Spectacular Bid
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Spectacular Bid (February 17, 1976–June 9, 2003) was an American Thoroughbred race horse who set numerous speed records and won 12 consecutive races until his loss in the 1979 Belmont Stakes.
His sire was Bold Bidder, stakes winner of 13 races who also sired the 1974 Kentucky Derby winner, Cannonade. His grandsire was Bold Ruler, a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee and an eight-time Leading sire in North America. His dam was Spectacular by Promised Land. Spectacular Bid was inbred to To Market (3m × 3f) and as of 2005 remains the most inbred Kentucky Derby winner in more than 40 years.[1]
Spectacular Bid was bred by Madelyn Jason and her mother, Mrs. William Gilmore. He was a dark, almost blackish-gray. As a yearling, he was sold at auction for US$37,000 at the 1977 Keeneland September yearling sale to Harry and Teresa Meyerhoff of Hawksworth Farm, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
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[edit] Racing record
Spectacular Bid won 26 of 30 races and earned US$2,781,607, a then-record sum. He finished worse than third just once. He is unique among "great" horses in that he never lost between 7 furlongs and 1¼ miles, i.e., at any of the most common middle distance events in American racing. He is probably most noted for his ill-fated attempt at winning the Triple Crown, which came up short in the Belmont Stakes as a result of a freak accident involving a safety pin in his stall the morning of the race and a questionable ride by jockey Ronnie Franklin.
The Los Angeles Times quoted jockey Bill Shoemaker as saying that Spectacular Bid was the best horse he ever rode. [1]
[edit] Two-year-old season
Spectacular Bid began his racing career in 1978 as a two-year-old under the training of Grover G. "Bud" Delp, who remained his trainer throughout his career. His first start occurred on June 30 at Pimlico Race Course, where he came within 2/5ths of a second of the track record for 5 1/2 furlongs. Three weeks later at his next start at Pimlico, an allowance race, he equalled the track record of 1:041⁄5. He notched stakes victories in the Grade III World's Playground Stakes, the Grade I Champagne Stakes, the Young America Stakes, the Grade I Laurel Futurity (in which he set a track record, a rarity for a two year old in a route race, running 11⁄16 miles in 1:413⁄5), and the Heritage Stakes. He also finished second in the Dover Stakes and had his only out-of-the-money finish in the Tyro Stakes.
By the end of his first year of racing, Spectacular Bid had won five stakes races in seven starts, set one track record and tied another, won US$384,484 and was named the Eclipse champion two-year-old colt for the year. He was compared to recent Triple Crown champions Seattle Slew and Affirmed.
[edit] Preparing for the Triple Crown
Spectacular Bid's second year of racing began where his first left off, as he reeled off 5 wins in rapid succession: the Hutcheson Stakes, the Fountain of Youth, the Florida Derby (all at Gulfstream Park), the Flamingo Stakes (at Hialeah), and the Blue Grass Stakes (at Keeneland Race Course). After the Florida Derby, Delp reprimanded Franklin in public over his ride: "You idiot!""You nearly killed that horse!" Nonetheless, Spectacular Bid won by 4½ lengths.
[edit] Triple Crown attempt
Spectacular Bid's attempt at the Triple Crown began with the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in May 1979. He was the odds-on favorite, with California champion Flying Paster the bettors' second choice. Delp was so confident of victory that as the horse paraded in front of the fans, he called, "Go bet! Go bet!" Spectacular Bid won by 2¾ lengths over General Assembly, a very well-bred son of Secretariat. After suffering a leg cut during the race, Flying Paster finished fifth. After Spectacular Bid, the two-year-old champion did not win the Kentucky Derby again until Street Sense in 2007.
Spectacular Bid's next step in the quest for the Triple Crown came at the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Bumped early, he ran wide and by the final stretch was in command. He handily won the race, outpacing his nearest competitor by 5½ lengths. His time was faster than that of Seattle Slew or Affirmed, and by official time faster than Secretariat (though Secretariat's time in this race was disputed).
On the morning of the Belmont Stakes, a freak accident was discovered: Spectacular Bid had stepped on a safety pin. The pin had become embedded in his hoof, later leading to an infection that threatened his life and requiring the hoof to be drilled to cure the problem. However, after the discovery of the injury, Spectacular Bid did not seem lame and was entered into the race. Several days prior to the race, his teenaged jockey, Ronnie Franklin, engaged in a fist fight with Angel Cordero, Jr. in the jockeys' preparation room due to a dispute over an earlier race at Belmont. (Franklin felt Cordero interfered with his horse, causing him to pull up.) In the Belmont, Franklin gunned Spectacular Bid early in the long race. Spectacular Bid faded to third behind Coastal and Golden Act, horses he had defeated in other major races. Franklin was then replaced as Spectacular Bid's jockey.
Spectacular Bid's failure to win the Belmont began a record-setting drought since Affirmed's Triple Crown win of the year before. This drought continued with Animal Kingdom's failed 2011 run at the championship.
[edit] Post-triple crown racing
Following the Belmont Stakes, Spectacular Bid took two months off to recover from the injury. He returned to racing with Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker, who rode him through most of the remainder of his career. His first race back was in August 1979 in a warm-up event at Delaware Park. He won by more than 17 lengths and set a new track record for 11⁄16 miles, 1:413⁄5. Spectacular Bid followed this performance with a win at the Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park, beating both horses he had lost to in the Belmont Stakes: Coastal and Golden Act. He was scheduled to race in the Marlboro against 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed, but Affirmed's owners bowed out of the race in reaction to a 133-pound impost assignment to Affirmed.
