Is American horse racing amid another golden age? It seems so
Is North American Thoroughbred racing in the midst of another golden age? The evidence seems clear comparing this run of greats to the past.
From the 1930s onward, with every decade came another batch of horses that asserted their dominance. Granted, the 1930s, 40s and 70s were heavily dotted by Triple Crowns with three, four and three of them, respectively, during those 10-year spans. But beyond the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes were intense rivalries, brilliant feats and amazing individual performances that make certain time periods in racing history stand out.
Any racing fan has to be grateful for the quality of horses we have been fortunate to see in the last decade.
Top earners in racing’s current golden age
From 2007 to 2018, North American racing has seen 11 years of remarkable racing success. The top money earner of all-time in North American racing was crowned three times during this time period starting with two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, the $10 million man, breaking Cigar’s record of $9,999,815 which had eclipsed John Henry’s record. This was followed by two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, who topped Curlin by more than $4 million with $14,752,650 in total earnings. A year later, Arrogate set the present mark with $17,422,600. Arrogate almost lost it the following year, too, when Gun Runner won the Pegasus World Cup, eventually retiring with earnings of $15,988,500. Gun Runner could have received more had the winner’s share increased when the purse jumped from $12 million to $16 million. Some have balked at earnings as a measure of greatness, but if one examines who these top earners have been, most, if not all, have made it into the Hall of Fame.
During this time period there have been two Triple Crown winners. While that pales in comparison to the 1930s, 40s and 70s, given the 37 years of waiting for a horse to hit this elite trifecta, having two in four years is extraordinary. And American Pharoah and Justify have made their marks in spectacular fashion for trainer Bob Baffert. The 2-year old champion American Pharoah completed the Grand Slam of racing winning the Triple Crown in the Breeders’ Cup era and taking the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the last in track record time. In doing so he set the single season earnings record at $8,288,800, which broke the record set by Smarty Jones at $7,563,535 — and that included a $5 million bonus. Since then, the mark haw been broken by Arrogate in 2017 with $13.338 million. Justify, who was retired on July 25, shattered the “Apollo Curse” in becoming not only the first un-raced two-year old to win the Kentucky Derby since Apollo in 1882, but the one and only horse to win the Triple Crown having not run as a juvenile. Justify accomplished this feat taking on more challengers in the Triple Crown races than any previous Triple Crown champion.
Going back to the beginning of this sequence, 2007 has been regarded as one of the recent top 3-year old classes Seven-time Grade 1 and Breeders’’ Cup Classic winner Curlin has already been mentioned, but the class also featured 2-year old champion Street Sense who became the first Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner to win the Kentucky Derby, and sprint champion Hard Spun, and Haskell Invitational winner Any Given Saturday. Other highlights of the class include three-time older female Eclipse Award winning filly/mare champion and Hall of Famer Zenyatta who also reigns as the all-time money-earning filly in North American racing history at $7,304,580; a 13-time Grade 1-winning filly; and is the top Breeders’ Cup champion earner having won the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic, Breeders’ Cup Classic and placed second in the Classic to champion Blame. Zenyatta, owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, carried more weight in 2009 and 2010 than any other handicap horse in North America, at 129 pounds. Finally, another 2007 class member, Rags to Riches, trained by Todd Pletcher became the third filly to win the Belmont Stakes, and the first to win at the current 12-furlong distance.
The big fillies and mares keep coming
In 2009, recent Hall of Fame inductee and daughter of Medaglia d’ Oro, Rachel Alexandra, came along. While winning five Grade 1 races, she stepped up in class three times and became the fifth filly to win the Preakness Stakes (first since Nellie Morse in 1924) as well as first at the current distance of 9.5 furlongs. She also became the second filly to win the Haskell Invitational, defeating Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, with the top Beyer Speed Figure of the year, a 116. She was also the first filly to win the Woodward Stakes against older males. Curlin and Rachel Alexandra were both owned by Stonestreet Stables, giving founder Jess Jackson, of Kendall Jackson wine fame, three Horse of the Year trophies in a row. The Rachel/Zenyatta show was followed in 2011 by filly Havre De Grace, who became the second filly/mare to win the Woodward Stakes. She brought Horse of the Year honors to Fox Hill Farm.
