In 1979, Spectacular Bid was considered one of the greatest race horses of all time. He was born on February 17, 1976, a son of Bold Bidder (who was out of Secretariat's sire Bold Ruler) and a mare named Spectacular. He was the Eclipse award champion two year old in 1978, and by the time he ran in the Kentucky Derby, he was on a ten race win streak.
Spectacular Bid overcame some tough adversity in both his Derby and Preakness victories: he had a young and inexperienced jockey who, in reality probably didn't belong in races of that magnitude. Nonetheless, he won both races, and many people believed he was unbeatable-a shoe in for the Belmont Stakes. That said, he didn't have a lot of fans backing him.
In the 1970s, the crown was looking so easy that it was beginning to loose it's luster. Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977, and Affirmed in 1978: Spectacular Bid would have been the fourth horse in 7 years, and the third consecutive to accomplish the challenging feat. Also thrown into that mix was the fact that he didn't have a very respectable team behind him, and what you get is a great horse with a great shot to win a crown that people had begun to take for granted. His trainer had been fined twice during his triple crown campaign: once for attacking an excercise rider, and once for an incident with a security guard. His jockey had a long list of his own I fractions, and would be arrested just nine days after the Belmont for drug possession. There were a lot of people who didn't want to see this colt win at Belmont.
Meanwhile, there is speculation that camp Spectacular Bid had a plan up their sleeves: they didn't just want to win at Belmont. They wanted to win Secretariat style. They wanted to prove Bid was a better horse than the great Big Red. This is of course only rumor as it was never admitted to. Bid's trainer, Bud Delp, would go to his deathbed with a story of a safety pin, stuck in the horse's hoof as the reason for his loss. He was found sound by veterinarians that day, but did develop a hoof infection just a few days later.
However, in my opinion, the more likely cause of his loss was the way he was ridden. He was pushed by his jockey (maybe at Delp's instruction, maybe not) through fast fractions, trying to outrun a 90-1 shot for the early lead. And not surprisingly, the great colt ran out of gas and faded to third in the stretch. The winner of the 1979 Belmont Stakes was a horse named Coastal.
Coastal was a son of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Majestic Prince. He came to the Belmont Stakes off a win in the Peter Pan at Belmont Park, a fresher horse having skipped the first two jewels of the crown. This is still a popular road to Belmont for potential crown spoilers. Coastal would spend much of the rest of his career finishing second or third behind Bid, Affirmed, and other better horses of his time.
Spectacular Bid's only loss in thirteen races after the Belmont was when he himself was defeated by Affirmed in the summer of 1979 after a troubled trip. How exciting it must have been to see a race with two such great horses as those. Bid went on to do other great things and was the horse of the year in 1980: he was actually an eclipse award winner all three years of his career. He won 26 of 30 starts, and he posted the highest Ragozin speed figures ever run, including Secretariat's Belmont. Maybe he really was "the best horse to ever look through a bridle" as Delp liked to call him. We will never truly know, of course.
Spectacular Bid's story is proof that it takes more than just a great horse to win the triple crown. It takes a great team behind a great horse, and all the right circumstances have to line up. In truth, our next triple crown winner, whenever it happens, will probably not be as deserving nor be a horse of the caliber of Spectacular Bid.
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