20th death anniversary of Spectacular Bid?Greatest ?

[harshthakor]

Today the racing world commemorates one of it’s icons, who passed away 20 years ago, in 2003, on June 9th.

Spectacular Bid, who although did not emulate Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed by winning the triple crown, had every right to be placed in their pedestal, if not rated better. The Bid won 26 out of 30 starts.

For sheer diversity and ability to bear handicaps, the colt overshadowed all the Triple Crown winners. Summing careers at 2, 3, and 4 Spectacular Bid was arguably the best of all American horses He could win setting the pace or coming of it, in a spectacular finish. It would also relish any type of going. No horse triumphed shouldering such high handicaps, as consistently, or with as much conviction and broke as many rack records. Possibly no American racehorse, in an all-round sense, scaled such a superlative height, or as much personified perfection of a racehorse.

Two of Spectacular Bid’s losses came when he was 2 and still in his formative stages. At 3 and 4 years old, he won 19 of 21 races. He was undefeated in nine races at 4 and was proclaimed 1980’s Horse of the Year.

In the span of his entire career, he encompassed 10,000 miles over 15 different racetracks from coast to coast, winning at every one of them. He broke seven track records and equalled another.

He won grade I stakes start to finish and he won rising like a phoenix from the Ashes from 10 lengths behind. He ran seven furlongs in a near-world-record 1:20 flat and 1 1/4 miles in a world-record (on dirt) 1:57 4/5, a time which has not been equalled in 35 years. He broke seven track records and equalled another, and he did it at 2, 3, and 4, at seven different tracks and at five different distances from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles.

I find it hard to envisage any horse surpasssing Spectacular Bid’s spectacular feats at the age of four when he literally made his rivals look like selling platers or leaves tossed in gale.

More than his statistical record it is the manner the colt blazed the racetrack with his stunning speed and poetic strides, manifesting the qualities of the thoroughbred as an equine machine. The conviction of his triumphs or acceleration transcended regions rarely scaled. Spectacular bid literally created the effect of a tornado, when out in front.

The only blots in the Bid’s carer was his defeat in the Belmont to Coastal and going down by 3/4th of a length to previous year’s triple crown winner, Affirmed.

Spectacular Bid was defeated in the Belmont stakes as a result of an injury caused by a safety pin in it’s hoof.

Quoting racing writer Steve Haskin “People are always asking me who is the greatest horse I have ever seen. I tell them that in my opinion, Secretariat and Damascus had the most incredible 3-year-old campaigns (I now have to include American Pharoah), and Dr. Fager, in 1968, was the greatest, most awe-inspiring horse who ever set foot on an American racetrack. But over the course of an entire career, at ages 2, 3, and 4, Spectacular Bid was the greatest horse I have ever seen.

There have been better looking horses than The Bid. There have been better moving horses, and better bred horses. But he had one quality that separated him from the others – he could do everything. He was as close to the perfect racing machine as any horse in my time.”

On February 3, 1980, in the Srub Stakes bearing top weight in the field, Spectacular Bid overcame his rival Flying Paster by 3 1/4 lengths, setting a world record of 1:57 ⅘. It has yet to be equalled on dirt, lasting over four decades. Secretariat, who holds the Kentucky Derby record for the same distance and was at an equal weight, would have lost by eight lengths to Spectacular Bid if he had run the same speed as he did in the Derby.

In his final race in the Woodward stakes, he received a walkover, the first since 1949,and still won in the manner of racing against full fledged opposition ,wining in a timing of 2.02.4,which was remarkable. Shoemaker, never urged his mount at any point, still the Bid to closed each of his final two quarters in a mind-boggling :24 1/5. Horses rarely display such speed even in a normal race.

Racing Post ranked the colt at 9th place amongst all-time flat racehorses, behind Secretariat and Citation, with a rating of 141.

Blood Horse ranked Spectacular Bid at 9th place amongst all-time American racehorses.

Former Washington Post columnist Andrew Beyer said, “I think Spectacular Bid could reasonably be rated as a close No. 2 on the all-time list after Secretariat, and he deserves extra credit for his great consistency.”

In the view of Peter Lee “Consistency is a characteristic of a superhorse, and his longevity and feats on the track (as well as a comeback from a potentially career-ending injury) put him fourth on my list of greatest racehorses behind Secretariat, Man O’War and Dr. Fager.

In my personal view for raw ability he would be below Secretariat, but in in terms of all round domination I would place Spectacular Bid at joint best with Citation and Dr.Fager. Overall, including European giants, Spectacular Bid would comprise by 10 best flat racehorses of all time.

I recommend Peter Lee’s book “Spectacular Bid, The last superhorse of the 20th Century and article ‘Hangin wit Haskin. The Bid-sustained greatness.’

[Miss Woodford]

He’s just about top 5 of all American flat horses for me. Man O’War, Secretariat, Citation, Kelso are all ahead of him in terms of “best”. The Bid ranks right above Dr. Fager and Damascus in my estimation. As far as the fastest horse, well, we have the times. Secretariat still holds the 12 furlong dirt record, Spectacular Bid still holds the 10 furlong record Dr. Fager still holds the mile record. There’s your triumvirate. Honorable mentions to the mighty Kelso who maintains the 2 mile record and probably will for a long time to come as top dirt horses don’t run that far anymore.

[Author]

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