After an impressive 12-length debut win as a 2-year old, Royal Delta, a daughter of Empire Marker, signaled that she would be a force to be reckoned as well while running out of Hall of fame trainer Bill Mott’s barn. By the end of her career, she had won six Grade 1 races, three Eclipse Awards and two Breeders’ Cup Distaffs. In 2012, another top female horse, Beholder, owned by Spendthrift Farm, won the first of three Breeders’ Cup championships: the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at 2; the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at 3; and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at 6. She won 11 Grade 1 races, including the Clement L. Hirsch, Pacific Classic, Santa Anita Oaks, Vanity, and Zenyatta Stakes three times in a row between 2013 and 2015. She also won Eclipse Awards at 2, 3, 5 and 6.
In 2015, many at Keeneland’s first Breeders’ Cup were anxious to see American Pharoah close out his career in the Classic. But they were also treated to a top performance by 2-year-old filly Songbird, another owned by Fox Farm and trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer. She eventually did American Pharoah one better by winning nine Grade 1 races. Songbird, another daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, won 13 of 15 career races, with her only defeats by a nose and a head.
Oh, and a few popular chestnuts emerged
Gelding Wise Dan followed 2009 turf champion Gio Ponti’s lead. Not only did he equal Gio Ponto as a two-time turf champ, but he also won a pair of Eclipse Awards as top older male and Horse of the Year. Trained by veteran Keeneland conditioner Charles LoPresti and campaigned by Morton Fink, Wise Dan captured two Breeders’ Cup Mile wins and 12 Grade 1 races in all, including Churchill Downs’ 2011 Clark Handicap on dirt. His career included a comeback from a colic scare that didn’t seem to slow down the son of Wiseman’s Ferry.
One of this golden age’s most popular horses — and really, one of the most popular of all time — is California Chrome, who burst on the scene in 2014 as a homebred of Perry Martin and Steve Coburn. These Californians took self-deprecation to a new level with their purple and green DAP (Dumbass Partners) jockey silks with septuagenarian trainer Art Sherman. Chrome ended up winning two Horse of the Year titles (the first non-consecutive multiple Horse of the Year winner since John Henry), 14 stakes races (and seven Grade 1s) including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Hollywood Derby on turf, Dubai World Cup, Pacific Classic and Awesome Again Stakes.
Chrome was defeated by a half a length in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic by three-year old wunderkind Arrogate, who was making only his second stakes start and sixth career start after destroying the 37-year-old Travers Stakes track record set by Secretariat’s son, General Assembly. One of the last and the best sons of champion stallion Unbridled Song, Arrogate was campaigned by Juddmonte Farm. Before retiring, Arrogate would go on to record wins in three of the world’s top four richest races, adding the Pegasus World Cup held at Gulfstream Park and the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Race Course in Dubai to his accomplishments. His performance in Dubai left jaws agape as he broke poorly but managed to power by eventual Horse of the Year Gun Runner, to capture victory by more than two lengths. Arrogate inexplicably lost his form to end his career with a trio of losses at Del Mar.
Finally, the list of champions from this era concludes with our most-recent Horse of the Year, Gun Runner, who retired following the 2018 Pegasus World Cup with six Grade 1 wins including the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen captured his third horse of the year win, this one for owner Ron Winchell of Winchell Thoroughbreds, thanks to an impressive string of five consecutive Grade 1 wins. Gun Runner fired a final shot in the Pegasus with a commanding victory from a challenging outside post.
Other golden ages: 1930s – 40s
Seven Triple Crown winners in an 18-year period is a record is unlikely to ever be matched: Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946) and Citation (1948).
