The Mother of all Peter Pans: The Legend of Coastal
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On the eve of this year's Peter Pan Stakes, I cannot help but think back 3 1/2 decades to the mother of all Peter Pans, and the ripple effect it had a few weeks later.
Coastal was always a nice horse. A well bred stakes winner at two, trainer David Whiteley brought the son of Majestic Prince along slowly at three. Two winning allowance sprints at Aqueduct in April and May, the second of which was by an impressive eight lengths, signaled that he was ready to jump back into graded stakes racing. The Peter Pan on May 27, 1979 would be the ticket.
While Coastal was a nice horse starting to put it all together, Spectacular Bid was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest horses in the sport's history. The week before Coastal would run in his first stakes race of his sophomore season, The Bid was basking in the Maryland glow of rolling home by 5 1/2 lengths in the Preakness. He was two-thirds of the way to becoming the 12th Triple Crown champion, and looking all but unbeatable. That win at Pimlico was the fantastic gray's 12th in a row, and save one wacky night at the Meadowlands, not one of the twelve offered any real worry to Buddy Delp's bridle wearer. It was pretty clear that the also-rans in both the Derby and the Preakness weren't going to stop Spectacular Bid.
Coastal wasn't ready for the Derby or the Preakness, but Whiteley had him very ready for the Peter Pan. Looking very much like a horse ready for bigger challenges, Coastal dominated the Belmont prep like no other horse has done before or since. The William Haggin Perry owned, and Claiborne Farm bred colt hit the Belmont stretch in front and continued to pour it on all the way to the wire.
After nine furlongs, Coastal was 13 lengths clear of his closest competition, while stopping the clock in stakes record time of 1:47 flat. It was, along with his younger brother Slew O' Gold's performance in the race four years later, one of the two Peter Pans that I will never forget.
Coastal would be supplemented to the final leg of the Triple Crown and head to the Belmont Stakes as a clear second choice. But still, you couldn't find many people willing to pick him over Spectacular Bid two weeks later in the Belmont Stakes.
Of all the horses that hit New York with racing’s Holy Grail on the line, since Affirmed did the deed, Spectacular Bid was the best of them all. Of that, I have no doubt. But when the the real running of the 1979 Belmont Stakes began, it was The Bid who began to fade. The Peter Pan winner, under Ruben Hernandez was full of run and rushed up on the rail. The decision was not long in doubt, as Coastal was too strong on this day for the heavy favorite, striding out to a 3 1/4-length victory. In a bit of racing injustice, the late running Golden Act also passed Spectacular Bid late, but this race was all about Coastal and the champion that he defeated early in the Belmont stretch.
Coastal was one of the most underrated horses of my lifetime. Among his stakes wins after the Peter Pan romp and the Belmont Stakes upset, included the Dwyer and Haskell in his next two starts. He would lose the final three starts of his career, running well, but succumbing to Spectacular Bid and Affirmed in the biggest races of the fall. In all, he won 8-of-14, but it is the Peter Pan, and then his Belmont of 1979, that I never will forget.
Will we see anything like him tomorrow? Unlikely, but I am always hopeful that another star like Coastal will be unveiled in the Peter Pan.
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