Hangin' With Haskin : Haskin

Spectacular Days

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:25:00 GMT

With the tragic epilogue to Wanderin Boy’s career causing many a heavy heart in the racing world, I feel gratified to have been able to tell this courageous horse’s story in a previous blog.

Still reeling from the sadness of seeing Wanderin Boy break down, as well as the brilliant young filly Springside, I will take one final look back in history, having prepared this blog last week. After this, I will return to current issues for a while, so as not to inundate readers with too many historical columns. So let’s throw in this final one before returning to current issues. Like Graustark and His Majesty, this is more of a personal nature. After taking bit of a break from storytelling I’ll return at some point with more tales of the turf.

People are always asking me who is the greatest horse I have ever seen. I tell them that in my opinion, Secretariat and Damascus had the most incredible 3-year-old campaigns, and Dr. Fager, in 1968, was the greatest horse who ever set foot on an American racetrack. But over the course of an entire career, at ages 2, 3, and 4, Spectacular Bid was the greatest horse I have ever seen.

There have been better looking horses than The Bid. There have been better moving horses, and better bred horses. But he had one quality that separated him from the others – he could do everything. He was as close to the perfect racing machine as any horse in my time.

He won grade I stakes on the lead and he won coming from 10 lengths back. He ran seven furlongs in a near-world-record 1:20 flat and 1 1/4 miles in a world-record (on dirt) 1:57 4/5, a time which has not been equaled in nearly 29 years. He broke seven track records and equaled another, and he did it at 2, 3, and 4. As a 2-year-old, he won the World's Playground Stakes at Atlantic City by 15 lengths, running the seven furlongs over a dead racetrack under wraps in an astounding 1:20 4/5.

After nailing down the 2-year-old championship with his victory in the Champagne Stakes in 1:34 4/5 for the mile, The Bid hardly rested on his laurels. In fact, he hardly rested, period. His trainer, Buddy Delp, called him “The greatest horse to ever look through a bridle,” and he felt there were more worlds to conquer. Only 11 days after the Champagne, Bid won the Young America at the Meadowlands, then came back only nine days after that and shattered the track record in the Laurel Futurity, beating General Assembly by 8 1/2 lengths, with Clever Trick another 12 lengths back in third. He was back 13 days later, winning the Heritage Stakes at Keystone by six lengths under wraps.

Spectacular Bid won at 15 different racetracks in nine different states, and carried 130 pounds or more to victory five times. To demonstrate his dominance, and the respect the public had for him, he was sent off at odds of 1-20, that's 1-20, an unheard of eight times, and 1-10 six times. Beginning with the World's Playground, he won 24 of 26 starts, rattling off 12-race and 10-race winning streaks, while facing such classy grade I winners as Flying Paster, General Assembly, Coastal, Glorious Song, Cox's Ridge, and Golden Act. His only two defeats came at 1 1/2 miles, when he stepped on a safety pin the morning of the Belmont, almost losing his foot after a bad infection set in, and in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, when he was beaten by Hall of Famer Affirmed after being forced to miss his prep in the Woodward Stakes due to a virus.

And he accomplished this being ridden as a 3-year-old by a little known and unaccomplished rider who was having cocaine problems at the time. Bid also suffered from a nagging sesamoid problem that was present throughout his undefeated 4-year-old campaign. When the Woodward Stakes was run in a walkover, Delp told Bill Shoemaker to just let him canter around the track so he could get one more race in him, concluding his career in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. But Shoemaker, despite never asking him to run at any point, still allowed Bid to close each of his final two quarters in a mind-boggling :24 1/5. Horses rarely come home that fast in a normal race, never mind running against no one. By running his mile and a quarter in 2:02 2/5, faster than Buckpasser, Kelso (in 1962), and Sword Dancer, Bid re-aggravated his sesamoid injury, which forced his retirement.

So much for statistics. As incredible as they are, Spectacular Bid went far beyond statistics. As his coat lightened as a 4-year-old, he was like a ghostly figure hurtling down one stretch after another in isolated splendor. With his head held high and his powerful legs stretching across the racing universe, he not only went undefeated in nine starts in 1980, there was never a horse in front of him at the eighth pole.

