Word: backstretch
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Whipping Hay. Cauthen was only two when his father Ronald, a blacksmith at tracks in Kentucky and Ohio, first put him on a pony. With a trainer/owner mother, Cauthen grew up on the backstretch, attending his first Kentucky Derby at the same age colts do -as a three-year-old. By the time he was twelve, he was perched beside the starting gates, studying how jockeys get away on the break. After he decided to become a rider, Steve and his father collected race films, endlessly rerunning them on a borrowed projector, to dissect the strategies of dozens of jockeys...
...customary runaway style. His time was poor (1:49 2/5% for the 1⅛% mile) and his margin a mere 1½ lengths over a 148-to-l shot named Certain Roman, primarily because he fought furiously against Jockey Braulio Baeza's efforts to slow him in the backstretch. For another, there is Bold Forbes, a sprightly East Coast colt who was thought to be essentially a sprinter until he turned in an eye-opening performance in the 1⅛%-mile Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, setting a record of 1:47 2/5% for the stakes...
SPEED SKATING Five events for men ranging from 500 to 10,000 meters. Four events for women ranging from 500 to 3,000 meters. Competitors race in pairs counterclockwise around a 400-meter rink, switching lanes in the backstretch. Skater in outside lane has right of way. Pairings are drawn...
...them there for a moment; then they were off. Nine two-year-olds broke into the head of the stretch and pounded past the grandstand in a cavalry charge. So far, it was just like any other horse race. But instead of rounding the turn and racing up the backstretch, the horses slowed to a stop. Fans swarmed onto the track and filled the air with flying Stetsons...
...that his worst fears might be confirmed. Foolish Pleasure, with Panamanian Jockey Jacinto Vasquez at the reins, quickly dropped back to a distant twelfth, far from his usual position close to the pace. Bombay Duck, bred for speed, held the early lead, but as the stallions pounded down the backstretch, Avatar, a California mount, moved up to challenge. Foolish Pleasure, running on the rail, was still no better than seventh. "He looked as if he wasn't handling the track too well," Jolley explained later...