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TITANS OF TURF : Episode 3 – Affirmed

2:11 am by co-admin in Horse

     Thoroughbred racing can take credit for staging one of the most memorable rivalries between any two competitors in the annals of sports. And when the shouting was over, the “battle of the titans” produced a clear winner: His name was Affirmed, which was indeed fitting, because his position as one of the greatest American racehorses was indeed affirmed forever. And the horse that carried him to so many hard-fought finishes, Alydar, courageous in defeat, must go down in history as one of the gutsiest second-place finishers.

      By the end of his career, Affirmed had captured Eclipse awards for Best Two-year-old 1977; Best Three-year-old and Horse of the Year 1978; Horse of the Year and Best Older Colt or Gelding1979. But more than that, he had endeared himself to millions of Americans who claimed him as a national treasure. He was no provincial hero; he traveled from coast to coast for three consecutive years, taking on the best the nation could provide, and won 22 of 29 starts, with his five seconds and one third leaving him unplaced only once.  

     Affirmed not only retired at the end of his 4-year-old year as the leading money winner of all time with earnings of $2,393,818, but was responsible for his trainer, Lazaro Barrera taking the trainer earnings title for each of the three years that he raced. His owner-breeder, Harbor View Farm of Louis Wolfson, also took the earnings title for an owner in 1978 and 1979, primarily on the strength of Affirmed’s successes.

      He was a bright chestnut of medium proportions except for unusual depth through the hind quarters and a girth of 74 and one-half inches — large for a horse standing just an inch over 16 hands and weighing 1,100 pounds at retirement. He had a fine head with a white blaze in his face that accentuated his coat color, and a disposition as gentle as the proverbial lamb. By Exclusive Native out of Won’t Tell You by Crafty Admiral, and foaled in Florida, he had an abundance of speed and staying blood within four generations. But his greatest attribute could not be measured in generations, pounds, inches, or even furlongs. His greatest strength was his courage, his heart.

      It was Calumet Farm’s star, Alydar, whose pedigree simply dripped blue blood that challenged him more than any other horse. In their 2-year-old season, Alydar beat Affirmed twice, the latter finishing second to him in both the Great American and Champagne stakes at Belmont Park. But that same year, Alydar also finished second to Affirmed on three occasions; Saratoga’s Hopeful, the Belmont Futurity and the Laurel Futurity. The results were academic when, in the absence of Alydar, Affirmed virtually trotted off with victories in Saratoga’s Sanford Stakes and Hollywood Park’s Futurity, ensuring his claim as the best juvenile in the country.

      As a 3-year-old in 1978, Affirmed won three on the trot at Santa Anita on the West coast, including the Santa Anita Derby. He followed that by winning Hollywood Park’s Derby before shipping to Churchill Downs to renew the rivalry with Alydar in the Kentucky Derby. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Alydar had won three important races leading up to the Kentucky Derby: the Flamingo Stakes, the Florida Derby and the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. The Kentucky Derby shaped up as another epic confrontation between the two horses.

      There was almost as much interest in the rivalry between their two jockeys. Jorge Velasquez, Alydar’s rider, was an expatriate Panamanian with years of experience and, in winning many titles in the United States, he had earned a reputation for having a great sense of pace. At 18 years old, Steve Cauthen, Affirmed’s rider ever since he had won the Sanford Stakes at 2, was nevertheless relatively inexperienced, and had never ridden in the Kentucky Derby. Accolades had come his way, however, as he had already won Eclipse Awards and been honored as Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

      History has well-recorded the fact that Affirmed swept the Triple Crown, and nothing can be added here except to relate fond memories. Affirmed won the Derby by a length and a half, pressing the pace all the way, but was threatened once again by Alydar who came from 10th in an eleven-horse field to finish second. Affirmed won the Preakness by a diminishing neck, threatened even more by Alydar who battled him every inch of the final furlong, coming from sixth in a seven-horse field. We all knew that the extra distance of the Belmont Stakes at a mile and a half, the final link of the Triple Crown, would certainly favor the fast-closing Alydar. It did, but it didn’t.

      Velasquez put Alydar on Affirmed’s hip from the very start, then moved alongside of him by the time they had gone half a mile. With a mile remaining, the two fought head and head. They turned into the stretch a head apart, and a furlong out they could barely be separated. But at the wire, the unpredictable became the inevitable; Affirmed won by a head.

      Six times out of eight encounters Affirmed beat Alydar, more often than not in a photo finish. Alydar turned the tables once more, but only after Affirmed was disqualified and placed second to him in the Travers later that summer at Saratoga. Affirmed finished the year with a win in the Jim Dandy and a second to Seattle Slew in the Marlborough Cup, before finishing unplaced for the only time in his life when his saddle slipped in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He was awarded two more Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year and Best Three-year-old.

      Winter racing at Santa Anita saw Affirmed starting his 4-year-old season after several months rest. I saw him with more condition on him than ever before, and looking well-rested — perhaps too well-rested. As with many horses that have been given a breather after a hard campaign, when he started back into hard work he was stiff and warmed out of it only with difficulty. He looked sore but, in spite of his legs being perfectly sound, he carried his tail slightly to one side and never looked completely comfortable until well-warmed up.  

     He started 1979 with two disappointing losses — a third in the Malibu and a second in the San Fernando Stakes. Cauthen was in a slump and was blamed, perhaps unfairly, for both losses, and was replaced as the stable jockey by an angry Barrera. In retrospect, it must be said that Affirmed was a very relaxed horse that thrived on hard training. Barrera, whose health was failing, had been under immense pressure after an incredible year, and may have been too conservative with him. However, it’s easy as an impartial an observer to draw such subjective conclusions. In any event, from that point on, Laffit Pincay was given the mount and soon afterward Cauthen left for England where he became a champion jockey.

      Affirmed was never to be beaten again. Starting with the Charles H. Strub Stakes at Santa Anita at the beginning of February and ending with the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in early October, he won seven of the most important races in America. Barrera had open-heart surgery that summer, and never entirely recovered his health, dying within two years. Affirmed was retired to stud and became a successful stallion, living for some 20 years after his Hall of Fame trainer. Both of them are vivid in my memory. Cauthen said of Affirmed in a recent interview for The Blood-Horse: “Even though he’s gone, he’ll never be gone for me. He’s there as much as I can remember every step of every race.”

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