The Near Miss of all Near Misses: Real Quiet

During American Pharoah’s Triple Crown quest, we were reminded of those near misses during the 37-year drought: Charismatic, Silver Charm, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones – but none was as agonizing to watch as Real Quiet’s loss by a nose to Victory Gallop in the 1998 Belmont Stakes. Had the finish line been a few yards shorter, Real Quiet’s lunge would have put him across by a nose instead, and he would have won the Triple Crown.

Lost in the photo finish, however, was the fact that even if Real Quiet had won the race, he faced a probable disqualification for impeding Victory Gallop down the stretch.

Many criticized jockey Kent Desormeaux’s early move in Real Quiet’s loss. But it’s easy to second-guess when a jockey makes a move; move too soon, and the horse runs out of gas. Move too late, as Jorge Velásquez did on Alydar in the 1978 Kentucky Derby, and you don’t leave yourself enough room to win.

Desormeaux, who had a four-length lead on the field heading into the homestretch, said he sensed Real Quiet losing steam at the one-sixteenth pole. According to The Baltimore Sun, he peeked under his right arm and saw Victory Gallop coming like a steam train toward him. Desormeaux pulled on his right rein so that Real Quiet could see Victory Gallop coming, but instead of turning the horse’s head, he pulled a little too hard and turned his whole body – directly in the path of Victory Gallop. Victory Gallop swerved a little, then kept on. Real Quiet then bumped Victory Gallop not once, but twice as they headed toward the finish line.

“It’s too close to call!” announcer Tom Durkin exclaimed as the two crossed the finish line at the same time. Only a photo finish showed Victory Gallop’s nose in front, denying a Triple Crown for Real Quiet.

Gary Stevens, Victory Gallop’s jockey, said he would have filed an objection. “In the closing strides Real Quiet shifted out pretty drastically and made some serious contact with us. It more or less stopped my colt.”

Immediately after the race, the stewards did Stevens’ job for him, flashing the inquiry sign on the scoreboard. The three stewards, who review any possible infractions, delayed the result until they examined the tape from the race. And in an odd turn of events, despite the fact that Victory Gallop won and it was a moot point, the stewards told ABC TV and issued a statement saying that Real Quiet “probably” would have been disqualified if he had finished first. 

John Joyce, steward for the state Racing and Wagering Board, told The New York Times, “There was some significant lugging out there. We probably would have DQ’d Real Quiet if he had won.”

When he learned about the probable disqualification, Desormeaux teared up and told the Orlando Sentinel, “Then I’m glad he got beat. [The disqualification] would have been worse.”

No horse has ever lost a Triple Crown race – much less a Triple Crown – over an infraction that occurred during the race. Dancer’s Image lost the 1968 Kentucky Derby because later it was discovered that he had phenylbutazone, a banned substance at Churchill Downs, in his system.

Would the stewards really have disqualified Real Quiet for bumping Victory Gallop? Would a Triple Crown have been lost by a swerve and a bump? It would have sent the 80,162 fans at Belmont Park into riot mode. Thank goodness for photo finishes.

~Written by Peter Lee (roadtothederbyblog.com)