No matter what adjective you use to describe the Affirmed vs. Alydar rivalry, it’s not enough.
Tremendous. Historic. Unbelievable. Indescribable. None does justice to the smackdowns the two great thoroughbreds staged during their Hall of Fame careers.
Their three Triple Crown races in 1978 are legendary, with Affirmed winning the Kentucky Derby by 1½ lengths, the Preakness by a neck and the Belmont by a head. Alydar is still the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races.
Overall, Affirmed got the better of Alydar seven of the 10 times they met by a total of 10 lengths, with the latter beating his rival in the American Stakes and Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park when they were 2 years old and via disqualification the next year in the Travers Stakes in their final meeting.
I bring up the Affirmed-Alydar rivalry because one of the main characters in the story, Alydar trainer John Veitch, died this week of natural causes at the age of 77 at his home in Lexington, Kentucky. During a training career that spanned 30 years, Veitch trained four champions – fillies Our Mims, Davona Dale and Before Dawn and Sunshine Forever, top male turf horse in 1988. He also trained 1985 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Proud Truth.
Interestingly, Alydar was not among his Eclipse Award winners. The chestnut colt was always overshadowed by Affirmed, the big boy on the block who more often than not wound up with Alydar’s milk money.
If the 1978 Belmont Stakes is not the most thrilling, dramatic horse race of the past 50 years, it’s darn close.
Many thought Alydar had a real shot at denying Affirmed’s Triple Crown bid, but Steve Cauthen, Affirmed’s teenaged jockey, had other ideas.
The two hooked up at the half-mile pole and raced head and head to the wire. Finally, it appeared Alydar might win one of the close ones he characteristically lost. His jockey, Jorge Velasquez, thought so, telling Bob Diskin of ESPN in 2003 that in the final stages of the race he…
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