The world of Thoroughbred racing was taken by surprise June 22 with the announcement that legendary Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas would be stepping away from training after being hospitalized in Louisville, Ky.
In the sport of horse racing, a great deal of emphasis is placed on winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes, the three races that comprise the coveted U.S. Triple Crown.
Almost as much attention is paid to the Breeders’ Cup, the 14-race extravaganza that serves as the year-end championship of U.S. horse racing.
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.
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.
Maximum Security’s disqualification in the 2019 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve inspired much controversy, and the debate at times felt like the 1950 Kurosawa film “Rashomon,” where multiple witnesses to an event retell it in vastly different ways. All of us saw the same race, yet so many people have different interpretations of what they saw.
