As one who has bestowed the mantle of greatness on American Pharoah, I admit I’m worried about the super horse’s next race, the 1 ¼-mile Travers Stakes on Saturday at ancient Saratoga race track in upstate New York. Since the aptly named Upset handed Man o’ War his only career defeat in 1919, Saratoga has been known as “The Graveyard of Champions.” It’s a designation not to be taken lightly.
I’m not as much concerned about any of Pharoah’s competitors – he’s beaten just about all of them – as I am about this idea of tempting fate. Saratoga has never been particularly kind to trainer Bob Baffert, which probably is why Baffert has never seemed wildly crazy about running his Triple Crown winner in the Travers. But mostly it’s the ghosts of great horses who had their worst moments at Saratoga.
Consider, if you will, the three Triple Crown winners of the 1970s.
After Secretariat’s tour de force in the 1973 Triple Crown, owner Penny Tweedy and trainer Lucien Laurin brought him to Saratoga, where street lights were festooned with banners depicting the matinee idol’s blue-and-white blocked silks. But instead of burnishing his legend, Secretariat was defeated twice by older horses – Prove Out and Onion – trained by Allen Jerkens, whose nickname was “The Giant Killer.”
The next year trainer Billy Turner wanted to give Seattle Slew a well-deserved break after the Triple Crown and bring him back for the Travers. But his impetuous and headstrong young owners, the Taylors and Hills, ordered Turner to ship him to California and run him in early July at Hollywood Park. Reluctantly, Turner followed orders and had to watch helplessly as J.O. Tobin handed Slew his first career defeat.
That opened a rift between the trainer and the owners that only got worse at Saratoga, where Slew was stabled. I know, because I spent a week there as Turner’s houseguest. Slew didn’t run at Saratoga and soon after the meet, the owners replaced Turner with Doug Peterson.
And then there was 1978, when Affirmed and Alydar renewed their Triple Crown rivalry in the Travers. In those days before the Internet and social media, the buildup to this race was enormous. Both horses had the same cast of characters except for one important substitution: Steve Cauthen, the young jockey who had ridden Affirmed so brilliantly through the Triple Crown, was serving a suspension for a riding violation in California.
To replace Cauthen, owner Louis Wolfson and trainer Laz Barrera retained Laffit Pincay Jr., who was then one of the nation’s best riders. A colt named Shake Shake Shake, ridden by Angel Cordero Jr., took the early lead in the four-horse field, with Alydar to his inside and Affirmed to his outside.
On the backstretch, in an effort to help his buddy Jorge Velasquez get through easily on the rail, Cordero tried to push Affirmed out. Pincay responded by drawing clear of Shake Shake Shake and then cutting quickly toward the rail, where Alydar was running easily. But Pincay cut so quickly that he forced Velasquez to momentarily pull up Aldyar, costing him any chance to win. Although Velasquez was able to gather his colt and get him running again, he couldn’t catch Affirmed. Inevitably, the stewards disqualified Affirmed and moved Alydar to first, an outcome that satisfied nobody.
The two never faced each other again.
I remember running into John Veitch, Alydar’s trainer, that night at a local watering hole. He was with Chic Anderson, the smooth race-caller who had moved to New York from the Kentucky circuit. To say that Veitch was still steaming would be an understatement. Had Pincay appeared at that moment, I shudder to think of what might have happened.
So stuff happens at Saratoga.
Initially, Baffert’s choices for American Pharoah’s final race before the Breeders Cup Classic (Oct. 31 at Keeneland) were the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, the Travers, and the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 19. I thought he might try the Pacific Classic because he’s based in California and would get a chance to see Phroah take on older horses.
But owner Ahmed Zayat always favored the Travers, and, eventually, that’s where Baffert decided to go. In retrospect, that probably was a wise decision because of what happened in the Pacific Classic. The brilliant filly Beholder took on a group of talented older males, including 2014 Breeders Cup Classic winner Bayern, and absolutely crushed them.
If you did not watch the Pacific Classic, you need to watch the replay on YouTube. As the field began the turn for home, Beholder moved from third to first with breathtaking ease. It was the sort of move you rarely see, the kind that only the greatest thoroughbreds can make. And then she galloped on to win by as much as she pleased, untouched by jockey Gary Stevens’ whip. Her time for the mile and a quarter was 1:59.77.
So now there is a drumbeat for a Pharoah-Beholder showdown in the Breeders Cup Classic. Yet that sort of talk is premature. First Pharoah must take care of business in the Travers. A loss wouldn’t exactly tarnish his reputation or cost him any of his fan base. But it would be good for the sport if he went into the Classic unbeaten as a 3-year-old.
Earlier in the week, Baffert brought the law of averages into play.
“The Arkansas Derby, the Kentucky Derby, all of his races have been really just over the top,” Baffert said. “That’s what surprises me – that he keeps bringing it like he does. I’ve had really good horses, that when they put in a great performance, it’s hard for them to keep bringing those great performances, and he does. We want to get another great performances out of him.”
That’s what I want, too, and that’s probably what we will get. I see nobody in the field that looks to be in Pharoah’s class. Still, it’s Saratoga. The ghosts are everywhere, and maybe I’m whistling past the graveyard. As we have seen before, sometimes not even greatness is enough to save a champion from the demons that lurk in the shadows.
Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award twice. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades, but he is perhaps one of media’s most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby.
Prove Out beat Secretariat at Belmont Park.