Monday, January 18, 2010
1978 Travers manuscript
(From the book “The History and Art of 25 Travers” by Vic Zast)
1978 Travers
“Unresolved Ending”
Affirmed Beats Alydar But Loses
© Vic Zast, 2007
Approximately 1519 words
The Chinese were celebrating the Year of the Horse. But for every American racing fan, 1978 was clearly the Year of Two Horses.
Affirmed, a tenacious copper colt owned by Louis Wolfson’s Harbor View Farm, was the Triple Crown champion.
Alydar, a golden giant that raced in Calumet Farm’s “devil’s red” silks, was his rival.
In the spring and summer, these two legendary combatants stood head and shoulders over all other three-year-olds. They had faced each other nine times, and in most of their races, the margin of victory was, well, marginal.
Saratoga Racecourse and the 109th Travers was the setting for their tenth and final meeting. Of course, before the race was run, nobody realized that the two captivating colts would never face each other again. Expectations were sky-high, a record crowd was anticipated, and there was plenty of bluster in the air as the day approached.
Laz Barrera was telling people that Affirmed, a son of Exclusive Native, would defeat his handsome rival, a son of Raise a Native, as he had in seven of their previous meetings.
“If those two were fighters, Alydar would never receive another chance because he has already lost so many times,” the Cuban-born trainer, a boxing fan, said as he watched his champion gallop on the track two days before the showdown. “He’s perfect. He looks a little bigger each day. He’s just right,” Barrera said.
John Veitch thumped his chest a little less aggressively as he looked ahead to Alydar’s final workout.
“We’ll just blow him out three-eighths Friday and that’ll be that,” Veitch told Kay Coyte of The Saratogian newspaper. Charlie Rose, Alydar’s exercise rider, was bolder. “I know I’ve said that before, but this time I think we’ll get him,” Rose predicted.
August life in Saratoga Springs had changed in the sixteen years since the last awe-inspiring rivalry, between Jaipur and Ridan. For example, the newspaper’s social page reporter Jeannette Jordan could only cajole forty-four families to reveal their seasonal whereabouts in her customary “Cottage List.”
Every burglar worth a rap sheet knew that Col. and Mrs. Cloyce Tippett (the former Elizabeth Altemus Whitney) lived at 181 Phila St. But how handy it must have been to read that Dell Hancock and Helen Alexander were at 294 Lake St., that Mr. and Mrs. John R. Gaines were in residence at 695 North Broadway and that Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Brady were up the street from the Gaineses at number 748.
That summer, Mrs. Tippett -- the “Queen of Llangollen Farm” -- had restored “The Outlaw,” a black-and-yellow road coach from the late 1920s. Covered in her purple-and-fuschia stable colors, she would drive her gleaming team and wagon on selected days to the Reading Room, the “members only” house that sat on the northwest corner of the racecourse’s property. Once there, friends such as Lillian and Ogden Phipps, Senor and Mrs. Horatio Luro, and Libby Schaffer would meet her for lunch on the porch.
As a sign of respect, officials of the New York Racing Association saved a grassy spot for the bays and grays to graze. Of course, the makeshift range wasn’t opened until after the stout-hearted, well-muscled animals led a homestretch parade that gave folks in the grandstand a charge. With one hand on a gold cup of Moet et Chandon, Tippett would wave from “The Outlaw” to cheers and applause.
Such whimsical portrayals of pomposity, if not dead, were at least dying in the late ’70s. In coming decades, the public was more likely to catch a glimpse of high society in seersucker suits and sun dresses under the shady paddock elms or, if lucky to make the invitation list, at lavish soirees such as the New York Turf Writers’ dinner.
But there was one place where anyone could go to have a look or be seen. Set in the pines at the peak of a knoll, Villa Balsamo was John Guerriero and Joe Balsamo’s August-only restaurant. The restaurateurs owned and operated Don Peppe’s opposite Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Long Island. But ornate Villa Balsamo, occupying the abandoned Shutts Mansion on the road to Ballston Spa, was their summer place to rid cash-laden horseplayers of their stinginess. In its third year of operation, the Italian eatery was packing them in.
