observed by track officials had something to do with the withdrawals. Union Rags, who had been rated second to Bodemeister going into the Derby won that and the Triple Crown had to wait for at least another year.
The Derby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4Cxea_0j8&feature=related
The Preakness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-vQvzEbDlk&feature=related
In reading about these horses ands watching their races, I didn’t come away with the impression that winning another Triple Crown is impossibly difficult. Instead I was impressed by how possible it is. Spectacular Bid, Charismatic, Big Brown and I’ll Have Another had physical problems, (although you have to wonder about a couple of them). War Emblem stumbled out of the gate and Funny Side got stuck on the rail and in heavy mud. Sunday Silence had a rival as great as he was. Silver Charm won close races, then lost one. Real Quiet came the closest of all: losing the Belmont by a nose in a photo finish. Smarty Jones got caught by a long shot for his only career loss. Alysheba was a victim of different rules about which drugs were legal and where. Pleasant Colony probably just wasn’t good enough.
The next Triple Crown winner could happen at any time- maybe next year.
In 2002 Bob Baffert was back with War Emblem, a 20-1 shot in the Derby, owned by Saudi Prince Ahmed Bin Salman. War Emblem went wire to wire to win the Derby by four lengths, then held off several horses to win the Preakness. But he stumbled out of the gate at the Belmont and never recovered, losing to a 70-1 shot, Sarava. His jockey was Victor Espinosa and he had a strange career record of 7-0-0 in 13 races. He either won or was out of the money, as he was in the Belmont. Bob Baffert: "He was so one-dimensional and such an irritable horse as it was, as soon as he was behind horses, I had to sit there for 2½ minutes waiting for the race to be over."
The Derby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQd2XrLqrc
The Preakness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDTrsNOuraQ
The Belmont:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYcdUcjQNu4
FUNNY CIDE
A bunch of racing fans from Sackets Harbor, NY got together to create “Sackatoga Stable”, the name, being a combination of Sackets Harbor and Saratoga. They bought a Kentucky horse named Funny Cide. It seemed such an unlikely story that maybe this horse could break the Triple Crown jinx just based on his Cinderella Story. He was trained by Barclay Tagg and ridden by Jose Santos. He won the 2003 Derby by almost two lengths over favored horses Empire Maker and Peace Rules.
Then we saw something that has become more common in recent years: because of the emphasis on the Triple Crown, the owners of competing horses who hadn’t won the Derby pulled out of the Preakness to rest for the Belmont, leaving the Derby winner to win the Preakness easily and set up a Triple Crown chance that was at least partly an illusion.
But then the Miami Herald ran a bogus story with a misleading photo suggesting that Santos had cheated in the Derby: “The photograph, with accompanying comments, was posted highlighting what appeared to be a metallic object in Santos's right hand as he and Funny Cide crossed the finish line. Due to the angle from which the photograph was taken, it appeared that Santos was holding an object in his right hand, and so raised suspicion that he had cheated to win the world-famous race. The results of the investigation showed that in reality Santos did not have an object in his hand and it was the angle of the photograph that only made it appear otherwise. Other photographs and angles showed absolutely nothing in Santos’s hand and revealed that it would have been virtually impossible for him to be holding anything.”
“
Blood-Horse magazine's Steven Haskin wrote: "Pimlico stakes coordinator David Rollinson had to go out and recruit Preakness Stakes horses when it looked like only six or seven were going to run. All was calm that first week after the Derby. Then, EmpireMaker was officially declared out, leaving only six confirmed starters. Then Midway Road came in. Then all hell broke loose when the Miami Herald's bogus story and photo of Santos cheating in the Derby appeared. Empire Maker suddenly jumped back in, his Triple Crown hopes alive once again. Hours later, when the inferno began to subside, he was back out. Then Peace Rules
officially came in.”
It didn’t matter. Funny Cide blew them all away by almost 10 lengths, the second greatest margin of victory in Preakness history. It made Funny Cide the overwhelming favorite for the Belmont. But Funny Cide got stuck along the rail, where the mud was thickest on a wet day, and finished third the well-rested Empire Maker. "Looking back, Tagg wondered if Funny Cide's 9¾-length victory in the Preakness and his overly fast workout the week before the Belmont weren't the results of an on-edge horse who had little left for the final leg of the Triple Crown. Tagg was quoted as saying, 'He didn't need to have his adrenaline popping through his head every time a bunch of people came running down the aisle way.'" (all quotes from Wikipedia).
A gelding, Funny Cide had a long racing career, from 2002-2007. In 38 starts he was 11-6-8. He had to overcome some physical problems, including a respiratory ailment. But he earned the boys from Sackets Harbor $3.5 million off of a $22,000 investment.
A ten minute documentary on Funny Cide:
SMARTY JONES
A year after Funny Side, along came Smarty Jones, a horse given a name that had been an nickname for the owner’s strong-willed mother. The owners were Pat Chapman and her husband Roy. The trainer was John Servis and the jockey Stewart Elliot. The Chapmans had originally hired Bobby Carnac to train the horse but he was murdered by his mentally disturbed stepson. In addition to that shock, Roy Chapman’s health was fading and they felt the need to close down their operation except for four horses, one of them being Smarty Jones and to move into a smaller house to get money to pay for Roy’s and Smarty’s care. Then Smarty hit his head in a starting gate accident, was knocked unconscious and went into shock. Then his head swelled up: he’d fractured his eye socket.