In 24 years, just short of the period of time it would take to secure another Triple Crown winner after Citation — who also retired as top money earner at $1,085,760 — there were also 4 two-time Horses of the Year. Max Hirsch’s Sarazen was the only two-time winner of the Dixie Handicap. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney’s Equipoise turned Arlington Park’s Delavan Handicap into a memorable event by not only beating his old rival Jamestown by three lengths while giving him 10 pounds, but also by setting a new world record of 1:34 2/5 for a mile. Challedon at age 3 set a world record for 9.5 furlongs winning the Tranter Purse in 1:54.60. And then there was Whirlaway.
One event which made the close of the 1930s so special was the emergence of an East-West rivalry between War Admiral and Seabiscuit, who would be named Horse of the Year, and both related to the then-undisputed greatest of all-time, Man o’ War. In the 1940s, six out of 10 years the top horse award was won by owner Calumet Farm. There were two filly/mare Horses of the Year aged 3 with Twilight Tear and Busher. In 1944, filly Twilight Tear took on males at 9.5 furlongs in the Pimlico Special defeating Devil Diver and Kentucky Derby/Preakness Stakes winner Pensive to close out the year tying the track record set by Seabiscuit.
The next year, Busher took on males in six races, winning five of them including a victory in the Washington Handicap over future Hall of Famer Armed, where drawing off to win by 1 1/2 lengths she set a new track record of 2:01 4/5s for 10 furlongs. Gallorette also raced in 1945 as a 3-year old, winning over eventual Kentucky Derby winner Hoop Jr. in her debut that year. She also won the Empire City Handicap over Belmont Stakes winner Pavot. At 4, she won the Metropolitan Handicap, Nimba Handicap and Brooklyn Handicap over eventual Hall of Famer Stymie. She likely would have been considered for Horse of the Year had Assault not won the Triple Crown that year.
Other golden ages: 1950s-60s
No Triple Crown winners in this era? No problem. The 2-year-old Horse of the Year, Native Dancer, Sagamore Farm’s gray ambassador, is a horse that many believe is one of the best to ever race. Who, but he, could win Horse of Year at 4 on the strength of but a single stakes race after brilliant 2 and 3-year-old seasons? He lost the award in 1953 to Tom Fool, who had an incredible handicap season winning champion sprinter and older male, when he suffered his only loss in the Kentucky Derby to Dark Star denying him the Triple Crown. That said, he still finished his career with only that Kentucky Derby loss.
William Woodward, Jr.’s Belair Stud bred the great Nashua, who would go on to become 2 an 3-year-old champion. He lost the Kentucky Derby to another racing great, California-bred Swaps, but then captured Horse of the Year after besting Swaps in an August match race at Washington Park, where his former exercise rider Art Sherman said Swaps was not 100 percent, suffering from swelling of his frog, the fleshy area inside the bottom of the hoof. Rested for the remainder of the year, Swaps would get revenge the following year when he won eight of 10 races and had to carry 130 pounds six times. Nashua lost both races when he carried 130 pounds. Swaps was named Horse of the Year and retired after setting or equaling six world records from distances of a eight to 13 furlongs. Iutside of those feats, he set two track records. Nashua would retire as only the second millionaire in racing history eclipsing Citation’s earnings mark with $1,251,200.
1954 saw one of the strongest crops ever in North American racing history born when Iron Liege (Kentucky Derby), Bold Ruler (Preakness Stakes, 1957 Horse of the Year), Gallant Man (Belmont Stakes) and Round Table (1958 Horse of the Year, champion turf horse 1957-58, top North American earner of all-time upon retirement) were foaled. Between these four horses, 48 stakes and handicap races were won from 1956 to 1959. All four would only face each other once, in the Kentucky Derby where they swept the Top 4 spots. After Iron Liege’s retirement, the remaining three met for the Trenton Handicap at Garden State Park as 4-year-olds with Bold Ruler winning.
