Nashua was destined to be the new superhorse, a colt that would wipe away the Triple Crown failure of Native Dancer and restore order to horse racing. Trained by the legendary “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons and ridden by Eddie Arcaro, he had won 8 of 10 races as a 2-year-old, good enough for Champion 2-Year-Old Male in 1954. And he started 1955 the same way, winning his first four races – including the Flamingo Stakes, Florida Derby and Wood Memorial. But… Read More »Triple Crown Near-Misses: Nashua Runs Into Swaps

Forty years ago today, Ron Franklin, Bud Delp and the Meyerhoffs made their homecoming successful as Spectacular Bid romped to a 5 1/2-length victory in the Preakness Stakes. The only drama was and escalation in the heated feud between Franklin and fellow jockey Angel Cordero – a feud that would boil over weeks before the Belmont Stakes. As usual, it didn’t start well. Off to a sluggish start, Bid was bumped by Flying Paster. He then faced an attempt to… Read More »40 Years Ago: Spectacular Bid Destroys Preakness Field

Thirty-nine years ago today, Spectacular Bid received a high weight for the Mervyn LeRoy Handciap at Hollywood Park on May 18, 1980 – 132 pounds – and still destroyed the field by seven lengths en route to his sixth straight win. Bid lay off the pace as Replant led into the clubhouse turn. Flying Paster stayed with Bid toward the back of the field and moved to the outside of Bid, who was on the rail. Pierce was right where he wanted to be, and… Read More »Another Rout: Spectacular Bid Wins Mervyn LeRoy by Seven