Substitute jockey Jorge Velasquez was up on Spectacular Bid for the colt’s first race around two turns, the Young America Stakes at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., on the evening of October 19. Bid was the bettor’s favorite at 3 to 10 odds, but he almost blew it. Or, rather, Velasquez almost did. A […]

Trainer Bud Delp entered Spectacular Bid in the Meadowlands Cup during the fall of 1979. To ensure that Bid would enter, officials at the Meadowlands had sweetened the pot, raising the purse from $250,000 to $350,000. Twenty-two other horses were nominated, including Affirmed, but Laz Barrera decided not to run him. Instead, he sent his […]

When I was 10, I saw Spectacular Bid win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes with ease. When he finished third in the Belmont Stakes, I was crushed. But life went on; I heard something about a safety pin, but I brushed Bid aside and looked for the next Kentucky Derby winner in 1980. Little […]