The early part of the 1960s was dominated by Bohemia Stable’s Kelso, the only five-time winner of Horse of the Year. This amazing gelding managed the feat from ages 3-7 during which time he won each year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup at two miles; took the Whitney Handicap and Woodard Stakes three times; and set a track and stakes record which still stands at Laurel Park in the 1964 Lawrence Realization.
In 1965, Ogden Phipps’ homebred son of Tom Fool, Buckpasser, came on the scene when named champion 2-year-old, plus won 3-year-old honors despite missing the Triple Crown series with a quarter crack. He set a world record at a mile in the Arlington Classic of 1:32 and 3/5s on his way to becoming Horse of the Year.
Sword Dancer’s son, Damascus, owned by Mrs. Edith W. Bancroft, entered the scene the following year. After a promising win in the Remsen Stakes at 2, setting a track record and winning the Wood Memorial, he finished third in the Kentucky Derby before winning the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Prior to the Wood Memorial, Damascus had suffered a rare defeat at the hands of fellow 3-year-old Dr. Fager who had won the Gotham Stakes by half a length. Dr. Fager’s trainer, John Nerud, had skipped the Triple Crown races feeling his colt was not ready for 1 1/4 miles earlier in the year. However, with the end of summer approaching, Dr. Fager was pointed to the 10-furlong Woodward Stakes, named after William Woodward, Sr. who happened to be Damascus’ owner’s father, and exactly where Buckpasser and Damascus were pointed as well.
The 1967 Woodward became the “Race Of The Century” eventually featuring three Horse of the Year winners and future Hall of Famers. Buckpasser trainer Eddie Neloy entered Great Power and Damascus, while trainer Frank Whitely entered Hedavar to try and soften up speedster. Dr. Fager broke between the two rabbits, running six furlongs in 1:09 1/5. Damascus at this point was ahead of Buckpasser and started making his move, breezing by Dr. Fager to win by 10 lengths, with Buckpasser eventually passing the Nerud colt in the stretch.
The decade ended with Canadian oil magnate Frank McMahon campaigning Majestic Prince to potentially become the first-ever horse to become an undefeated Triple Crown winner after dispatching Rokeby Stables’ colt, Arts and Letters, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The Prince had suffered a “check ligament” in his right front leg in the stretch of the Preakness Stakes which caused him to bore out. Over concerns expressed by trainer Johnny Longden, Majestic Prince was entered in the Belmont Stakes and lost to Arts and Letters, the eventual Horse of the Year, by 5 1/2 lengths. Majestic Prince would never race again.
Other golden ages: 1973-84
In 1970, three foals were born that would change the way many people looked at the sport. It had been 25 years since a Triple Crown was won. Some believed it would never happen again. The foals were, of course, Forego, Secretariat and Sham.
Five Horse of the Year awards would eventually be shared between two of them. They’d set new speed records in the Triple Crown races. And two of the Triple Crown winners, Secretariat and Affirmed, would bookend three-time Horse of the Year Forego.
Forego would go on to win 14 Grade 1 races from a mile to 16 furlongs. During this time there were no female Horses of the Year, but there were awesome champions. The great Ruffian raced for only 410 days, but in that brief time proved to be bright, equaling or breaking stakes records and tying two track records. Her average margin of victory was more than 8 lengths. There was also champion 3-year old filly and two-time champion older female Susan’s Girl, who won 24 stakes.
The year Affirmed retired, Spectacular Bid finished another spectacular year of racing, setting the world record for a classic 10 furlongs distance dirt race which still stands in the Strub Stakes at 1:57 and 4/5s at Santa Anita Park. Then, finally, we had two-time Horse of the Year (1981 and 1984) John Henry, who proved his mettle on both turf and dirt with 16 Grade 1 wins. That remains remains the North American record, though the great Australian mare Winx eclipsed the career mark for Group/Grade 1 wins just this year as her career continues.
Todd Sidor, an attorney by trade, has helped produce equine law seminars, and belonged to a racing partnership for a number of years. His more than two decades passion and respect for the sport of horse racing will always make him, first and foremost, a racing enthusiast.