The Slew crew were nuts....Recall when Slew O'Gold needed bute in the inaugural BC Classic. The ones who had screamed the most about its use, overloaded the poor guy and he was sick from the high dose, all to get him to that race. It was obvious mid srtretch that he had nothing in the tank anyway. Hypocrites who rad too many of thier wone press clippings
What an amazing race! Exceller may have won it, but Seattle Slew certainly did not make it easy. I wish we saw races like this on a frequent basis still.
There’s a little more to the story. I first dug into the story about the 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup when Zenyatta lost to Blame last year in the BCC10. Several stories compared that race to the 1978 JCGC. One account I read said Karen Taylor exclaimed: “I cried not because he lost, but because he tried so hard!" Andy Beyer, who had often dissed Slew, finally saw in the loss his true greatness in his effort in this race. His comment has been related several ways, but the one that I like was "Exceller may have won the race, but Slew won the debate!" (He made a similar comment just after the BCC10 about Zenyatta.) What makes this story even more remarkable is Slew had taken ill in January of that year. At one point, it was feared he might die. He did recover and a few months later, he won a couple of allowances before going on a tear beating Affirmed and he also beat Exceller in the Woodward a few weeks earlier. A race that started as another match up of the two TC winners and the race strategy that had been set up for that scenario got turned on its head. The drama, the players, the history of that era just make that race so special. It also highlights something about the commitment owners had to actually running their horses. Here was Seattle Slew, 1977 winner of the Triple Crown, being allowed to continue his career into his 4yo year! When he became ill, it would certainly have been understood had they chosen to retire him then. That they brought him back is truly a remarkable part of the story. He was Champion Older Male that year!
best 1 1/2 race ever ran....including Big Red's Belmont and Affirmed and Alydar's Belmont....this race was better -- 1 1/2 on a horrid track with those blistering fracions Big Red would have been gasping for air
They said it about Zenyatta - it's much more fitting in this case - Un-Be-Lieve-Able!
Wow, I got so excited watching this race! I've read about it so many times but that just blew my mind...makes me question my whole idea on who was the greatest. Incredible performance by Slew...actually very moving, just amazing.
Thank you for the link, Matt ... tragic.
What great race Exceller and Affirmed. It is important to remember what happened to Exceller years later in 1997. http://www.excellerfund.org/story-of-exceller.html
That race brings up many memories....seeing Exceller looking like an easy winner and then holding off Slew as he came on....that was quite a race Brian