Spectacular Bid, Secretariat, Nijinsky II, Pepper's Pride - Oct. 4th

Secretariat worked a mile in 1:37 in preparation for the Oct. 14 Champagne Stakes. ~1972

 

Nijinsky II's 11-race winning streak came to an end when he ran second to Sassafras in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. ~1970

 

Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown champion, was euthanized at Claiborne Farm, Paris, Ky., after suffering a severe case of laminitis. He was 19. ~1989

 

Trainer Bobby Frankel saddled Sightseek to victory in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park. For Frankel, it was his 23rd Grade I stakes winner of the year, breaking D. Wayne Lukas' record of 22 set in 1987. ~2003

 

Undefeated five-year-old mare, Peppers Pride, became the first modern North American-based Thoroughbred to win 17 consecutive races when she captured an optional claiming race at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M. ~2008

 

Thanks to Belmont Park victories aboard Sightseek in the Beldame Stakes and Birdstone in the Champagne Stakes, jockey Jerry Bailey surpassed his own single season record for North American purse earnings--$19,271,814--set in 2002. ~2003

 

Nineteen members of England's Jockey Club announced an agreement at Newmarket to register their racing colors for purposes of distinguishing runners among a field of horses. The Duke of Devonshire chose "straw," and the color, still registered for the family, is the oldest continuously used color in racing. ~1762

 

Less than an hour before post time, Spectacular Bid was scratched from the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the race that was to have been his last. Trainer Bud Delp claimed that "Bid" had a slight leg injury, but refused to allow a veterinarian to examine the horse and insisted he be retired. Despite this ignoble end to his career, Spectacular Bid's 1980 racing season was perfect: he won each of his nine starts, all of them stakes, and was subsequently voted Horse of the Year. ~1980