But, somehow he recovered completely and everyone’s luck began to change. He came back to win three races as a two year old, the last by 15 lengths with the fastest time of any two year old of his generation. He continued his streak right into the 2004 Kentucky
Derby, becoming the first unbeaten Derby winner since Seattle Slew. It was the first Derby appearance, much less winner for the owners, the trainer and the jockey as well as
the horse. Smarty won by almost three lengths, only the second horse from Pennsylvania to ever win the Derby. He then crushed the Preakness field by 11 ½ lengths, the largest margin ever. It seemed we were finally going to have the 12th Triple Crown winner. Smarty Jones became a national sensation, increasing attendance at the Belmont by 17,000 and TV ratings to the highest level in 14 years. Bids for breeding rights were reaching up to $50 million.
At the Belmont, he ran a mile and a quarter in a time that would have won all but 3 Kentucky Derbys in history. But this was the Belmont and he was caught for the first time in his life by a 36-1 shot named Birdstone. He was subsequently retired due to chronic bruising of ankle bones. His career record was 8-1-0 in nine races. Because he’d won a huge bonus offered for winning the Rebel Strakes, the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Derby, he had career earnings of $7.6 million.
This clip has all three races. I really thought he was going win it this time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq-zB-KoNhU
BIG BROWN
Four years later, a horse came along that everybody thought really had the stuff to go all the way. And he seemed to have the name for it, as well. Both Man O’ War and Secretariat were called “Big Red“. Here came “Big Brown”. A Kentucky horse, he was named in honor of UPS. He changed owners twice and wound up owned by IEAH Stables, which was run as a hedge fund. Very modern. He also changed trainers but wound up in the care of Rick Dutrow and was ridden by Kent Desormeaux, who had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown with Real Quiet a decade before.
No underdog, he was an undefeated 2-1 favorite to win the Derby and didn’t disappoint anybody, winning by nearly five lengths. Unfortunately this race is more remembered for the breakdown of the second place finisher, Eight Belles, who had to be euthanized, (I hate the term “destroyed“).
Big Brown then won the Preakness by more than 5 lengths as a 1-5 favorite. He was the overwhelming favorite to win the TC. I remember asking people who knew more about horse racing than I did why this horse would be the one when so many had failed. They just told me that this horse was on a whole other level than those others.
But he had a history of cracks showing up in his hooves and a three-incher showed up in big Brown’s left front hoof after the Preakness. Wikipedia: “For the Belmont Stakes, Big Brown wore a second set of stainless steel sutures on the inside of his hoof. Hoof specialist Ian McKinlay changed the sutures a week before the race and attached an acrylic and fiberglass adhesive patch to the hoof. Although Big Brown missed three days of training prior to the race, his gait and attitude seemed unaffected” Dutrow referred to the injury as “a little hiccup”.
Big Brown was still a 3-10 favorite. “He was rank in the early stages of the race, and nearly ran up on the heels of eventual winner Da' Tara. Then Desormeaux tried to swing Big Brown to the outside during the first turn and bumped into Tale of Ekati. Da' Tara won the race by 5¼ lengths while Big Brown finished ninth, becoming the first Triple Crown hopeful to finish last in the Belmont. Kent Desormeaux pulled the horse up in the homestretch, later saying something was amiss and stating immediately after the race, "I had no horse" although no physical abnormality was ever found…Two weeks after the Belmont, a picture revealed a dislodged shoe on Big Brown's right hind leg that could have been the cause of his poor performance. The shoe might have come loose during the race and gotten pushed back in while he was running.” It was the only race of 8 that Big Brown didn’t win and he finished last: 7-0-0 in 8 races.
A 26 minute documentary on Big Brown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mMtmrO-7LE
I’LL HAVE ANOTHER
In subsequent years no other horse seemed to step up to the plate in the Triple Crown and the popularity of racing seemed to be fading. Then along came another Kentucky horse, named “I’ll Have Another”, named not after a desire for adult beverages but for his owner’s, (J. Paul Reddam”), attitude toward for his wife’s chocolate chip cookies. From such things come the names of race horses. He was trained by Doug O’Neill and ridden by Mario Gutierrez. He won three of his five races leading to the 2012 Kentucky Derby.
He used a great stretch run to catch Bob Baffert’s favored Bodemeister and win by a length and a half. Bodemeister was nonetheless installed as the favorite for the Preakness. I’ll Have Another again caught him down the stretch, this time winning by a neck. The two races remained people of the battles between Affirmed and Alydar 34 years before and made them wonder if they would see a third and another Triple Crown.
But Baffert pulled Bodemeister out of the Belmont. Then I’ll have another developed a tendon problem and was scratched. There was speculation that a new rule that all the horses for the Belmont had to be stabled together in one barn for three days before the race so they could be observed by track officials had something to do with the withdrawals. Union Rags, who had been rated second to Bodemeister going into the Derby won that and the Triple Crown had to wait for at least another year.
The Derby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4Cxea_0j8&feature=related
The Preakness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-vQvzEbDlk&feature=related
In reading about these horses ands watching their races, I didn’t come away with the impression that winning another Triple Crown is impossibly difficult. Instead I was impressed by how possible it is. Spectacular Bid, Charismatic, Big Brown and I’ll Have Another had physical problems, (although you have to wonder about a couple of them). War Emblem stumbled out of the gate and Funny Side got stuck on the rail and in heavy mud. Sunday Silence had a rival as great as he was. Silver Charm won close races, then lost one. Real Quiet came the closest of all: losing the Belmont by a nose in a photo finish. Smarty Jones got caught by a long shot for his only career loss. Alysheba was a victim of different rules about which drugs were legal and where. Pleasant Colony probably just wasn’t good enough.
The next Triple Crown winner could happen at any time- maybe next year.