What was being said when horse people got together for eggplant parmagiana? Not unexpectedly, many diners praised the improvements at Saratoga Racecourse. A candy-striped, canvas-covered saddling marquee was erected to replace the old wooden paddock, which, in turn was outfitted with betting machines. Televisions were hung in the trees and a small play area with a sand box and slides went in. Seventy-five picnic tables were set up on the apron at the head of the stretch.
But not all the small talk was positive. On the Tuesday before the Travers, track superintendent Joe King visited the press box to defend the condition of the racing strip. The deaths of three horses had prompted an outcry from trainers, including Barrera.
“It won’t get as fluffy as we’d like it until dry weather and sunny days come,” general manager John Mangona told The Saratogian, and as soon as he did, the clouds disappeared.
The Travers was run on a fast track, on a fine summer day. The crowd began to form at 5:30 a.m., and by early afternoon, more than 50,000 fans jammed the stands and filled the infield, breaking the attendance record by 5,000 people.
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It was obvious that these equine idolaters wanted a replay of the Belmont Stakes. All who saw that amazing race considered it one of the greatest ever. Affirmed ambled along on the lead for a half-mile before Alydar moved up to challenge him. Both horses were still at each other throats with an eighth of a mile to go. At the wire, Affirmed had a head in front.
After the Belmont, Affirmed rested before winning the Jim Dandy, catching front runner Sensitive Prince in what horsemen call a “tightener.” Alydar took a different road. He won the Arlington Classic and the Whitney Stakes, winning in a rush by ten lengths.
The public favored Affirmed at 7-10. Alydar was second choice at even money. There were two other horses in the field. Nasty and Bold earned his way in by winning the American Derby. Shake Shake Shake was a stakes winner in Puerto Rico.
It took the length of the clubhouse turn for Affirmed to snare the lead from Shake Shake Shake. Angel Cordero, Jr., aboard Shake Shake Shake, pushed the Triple Crown champion and jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr., substituting for Steve Cauthen, out to the middle of the track, before fading into second.
Along the backside, Alydar remained at the back, until Jorge Velasquez raced him rapidly through the gap on Shake Shake Shake’s inside. Affirmed, three wide, kept a half length advantage on Affirmed.
When Shake Shake Shake faltered completely, Alydar was alone on the rail, Affirmed slightly ahead of him on his right. The two rivals raced that way for several hundred yards -- Alydar following his nemesis and hoping to catch him.
Pincay decided then to move his mount closer to the rail, but in doing that forced Velasquez to check Alydar. The Hall of Fame rider must not have seen Alydar because the last time he looked to his left there was Shake Shake Shake, and now Shake Shake Shake wasn’t there anymore.
Velasquez stepped high in his irons and Alydar lost six to seven lengths. Although the horses didn’t touch, Pincay’s move was enough of a foul to take Affirmed’s number down.
“The other horse (Shake Shake Shake) dropped back and I think Pincay didn’t know where he was,” Veitch said after the race. “Jorge said he thought he was going down.”
By the top of the stretch, Affirmed had an unchallenged lead, plenty in reserve from a moderate pace, and a quarter mile of track ahead.
To his credit, Alydar kept running. Velasquez had him rolling down the homestretch, but the favorite cruised under the finish line a length and three-quarters ahead.
The official result played out like “The Sopranos” finale. After seasons of intriguing characters, storylines, plot twists and denouements, Pincay’s indiscretion burdened the sport’s ultimate show – the Travers face-off between Affirmed and Alydar -- with an ending that had no resolution or clarity.
“It was a discouraging day,” said Veitch, even though he accepted the Man O’ War Cup. “Pincay robbed my horse out of justifying my belief that he was as good as Affirmed.”
“I don’t like to win that way, but you take it any way it comes,” Velasquez added.
“It never should have happened, what happened,” Barrera insisted, although he didn’t shift all the guilt to Pincay. He blamed Cordero for pushing Affirmed wide in the first place. Cordero didn’t explain why he did it, but there’s no denying the fact that the popular “King of Saratoga” knew many ways to win races.
A year later, Barrera was still sticking to his guns. “If I could run that race again today, I would do nothing different. No horse could beat Affirmed,” he insisted.
Written by Vic Zast
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