My wife Joan and I have always felt a close kinship with The Bid. He was a part of our early life together, and his passing in 2003 unleashed a flood of memories.

In 1979, a week before Joan started working as public relations coordinator for the New York Racing Association, we were hired by a weekly racing publication to photograph the Preakness Stakes. One of the unforgettable images was The Bid coming off the track on Preakness morning, bucking and lashing back with his hind legs, with his groom, holding on for dear life, telling the horse, “Damn, you're as crazy as the boss.” Another was The Bid walking the shed later that morning, stopping in front of Davona Dale’s stall. The great Calumet filly had just won the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes the day before, and each time Bid walked by her stall she would pin her ears back to her shoulder and eyeball him. And each time, Bid would stop right in front of her stall, pick his head up and stare right back at her, flashing the whites of his eyes.

For the Preakness, Joan was stationed on the rail, while I was up in the photographer’s stand shooting from the inside. It was quite a sight standing right over The Bid as he crossed the finish line 5 1/2 lengths in front, missing Canonero’s (official) track record by a fifth of a second.

The following year, Joan and I watched from her Belmont Park office overlooking the finish line, as The Bid concluded his remarkable career with the first walkover in 31 years. Eight days later, we were married.

In 1998, we went to visit The Bid at Milfer Farm in Unadilla, N.Y., along with our then 14-year-old daughter, Mandy. I wanted to make sure she saw the "greatest horse to ever look through a bridle," at least once in her life. The Bid, now 22 and milky white, was led out of his stall and proceeded to nuzzle up against my daughter. He no longer was among the elite roster of stallions, as he had been when he was retired to Claiborne Farm with such great promise. And he no longer bore even the slightest resemblance to that charcoal gray 3-year-old with the star on his forehead. But he still held his head high with pride, and when he looked at you, that fire and spirit of his youth still shone through. He was Spectacular Bid, and he still knew it. And you knew it.

Milfer Farm owner, Dr. Jon Davis, told us at the time, "I still get goose bumps standing next to him." His devoted groom, Tim Stewart, added, "All you have to do is be around him to know he's something special."

The last image I have of The Bid is of him standing outside his barn, his white mane blowing in the breeze, with my daughter standing alongside, patting him on his neck. That moment rekindled memories of a very special time, not only for my wife and me, but for Thoroughbred racing.

Affirmed died in 2001, then Seattle Slew in 2002, and The Bid in 2003. Just like that, they were all gone, and with them the end of a golden era. We will never see the likes of Spectacular Bid again. But at least I have a photo album I can open and show my daughter. And I can tell her, "You remember these pictures of you with this magnificent white horse named Spectacular Bid? Well, his trainer once called him the greatest horse to ever look through a bridle. It was quite an outrageous comment at the time. But, you know what? He was right."

Wanderin Wonder

Blood-Horse Staff — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:26:00 GMT

Many horses like Wanderin Boy go through their entire career overlooked by the fans and media. They’re always dependable, showing up in many of the grade I stakes, and while they turn in huge efforts at times, they’re just not able to get to the finish line first and make that leap into the big-time.

At age 7, Wanderin Boy has made only 24 career starts, winning nine, with six seconds and three thirds for earnings of $1.2 million. Talk about not choosing one’s company wisely, he has finished second in grade I stakes to Curlin (Jockey Club Gold Cup), Invasor (Pimlico Special), Bernardini (Jockey Club Gold Cup), and Lawyer Ron (Whitney). He has, however, managed to win the grade II Brooklyn Handicap and the grade III Ben Ali, Alysheba, and Mineshaft.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, ‘OK, so what’s the point?’

The point is, a horse like Wanderin Boy – and I emphasize the word “horse” rather than gelding – often goes unnoticed because he’s never done anything that would cause people to pay a whole lot of attention to him, other than to say something like, “It was another good effort by Wanderin Boy, but he was no match for….”

But there often is much more to a horse than his record. In Wanderin Boy’s case, this is a horse who should be admired by all those fortunate enough to see him run his heart out race after race.

His owner and breeder, Arthur Hancock III of Stone Farm, had bought a season in Seeking the Gold, to whom he would breed his Pleasant Colony mare Vid Kid, a stakes winner of almost $300,000.

