I was only 3 years old when Secretariat won the Triple Crown, so to me he was as much a legend as Man O’ War. I didn’t start following horse racing until 1981, so I missed the exploits of another pair of chestnuts, Affirmed and Alydar, who ran 1-2 in all three Triple Crown races in 1977. Big red horses were the ideal of greatness, the bar against which to measure all other horses.
It was 1988, long before the Internet and social media, but even so, in the fall I became aware of the buzz around a red colt on the East Coast. He was a son of Alydar, out of the Buckpasser mare Relaxing. His name was Easy Goer.
Alydar was a product of the storied Calumet Farm. He is the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races; if not for Affirmed, Alydar would have been the 10th Triple Crown winner. At two, Alydar won the Great American, Tremont, Sapling, and Champagne but it was not enough to wrest the two year old championship from his rival. At three, Alydar took down the Flamingo, Florida Derby and Blue Grass before the Triple Crown. In the second half of his three year old year, he won the Arlington Classic, Whitney, and Travers. Again, this resume was not impressive enough to best that of Affirmed. Alydar made 6 starts at age four; his only stakes win was the Nassau County Handicap-G3.
Alydar as a 3-year-old
Easy Goer’s dam, Relaxing, was the Champion Older Female of 1981. Born in 1976, at age 4 she won the Firenze Handicap-G2 and Gallant Fox Handicap-G2. At 5, she won the Assault Handicap, John B. Cambpell Handicap-G2, Delaware Handicap-G1, and Ruffian Handicap-G1. That same year she placed in two G1 stakes against males, the Woodward Stakes (4th) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (3rd). In three years of racing, she earned over $500,000.
Relaxing's win photo for the 1981 Ruffian Handicap
Relaxing was sired by the great Buckpasser. Foaled in 1963, Buckpasser was the Champion Two Year Old Colt of 1965, Champion Three Year Old Colt of 1966, Champion Older Male of 1966 and 1967, and Horse of the Year in 1966. His wins included the Sapling, Hopeful, Arlington-Washington Futurity, and Champagne at two; the Everglades, Flamingo, Arlington Classic Handicap, Brooklyn Handicap, American Derby, Travers, Woodward, Lawrence Realization, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Malibu at three; and the San Fernando, Met Mile, and Suburban at four. In 31 starts, Buckpasser posted 25 wins and earned almost $1.5 million. His broodmare sire was Triple Crown winner War Admiral, a son of the immortal Man O’ War.
Buckpasser
Easy Goer was bred and owned by Ogden Phipps, a member of the famed Phipps family, whose cherry red and black silks had graced champions since Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps’ founded the Wheatley Stable in 1926. The Phipps family was a blue-blooded as their Thoroughbreds. Henry Phipps founded the family fortune; as Andrew Carnegie’s accountant and business partner, he received approximately $50 million when Carnegie Steel was purchased by J.P. Morgan in 1901. Phipps founded Bessemer Trust to manage his money; in 1974, Bessemer began accepting outside clients and is now worth almost $100 billion. Forbes currently ranks the Phipps family as the 44th richest family in America with $6.6 billion in assets. Easy Goer’s breeder, Ogden Phipps, chaired the Jockey Club for ten years; he was followed in the position by his son Odgen Mills “Dinny” Phipps.
The famous Phipps family silks
After starting his career with a second place finish at Belmont, Easy Goer broke his maiden at Saratoga and followed up with wins in the Cowdin and Champagne Stakes. He came into the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as the favorite, but ran into a wet track that he detested and finished second to the aptly named Is It True. Despite this loss, he was voted 1988 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and became the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby. People were already talking Triple Crown and comparing him to “Big Red” himself: Secretariat.
Easy Goer winning the 1989 Gotham Stakes
He started his road to the Kentucky Derby in Florida, winning the Swale Stakes before returning to New York to sweep the Gotham and Wood Memorial. In the Gotham, he ran the mile in near world record time, smashing Secretariat’s stakes record by a full second, stopping the clock in 1:32 ⅖ , just ⅕ of a second off Dr. Fager’s world record. This was the stuff of legends, and many began to dream that maybe, just maybe, Easy Goer would be “The One.” He came into the Kentucky Derby as a strong favorite, but unfortunately the track came up wet again and the big red colt was not able to bring his A game. Once again, he finished 2nd at Churchill Downs, this time to the spectacular Santa Anita Derby winner, Sunday Silence.
