Goldikova, a three-time Breeders' Cup Mile winner and two-time Eclipse Award winner, died on Jan. 6, 2021, at age 16. America's Best Racing is sharing a profile of the Irish-bred superstar written prior to her induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2017.
The physical package was not one that inspired awe. However, the attitude that came with it might as well have been on a billboard proclaiming the benefits of brute force.
It was a couple of days before the running of the 2013 Kentucky Derby, and Shug McGaughey was trying to put into words what it would mean if he could finally capture the race that had eluded him for so long.
“This is for the Phippses and the Janneys and my people,” he said. “I come in third.”
Gregg McCarron will never forget the first time Chris, his younger brother, sat on a horse. Chris was anything but comfortable.
“He was petrified,” Gregg said. “We actually had to peel his fingers off the reins to get him down.”
The experience might have been enough to convince most teenagers that there were better ways to earn a living than by riding half-ton Thoroughbreds at 35 miles per hour. But Chris, who was 16 or so at the time, was not easily dissuaded.
