Legends

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The Sport’s Great Rivalries: Affirmed and Alydar

There are millions of words that can be used to describe the intense emotions rolled into a classic rivalry.

Yet there’s just one word, with only three letters, that stamps certain athletic battles as those rare confrontations that can withstand the test of time and grow even more legendary with each passing generation.

And.

It’s that simple.

Whenever you cannot name one participant without the reflexive action of adding that “and” for the second one, you know you have something truly special.

Yankees and Red Sox.

Celtics and Lakers.

Native Dancer: The Nearly Perfect Grey Ghost of Sagamore

He was the practically perfect Thoroughbred.

Twenty-two starts. Twenty-one victories.

Omaha, Ak-Sar-Ben, Triple Crown, America's Best Racing, horse racing, ABR

1935 Triple Crown Winner Omaha: The Belair Bullet

He stands alone in the annals of Thoroughbred racing, the only Triple Crown winner sired by a Triple Crown winner.

Omaha had big shoes to fill when he was foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky. on March 24, 1932. His daddy was 1930 Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox who scored nine victories in 10 races and had become the greatest money winner in the history of American racing.

Ruthless: The First Belmont Stakes Winner

Although the three Triple Crown races have existed since the 1800s, and hundreds of individual horses have added their names to the lists of winners, only 12 fillies in history have won a Triple Crown race.

Those victories, though more frequent in the early years, have been few and far between; in fact, just five fillies have won a Triple Crown race during the last 100 years.

Champion racehorse and top sire A.P. Indy at Lane's End Farm in 2006.

1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy: Destined for Greatness

A.P. Indy was seemingly born to greatness. He was sired by Seattle Slew, a Triple Crown winner. His successful dam (mother), Weekend Surprise, was no surprise because she was sired by Secretariat, another Triple Crown champion.

Ambitious owners will pay massive sums for such regal bloodlines, so it was no shock that Japanese owner Tomonori Tsurumaki went to $2.9 million before the auctioneer’s hammer fell at Keeneland’s July yearling sale in 1990.

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