DALLAS _ His gaze focused on a handsome colt walking toward the racetrack, trainer Bob Baffert said, 'Here comes the superstar.'
When he articulated the critical word, 'superstar,' Baffert punched it with prolonged sibilance and pitched his voice discernibly higher. It was his way of indicating he was joking. But only half-joking.
'Another superhorse will come along someday,' Baffert said, returning to a more serious tone as Officer pranced onto the track and turned up the stretch. 'I just hope he's it.'
Indeed the hopeful longing for another superhorse, or superstar racehorse, runs through the sport, affecting fans and horsemen alike. Officer, the unbeaten colt that Baffert will send out in Saturday's $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park, is the latest candidate, the latest to fuel the hope that a superhorse could soon emerge.
And the hope isn't simply for a standout champion or even a star, but for that rare athlete who can combine overwhelming talent with undeniable charisma. For a horse that can bust records and manufacture awe, seem invincible and suggest the possibility of perfection, leave an audience with mouths agape and, as Secretariat once did, leap onto the covers of Time and Newsweek.
Horse racing needs such a horse, just about everybody agrees. But the circumstances of modern racing make his appearance less probable than it might have been 20, 30 or 40 years ago.
'I keep hoping to see another horse like Secretariat,' said Penny Chenery, who owned the 1973 Triple Crown winner. 'I thought Point Given was going to be the horse, but maybe he didn't have the mind and he was injured. The thing about Secretariat was he was both brilliant and sound. Some horses today have flashes of brilliance, but they're not sound and don't last.'
When he became the first horse in 25 years to sweep the famed Triple Crown series, Secretariat set a track record in all three races _ the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes (though his Preakness record remains unofficial). And his 31-length victory in the Belmont still shines as arguably the finest single performance in the modern history of the sport.
The decade of the 1970s, a glorious moment for the sport, also produced Triple Crown winners Affirmed and Seattle Slew, as well as superhorses Forego, Ruffian and Spectacular Bid. But racing hasn't seen their like since. So what has changed?
The commercial breeder
A major change has been the rise of the commercial breeder. Many, if not most, of the prominent stakes horses racing prior to 1980 were owned by their breeders. Secretariat and Affirmed, for example, were home-breds _ that is, they were owned and campaigned by the very people who bred and raised them. Most of the successful breeding farms _ such as Calumet, Darby Dan, Bwamazon, Harbor View, Rokeby, Claiborne, King Ranch, Greentree _ focused on the racetrack. Because they raced their own horses, they emphasized stamina and durability.
Since then, the focus of most prominent breeders has shifted from the racetrack to the sales ring. They don't breed to race; they breed to sell. And so the emphasis has shifted to precocious speed and marketability.
'In my day,' Chenery said, 'if you sold a horse, you were giving up. That wasn't the goal. Not many people these days have the luxury of racing the horses they breed. And I think we'd have better horses if more owners were breeders.'
With this modern emphasis on speed, Chenery said, the sport frequently dotes on 'one-time wonders' _ horses that sparkle for a race or a few races but can't sustain that level of performance for a season or a career. And it's quite possible, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas pointed out, that racehorses simply aren't as good as they once were.
'If a horse like Secretariat or Seattle Slew or Spectacular Bid could run in this year's Breeders' Cup Classic, he'd kick their tails,' Lukas said. 'He'd romp.'
Secretariat was syndicated for a record $6 million early in his 3-year-old season. That was necessary, Chenery explained, because of the death of her father, Christopher Chenery, and the concomitant estate taxes. And even today, she said, she regrets being unable to race Secretariat as a 4-year-old.
But Secretariat was brilliant at 2 and 3, and his Triple Crown performance was incomparable. So even with a relatively short career, he was clearly a superhorse. But most horses that capture the public's imagination and put themselves in the general awareness do so with superlative performances repeated over at least two seasons.
Embracing greatness
Dr. Fager, for example, was the champion sprinter of 1967, when his headstrong, dazzling speed hit the sport like a sunburst. Then in 1968, at age 4, he fashioned one of the most spectacular campaigns in history, setting track records and world records, winning from 7 furlongs to 1 \ miles. And at year's end, he was named champion sprinter, champion handicap horse, champion turf horse and, of course, Horse of the Year.
Although more than six lengths ahead at the wire, Dr. Fager lost the Jersey Derby by disqualification, but otherwise only three horses ever finished in front of him, and all three were champions _ Successor, Damascus and Buckpasser. 'Rabbits' _ horses entered for the purpose of forcing a suicidal pace _ were frequently used against him, but Dr. Fager continued to win, for, after all, he was a superhorse.
And so it was with the superhorses of 1950s, `60s and `70s. For the most part, they didn't just achieve greatness; they embraced it and held it until there was no proprietary doubt. Kelso won the Jockey Club Gold Cup and was Horse of the Year for five consecutive seasons. Three-time Horse of the Year Forego raced until age 8, and 24 times in his career he carried more than 130 pounds. A champion at 2 and again at 3, Spectacular Bid had his finest season at age 4, when he was unbeaten in nine outings and won his final race, the Woodward, in a walkover when nobody dared to take him on.
Cigar, the only horse since Spectacular Bid for whom a superhorse argument can be made, was an anachronism. Long-bodied, he didn't even look like a modern horse. Nor did he race like one. Although he never performed at the level of Secretariat or Dr. Fager, Cigar put together a record-tying string of victories that began when he was 4 and continued until he was 6. In 1996, he became the only horse since Affirmed to repeat as Horse of the Year.
'Since Cigar, we've had some very good horses, but even they make me realize how really special he was,' said Bill Mott, who trained the charismatic champion. 'A horse that can really run and is durable and tough on top of it _ those are very rare.'
The superhorse frequently has brilliant speed, and in the case of Ruffian that sufficed to ensure her an honored place in racing history. But more frequently the superhorse combines brilliance with longevity. And modern racing seems to discourage long careers among its stars.
The millions that can be made in the breeding industry lure many of the potential great ones away from the track _ or lure their connections. And injuries claim many others. Theories abound to explain why the modern racehorse often seems more prone to injury. Contributing factors could be harder racetracks and demanding schedules, and perhaps the modern racehorse is simply more fragile than the great ones of the past.
No staying power
But for whatever reason _ avarice, injury, fragility _ many of the most promising stars of recent years have lacked the staying power of a superhorse. Conquistador Cielo, Devil's Bag, Landaluce, Risen Star, Sunday Silence, Easy Goer, A.P. Indy, Holy Bull _ they might have been great, and they nearly became superhorses. But in the end, they fell shy of the standards set by the great ones of earlier decades.
Baffert said he calls Officer the 'superstar' because no other word adequately describes the colt and his performances; no other word conveys the ease with which he has dominated his rivals and taken possession of his races. Only a superstar, Baffert said, could win as Officer has won.
But only a superhorse can continue winning with unimpeachable superiority. Yes, a potential superhorse will probably emerge Saturday from the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, but he must go out and fulfill that potential next year or risk being another one-time wonder.
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ARCHIVE PHOTOS on KRT Direct (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Baffert, Lukas
(c) 2001, The Dallas Morning News.
Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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ARCHIVE PHOTOS on KRT Direct (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Baffert, Lukas