Two weeks later, the two colts faced off again in the Preakness Stakes. Easy Goer was still favored, since his loss in the Derby had come on an off track at Churchill Downs, just like his unexpected defeat in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. As they turned into the homestretch, Easy Goer and Sunday Silence were neck and neck. Easy Goer was on the rail and his jockey, Pat Day, had his head cocked to the right for some reason. Many Easy Goer fans (myself included) believe that if the red colt had been able to stretch his neck out straight, his nose, and not Sunday Silence’s, would have hit the wire first.
Easy Goer and Sunday Silence battle to the wire in the 1989 Preakness; notice how Easy Goer's head is turned
The bloom was fading from the Phipps’ colt’s rose. Just like his sire, he appeared doomed to play second fiddle to a colt from the West. Suddenly, it was Sunday Silence who was touted as the next Triple Crown winner and Easy Goer seemed to be just another overhyped two year old who had failed to live up to expectations. Despite living on the West Coast, I was still a believer, however. The Belmont Stakes was run in New York, Easy Goer’s home turf. For the only time, I rooted against a Triple Crown sweep.
For the first time, Easy Goer was not the post-time favorite. The field broke well, and Sunday Silence tracked the pacesetter, with Easy Goer rating just behind him. All down the backstretch, the black colt stayed in front and as they moved into the far turn, he made his move. Once again, it seemed like Sunday Silence had gotten the jump on his rival. Then, as they swung into the homestretch, Easy Goer ranged up beside Sunday Silence, raced next to him for a few strides and then blasted away to win by eight lengths. It was the second fastest Belmont Stakes ever; the only horse who won the “Test of the Champion” in faster time was Secretariat. Alydar’s son accomplished what he had been unable to do: deny a Triple Crown.
1989 Belmont Stakes
After the Triple Crown, the two rivals went their separate ways. Easy Goer remained in New York, defeating older horses in the Whitney at Saratoga before taking the Travers Stakes. He returned to Belmont where he beat older horses again in the Woodward and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. At the time, the Jockey Club Gold Cup was still run at its traditional distance of 1 ½ miles. Like a throwback to another time, Easy Goer was probably the last top class 1 ½ mile horse we would ever see.
All he needed to wrest the Three-Year-Old Championship and Horse of the Year title from Sunday Silence was a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream in Florida. Perhaps running in a 1 ½ mile race as his final prep left him a step too slow; perhaps Sunday Silence used his tactical speed to once again get the jump on the his rival. For whatever reason, Easy Goer closed furiously but was unable to catch the black colt. Both titles went to Sunday Silence.
Easy Goer falls just short in the 1989 Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park
Easy Goer put together probably the finest campaign to not win a championship. He won the Gotham in track record time, the second fastest Belmont of all time, defeated older horses all four times he faced them, and became the only three-year-old to win the Whitney, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup in the same year.
At four, Easy Goer had an abbreviated season, winning the Suburban Handicap and finishing third in the Met Mile. He retired due to injury and went to stud at Claiborne, the farm that had always boarded the Phipps’ mares and foals. Like the royalty he was, Easy Goer was given the prime stall in the stallion barn: the one last occupied by Secretariat himself and his sire Bold Ruler before him.
Easy Goer was a good but not great sire. He sired nine stakes winners, including Will’s Way, Furlough, and My Flag. The latter was a chestnut filly out of Easy Goer’s former stablemate, the great Personal Ensign, who had won the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. My Flag won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 1995 and in turn produced the bay Storm Cat filly Storm Flag Flying, who won the Juvenile Fillies in 2002.
Personal Ensign, My Flag, and Storm Flag Flying at Claiborne Farm
Tragically, Easy Goer died at the young age of eight, dropping dead one day from anaphylactic shock while being led into this paddock. Sunday Silence, meanwhile, had not gotten the support from breeders that the son of Alydar had and eventually went to Japan where, ironically, he became one of the greatest sires that country has ever seen.
To me, Easy Goer symbolizes the dream all race fans share, the fantasy of “The One”: the super horse who defies all odds and brings us perfection. As I (and all race fans) have learned over the years, perfection is rarely seen. But sometimes, we are given a glimpse of it. Easy Goer may not have completely delivered on his early promise, but his Gotham and Belmont wins were legendary and will always be remembered. For a few brief shining moments, he parted the clouds and let us see the golden light of greatness that shines all too rarely from the flanks of the Big Red Horses who fill our imaginations.
Sources:
“Easy Goer” : https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/easy-goer
“Relaxing” : http://www.aikenracinghalloffame.com/Relaxing.html
Phipps family : http://www.forbes.com/profile/phipps/
Crist, Steven. “Horse Racing: Easy Goer Romps” : http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/09/sports/horse-racing-easy-goer-romps.html
“Horse Profile: Easy Goer” : http://helloracefans.com/horses/horse-profiles/easy-goer/
No comments:
Post a Comment