Vid Kid produced a beautiful foal on April 4, 2001, but on May 3, the one-month-old colt somehow fractured his sesamoid while out in the field.

Hancock had a small portable pen that could be moved around. He placed it outside the barn, so the colt and his mother would have grass and sunshine while the injury healed. They were in the pen for six weeks, after which the vet examined the colt’s leg and told Hancock to keep him in there for another eight weeks.

Dr. Bob Hunt told Hancock he definitely would not be able to sell the horse and gave him about a 5% chance of ever running. But Hancock believes in always giving a horse every chance to make it to the races, so he allowed the colt to progress like any other horse. After the 14 weeks in the pen the colt was put out in a small paddock for three or four weeks and then turned out with the rest of the herd in one of the spacious 100-acre fields.

He was broken with the other horses and managed to come around and show some ability. Not being able to sell him, Hancock sent him to the racetrack with trainer Nick Zito. But soon after arriving, he fractured his cannon bone and was sent back to the farm, where he was stall-rested for six weeks and then hand-walked for two weeks. Dr. Hunt operated on him, putting several screws in his leg. After performing the surgery, Dr. Hunt told Hancock, “I cant believe this horse has healed so well. This is unbelievable, but he looks great.”

Wanderin Boy returned to the racetrack, but a short while later he bucked his shins and it was back to the farm once again, where he was hand-walked for two weeks and pinfired. He was sent back to Zito for the third time at Keeneland and finally made it to the races, winning his debut by 2 3/4 lengths on Oct. 22, 2004.

Following a second in a one-mile allowance race at Churchill Downs, he won a 1 1/8-mile allowance race at Gulfstream and then went to Fair Grounds, where he captured the grade III Mineshaft Handicap, beating graded stakes winner Pollard’s Vision by 1 3/4 lengths. It was obvious this was going to be a major star for Zito.

Then came a shocking seventh-place finish in the New Orleans Handicap, but something apparently was brewing. Shortly after that race, he fractured his other cannon bone and had to have screws put in that leg, too. He was kept in his stall for eight weeks and then hand-walked. When Dr. Hunt came by and took X-rays of the leg, he said to Hancock, “This horse must be an alien. I’ve never seen a horse heal like this in all my life.”

When he was sent back to the track for the fourth time, track veterinarian Mark Cheney also couldn’t believe how quickly the horse had healed.

It didn’t take Wanderin Boy long to pick up where he had left off. After being sent to Keeneland following a pair of good efforts at Gulfstream, he won an allowance race by 10 lengths and the Ben Ali Handicap by 5 1/4 lengths. Sent off as the 3-5 favorite in the Pimlico Special, he appeared to have the race won, but was run down late by an unknown Uruguayan import named Invasor, whom Wanderin Boy had apparently put away on the far turn. Zito couldn’t believe he had gotten beat by this horse, but little did he know who it was at the time.

Wanderin Boy went on to win the Brooklyn Handicap and finish second to Bernardini in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. A series of good races and bad races followed, including a victory in the Alysheba Stakes and a second to Lawyer Ron in the Whitney, run in a track-record 1:46 3/5. Then came a well-beaten fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Unfortunately, Wanderin Boy came out of that race dead-lame with an abscess in his foot. You guessed it, he was sent back to the farm yet again, where they had to pack his foot and let it grow out.

This year, he was getting ready for the Pimlico Special when Zito called Hancock at 7:30 one night and said, “I’m really worried about this horse. We need to send him to New Bolton (Medical Center). After being sent to New Bolton it was discovered the horse had a large stomach ulcer. He spent a while there being treated and then was shipped up to Saratoga, where he won first time back, capturing a seven-furlong allowance race by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:21 4/5. That was followed by a third in the Woodward to Curlin, breaking from the far outside post, and a second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, beaten three-quarters of a length by the defending Horse of the Year.

Here was a 7-year-old horse, who has gone through more ordeals than any horse in memory, still at the top of his game and running toe-to-toe with the mighty Curlin.

As Hancock said, “Isn’t that amazing? He just keeps coming back. I hope one of these races his day will come.”

The next time you see Wanderin Boy run, you might want to look at him in a different light and marvel at all he’s overcome. He's earned it.