Spectacular Bid did contest Affirmed in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, where he made four challenges and finished second to the Triple Crown winner. This was the last race Spectacular Bid lost. He finished the year with one more race, the Meadowlands Cup, again setting a track record at 11⁄4 miles, 2:011⁄5. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Eclipse champion three-year-old colt for the year. His winnings for this year totalled US$1,279,333.
[edit] Four-year-old season
As a four-year-old, Spectacular Bid started in nine races, winning them all for earnings of US$1,117,790. He set four track records at distances of 7 furlongs, 1 mile, 1¼ miles, and twice at 1⅛ miles.
His first three races were part of the "Strub Series", all held at the Santa Anita Park course that the late Charles H. Strub owned and built. Spectacular Bid carried 126 pounds in each race and defeated Flying Paster each time. The first race in the series was the Grade II Malibu Stakes at 7 furlong. Spectacular Bid ran the distance in 1:20, which stood as a track record for 27 years until Santa Anita removed its dirt track in favor of an artificial surface. Then he won the Grade II San Fernando Stakes, and finally, he won the Grade I Strub Stakes at 1¼ miles, running the fastest 1¼ miles ever on a dirt track, 1:574⁄5, and breaking a 30-year-old record of 1:581⁄5 set by Hall of Famer Noor under 130 pounds in 1950. As of 2011, Spectacular Bid's time still stands as the world record on a dirt track.
Spectacular Bid also won the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap (carrying 130 lbs) on a sloppy track March 2. Then he moved to Hollywood Park Racetrack, where he won the Mervyn Leroy Handicap carrying 132 lbs on May 18 and the Grade I Californian Stakes, carrying 130 lbs in a track record time of 1:454⁄5. He then shipped to Arlington Park to win the Grade III Washington Park Handicap under 130 lbs, setting another track record, 1:461⁄5 for 1⅛ miles. Then it was on to Monmouth Park for the Grade I Monmouth Handicap, which he won under 132 lbs, defeating champion filly Glorious Song.
Spectacular Bid concluded his career with a walkover in the Woodward Stakes on September 20, 1980, at Belmont, covering the 1¼ miles in 2:022⁄5. A plan to race in the Jockey Club Gold Cup was aborted on the day of the race when a leg injury flared up. Delp thereafter announced Spectacular Bid's retirement.
During his final year, Spectacular Bid compiled then-record earnings of US$2,781,607 and was named Horse of the Year, as well as winning the Eclipse Award for the American Champion Older Male Horse.
[edit] Stud record
Following his last race, Spectacular Bid was syndicated for a then-record US$22 million and put to stud at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, where his initial stud fee was $150,000 USD. His record as a sire was mixed, and his stud fees plummeted over the years. He was eventually sold and moved in 1991 to Milfer Farms in Unadilla, New York, where he lived out the remainder of his years, although he was never pensioned from stud duty. In his last year standing, his fee was $3,500.
Spectacular Bid sired 253 winners, including 47 stakes winners that won more than US$19 million. At the time of his death, his daughters had produced 69 stakes winners, ranking him among the top 35 broodmare sires in 2003.
His most notable progeny include: Bite the Bullet (19 starts 5-4-2 for US$216,809; sire of 19 SW in Australia),[2] Spectacular Love (won G1 Belmont Futurity Stakes), Spectacular Sue, Maison Close, Lay Down, Festivity, Spectacular Joke, Princess Pietrina, Lotus Pool, Esprit d’Etoile, Legal Bid and Sweettuc, etc.
Spectacular Bid died from a heart attack on June 9, 2003, and was buried at Milfer Farms.
[edit] Honors
The Blood-Horse magazine ranked Spectacular Bid at #10 in the Top 100 U.S. Thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1982. Timeform, in A Century of Champions ranked him as the third best North American horse in the 20th century behind Secretariat and Citation.
[edit] Tabulated pedigree
| Sire Bold Bidder B. 1962 |
Bold Ruler B. 1954 |
Nasrullah | Nearco |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mumtaz Begum | |||
| Miss Disco | Discovery | ||
| Outdone | |||
| High Bid B. 1956 |
To Market | Market Wise | |
| Pretty Does | |||
| Stepping Stone | Princequillo | ||
| Step Across | |||
| Dam Spectacular B. 1960 |
Promised Land 1954 |
Palestinian | Sun Again |
| Dolly Whisk | |||
| Mahmoudess | Mahmoud | ||
| Forever Yours | |||
| Stop On Red Ch. 1959 |
To Market | Market Wise | |
| Pretty Does | |||
| Danger ahead | Head Play | ||
| Lady Beware |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Morris, Simon; Tesio Power 2000 - Stallions of the World, Syntax Software
- ^ Stallions: Bite The Bullet Retrieved 2011-1-1
[edit] External links
- Rice's Derby Choice Journal 2004
- National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame entry for Spectacular Bid
- Spectacular Bid's Kentucky Derby
- Preakness winners
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- 1976 racehorse births
- 2003 racehorse deaths
- Thoroughbred racehorses
- Racehorses trained in the United States
- American racehorses
- Racehorses bred in Kentucky
- United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
- Kentucky Derby winners
- Preakness Stakes winners
- Eclipse Award winners
- American Thoroughbred Horse of the Year
- American Grade 1 Stakes winners
