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Kincsem, a chestnut filly, was foaled in Hungary 1874.
Her name means "my treasure" in Hungarian, and treasure she
was. Kincsem raced from age 2 to age 5 all across Europe, and she
won every single one of her 54 starts. She won against all
comers, male or female, of any age, from 4.5 furlongs to 2.5 miles.
Simply put, she was invincible.
For more information on Kincsem, check out this excellent
article
by Kathleen Jones.
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What is there to say about Man O' War that hasn't already
been said? He is unquestionably the greatest horse of the twentieth
century, and it's doubtful we'll ever see his equal. He won 20 of 21
races, his one loss (by a rapidly diminishing neck) coming through no
fault of his own. MOW equaled and broke records on the track carrying
tremendous weights and usually conceding many pounds to his rivals.
In the breeding shed, he also broke the mold, siring a much higher percentage
of stakes winners than most other stallions. MOW is still the yard stick
by which great race horses are measured.
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Like Man O' War, Secretariat hardly needs an introduction. He blazed
into history as the 1973 Triple Crown winner, the first since Citation
in 1948. He was the first horse to win the Derby in under two minutes,
and only Monarchos in 2001 has done so since. His Preakness was also a
record breaker, though the official clock at Pimlico malfunctioned and
read a slower time. (The DRF and other clockers caught him in track record
time.) His Belmont, though, is the race that he will always be remembered
by---he won by an overwhelming 31 lengths, setting a world record for
the distance that still stands. Sadly, Secretariat was not nearly as successful
at stud as he was on the track, but he has proved to be a worthy broodmare
sire. When he died in 1989 at the age of 19, an autopsy discovered that
his heart was nearly twice the size of a normal heart. Simply put, his
brilliance was the result of a superior engine.
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Citation was an iron horse.
He won 8 of 9 races at two, and 19 of 20 at three, including the 1948 Triple
Crown. At age four, he was sidelined with an injury that would plague him
through the rest of his career. Big Cy should have retired at three, but
his owner wanted Cy to be the first horse to break the $1 million earnings
mark, and so Cy returned to the track at five and six. His former brilliance
never quite returned, and though he didn't win many starts, he was almost
always at least second. He truly had the heart of a champion. |
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On May 7th, 2002, 25 years to the
day of his Kentucky Derby win, Seattle Slew died quietly in his sleep at Hill
N Dale Farm in Lexington, KY. He will be greatly missed.
Seattle Slew will be forever remembered as the only horse
to win the Triple Crown while undefeated, and as one of the best and most
influential sires of the latter 20th century. He will live on through
his champion offspring and in our hearts and memories.
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The 1970's produced many incredible race horses---Secretariat,
Forego, Ruffian, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, and Alydar---and as the decade
came to a close, one last great horse emerged. Spectacular Bid, one of my
favorite horses of all time, first garnered attention and praise as a two
year-old in 1978, winning 7 of his 9 races and claiming the Two Year-Old
Eclipse. At three, The Bid nearly captured the Triple Crown, missing the
Belmont because of a bad ride and a safety pin in his foot. At four, The
Bid was unstoppable, winning all nine of his races and equaling or setting
records in each. His World Record of 1:57 4/5 for the 1 1/4 miles, set in
the 1980 Strub Stakes, still stands. In all, The Bid won 13 Grade I stakes
(on 10 different tracks, no less), 5 Grade II stakes, and 3 Grade III stakes.
His race record stands at 30-26-2-1. The Bid also had tremendous stamina,
carrying 130 pounds or more in five starts and winning all five. And though
he didn't win the Triple Crown, he did beome only the fourth horse to win
the prestigious Strub series, joining Round Table (1948), Hillsdale (1949),
and Ancient Title (1974). In 2000, in a survey of the 100 Greatest Racehorses
of the 20th Century, Bid ranked 10th behind Man O'War, Secretariat, Citation,
Kelso, Count Fleet, Dr. Fager, Native Dancer, Forego, and Seattle Slew,
and ahead of such notables as Affirmed, War Admiral, and Round Table. Unfortunately,
The Bid's foals did not inherit his tremendous talent. He passed away on
June 10th, 2003 at age 27, the last of the greats. |
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Ruffian was one in a million, a filly with unbelievable speed
and a burning desire to win. In every one of her races, she equaled or broke
a record---she was never beaten and never headed. In July of 1975, having
proven her superiority against her own sex, Ruffian faced Foolish Pleasure,
that year's Kentucky Derby winner. Ruffian led from the start and was beginning
to pull away when she took the fatal step that tragically ended her life.
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