Flashback: 4 forgotten Arkansas Derby winners

The last 20 years have seen the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby rise to prominence as one of the most important Kentucky Derby prep races. Recent winners include Classic Empire (2017), Creator (2016), American Pharoah (2015), Curlin (2007), Lawyer Ron (2006), Afleet Alex (2005) and Smarty Jones (2004) – all of them champions and/or classic winners.

But the Arkansas Derby dates all the way back to 1936, and many early winners were notable in their own right. While the passing of time has inevitably caused the legacies to fade, that doesn’t mean they’re not worth celebrating.

To commemorate the Arkansas Derby’s 85th anniversary, let’s take a trip down memory lane and recall four forgotten (but fantastic) Arkansas Derby champions:

Nodouble (1968)

Nodouble needed plenty of time to come to hand, going just 2-for-12 as a juvenile. But once he found his best stride, he was a force to reckon with. A one-length score in the Arkansas Derby ranked among the highlights of a sophomore season that saw Nodouble finish third in the Preakness and upset Hall of Famer Damascus in the Michigan Mile and One-Eighth Handicap.

The following year, Nodouble earned a share of champion handicap male honors after winning or placing in a bevy of the nation’s most prestigious prizes for older horses, including the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup, Brooklyn Handicap, Woodward, Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. For good measure, he came back in 1970 to win the Metropolitan Handicap, cementing his reputation as a remarkably durable and accomplished runner.

Golden Act (1979)

Although many of Golden Act’s best efforts came on turf, including a victory in the 1979 Canadian International Championship (G1), he was also a thoroughly capable dirt performer during the spring of 1979. If not for squaring off against an unusually deep crop of 3-year-olds, Golden Act might well have been a Triple Crown winner.

Certainly Golden Act held his own during the spring classics. After rattling off victories in the Louisiana Derby (G2) and Arkansas Derby (G2). Golden Act finished third in the Kentucky Derby behind Hall of Famer Spectacular Bid and record-setting Travers (G1) winner General Assembly. Golden Act then improved to second behind Spectacular Bid in the Preakness before settling for second again in the Belmont, ahead of “The Bid” but behind multiple Grade 1 winner Coastal.

Temperence Hill (1980)

American Pharoah wasn’t the first Arkansas Derby winner with a misspelled name! Although Temperence Hill never won more than three races in a row, he raced frequently enough to nab far more than his fair share of major prizes. Despite claiming the Rebel Handicap and Arkansas Derby on the Kentucky Derby trail, Temperence Hill skipped the Run for the Roses but came to hand in time to defeat the Derby-winning filly Genuine Risk in the Belmont Stakes.

Temperence Hill promptly lost his next three starts, but by the end of the year he’d rebounded to add victories in the Travers (G1), Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), and Super Derby to his resume, sufficient to earn champion 3-year-old male honors at the Eclipse Awards. A Suburban Handicap (G1) triumph as a four-year-old further enhanced his impressive tally of major victories running 1 1/4 miles or farther.

Althea (1984)

The brilliant filly Althea made a habit of beating male rivals in graded stakes. As a juvenile, she pulled off an improbable double at Del Mar, dominating the Del Mar Debutante (G2) against fellow fillies by 15 lengths before coming back 10 days later to trounce colts by 6 1/2 lengths in the Del Mar Futurity (G2).

But Althea’s greatest performance came in the Arkansas Derby, where she led all the way to crush future Grade 1 winners Pine Circle and Gate Dancer by seven lengths. Her blazing final time of 1:46 4/5 equaled the track record and established a stakes record that stands to this day.

Althea failed to replicate her performance in the Kentucky Derby, fading to finish 19th after setting the pace, but the fact that no Arkansas Derby winner before or since has come within 0.80 of breaking Althea’s standard stamps the daughter of Alydar as local legend.

Keeler Johnson is a writer, videographer, handicapper, and all-around horse racing enthusiast. A great fan of racing history, he considers Dr. Fager to be the greatest racehorse ever produced in America, but counts Zenyatta as his all-time favorite. You can follow him on Twitter at @J_Keelerman.