I remember my first Santa Anita Derby like it was yesterday. Like my first baseball game at the Coliseum between the Dodgers and Giants, it holds a permanent spot in my memory. There are some things in life you just never forget.
It was March 31, 1973, and it not only matched Sham against Linda’s Chief, two of the best 3-year-olds in the country, but it also was a grudge match between me and my best friend. I was a Sham fanatic and he rooted for Linda’s Chief. We were both highly competitive, like the trainers of the two colts — Frank “Pancho” Martin and Bobby Frankel.
Sham won that afternoon and Linda’s Chief was second. I had $5 to win on Sham and got back $14.50, but you’d have thought I won the lottery. In those days it wasn’t so much the money, but the fact I got the best of my buddy.
That 1973 Santa Anita Derby produced some talented horses besides the top two finishers. Ancient Title, fourth that day and one of the best Cal-breds ever, went on to win seven consecutive graded stakes, including four Grade I events. Linda’s Chief won the Grade II Withers Stakes at Belmont Park later that year. Groshawk, who won the 1972 Del Mar Futurity and was trained by the great Charlie Whittingham, also was a fine horse.
When Linda’s Chief won the Withers, the third-place finisher that day was Forego, who turned out to be one of the greatest geldings ever.
The 81st edition of the Santa Anita Derby will be run Saturday as part of a 13-race card that gets underway at 11:30 a.m. Who knows? We might be talking about Bolt d’Oro and Justify, this year’s two favorites, years from now.
Five other memorable Santa Anita Derbies that stand out in my mind:
Affirmed, 1978
The Laz Barrera-trained colt used his victory in the race as a springboard to Triple Crown glory, becoming the sport’s 11th Triple Crown winner when he beat Alydar in one of the most thrilling Belmont Stakes in history.
Affirmed wasn’t done, though. He returned the following year and won the Strub Stakes, a prelude to his record-setting performance in the Big ‘Cap when he ran the mile and a quarter in 1:58 3/5.
Flying Paster, 1979
I was a big Flying Paster fan, going so far as to believe he actually had a chance against Spectacular Bid in the Kentucky Derby.
We know how that turned out.
But after finishing fifth and fourth, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, he returned as a 4-year-old and finished second behind Spectacular Bid in the Malibu Stakes, the San Fernando, the Strub and the Santa Anita Handicap. He was no Bid, but he was no slouch either.
Winning Colors, 1988
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has always had a way with the ladies, and it was no exception with the extraordinarily talented daughter of Caro. Her three consecutive Grade I victories in the Santa Anita Oaks, Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby were amazing.
She was only the third filly to win the Santa Anita and Kentucky derbies, but sadly she never won again after her victory in the Run for the Roses. She came close, though, when she suffered a heart-breaking loss to Personal Ensign in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs.
A.P. Indy, 1992
Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale’s lone Santa Anita Derby winner, the son of 1977 Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew, at 29, is the oldest living winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic and a Triple Crown race. He was voted 1992 Horse of the Year.
A.P. Indy is part of the only three-generation sequence of Belmont Stakes winners in history. His sire, Seattle Slew, won the race 15 years before he did and he sired 2007 winner Rags to Riches.
Point Given, 2001
One of the three best horses Bob Baffert has trained, along with American Pharoah and Arrogate. He went on to finish an inexplicable fifth in the Kentucky Derby, but then won the Preakness, Belmont, Haskell and Travers en route to Horse of the Year honors.
He’s a prime example of how difficult it is to win the Triple Crown. He was head and shoulders above the rest of his class that year, but couldn’t get the job done in Louisville.
Follow Art Wilson on Twitter at @Sham73
