Word: colts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...showdown made for Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day. Spectacular Bid was the king of the Eastern three-year-olds, a smooth-striding colt that had simply overwhelmed his competition in Florida and Kentucky. Flying Paster was the best of the West, a dangerous stretch runner that had dominated California racing throughout the spring. The two colts battled behind the leaders for the first mile on the old course in Louisville, Ky., last week, but when it came to the testing moment on the far turn, Spectacular Bid ran off from Flying Paster and away from the field, winning...
...Owner Harry Meyerhoff, a Baltimore developer, was all the more convincing because of the rocky way he was handled during the preparation for the Derby. Trainer Grover ("Bud") Delp had boasted that Spectacular Bid was "better than Man o' War," and then asked the big, gun-metal gray colt to prove it. The Thoroughbred was whipped hard in almost every race, no matter how far ahead he was. He won every time, yet his very success raised a serious question: Had he been forced to peak prematurely...
Like Seattle Slew, Triple Crown winner in 1977, Spectacular Bid is an auction-bargain colt with a trainer who has never handled a big-time horse and a jockey whose skills have often been criticized. Owner Meyerhoff made an unspectacular bid of just $37,000 at the Keeneland Sales in the fall of 1977 for the sturdy son of Bold Bidder and grandson of Supersire Bold Ruler (his offspring have won six of the last nine Kentucky Derbies). Meyerhoff now spends $78,000 a year just for premiums on Spectacular Bid's $14 million insurance policy...
...handling of Spectacular Bid has sometimes been amateurish. In two races he has allowed the horse to be boxed in at the rail, then failed to take advantage of an opening. On one of those occasions, the Florida Derby, Franklin rode Spectacular Bid into so many roadblocks that the colt had to come from 14 lengths behind to win. Said one veteran horseman: "It was a Paul Revere ride. He stopped at every town in Massachusetts...
...speed and poise to overcome his jockey's uneven performances. "He just glides," reports Franklin. "I'm sitting on a Rolls-Royce." The horse will have only two serious rivals in the Derby: Flying Paster, the three-year-old California champion, and General Assembly, the first Secretariat colt to reach Derby status. Flying Paster lost but one race this spring, to a colt carrying 8 Ibs. less weight. General Assembly ran twice against Spectacular Bid last year and twice was soundly beaten. Eddie Arcaro admires the colt's delicate skill as well as his strength...