Affirmed, on the inside, was the last horse to win the Triple Crown. In 1978, Affirmed beat rival Alydar in all three Triple Crown races, including here in the Belmont Stakes.
(Captions from Ed Fountaine’s “History Denied” series)
AP
2 of 12
1979: Spectacular Bid (finished third)
Trainer: Grover “Bud” Delp
Jockey: Ronnie Franklin
Who Won: COASTAL
Why he lost: Ronnie Franklin, young and overconfident, used the Bid’s speed too early in the race, and he tired down the stretch. Afterward, Delp said Spectacular Bid stepped on a safety pin before the race.
AP
3 of 12
1981: Pleasant Colony (finished third)
Trainer: John P. Campo
Jockey: Jorge Velasquez
Who Won: Summing
Why he lost: “He had a hard race in the Preakness,” Campo said. “He came out of the race fine, but he was a tired horse, and you can’t win the Belmont with a tired horse. To get him geared up, I worked him a mile one day, and I knew then that it was too much for him. But you had to run, and hope you might get lucky.”
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1987: Alysheba (finished fourth)
Trainer: Jack Van Berg
Jockey: Chris McCarron
Who Won: Bet Twice
Why he lost: Then, as now, there was a big controversy over Lasix. After racing on the medication in the Derby and Preakness, Alysheba could not use it in the Belmont because, at the time, it was banned in New York.
”I’m sick and tired of hearing about Lasix,” Van Berg said later. ”I don’t think it had anything to do with him losing the Belmont. He got turned sideways at the head of the stretch and still got beat only a nose and a neck for second.”
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5 of 12
1989: Sunday Silence (finished second)
Trainer: Charlie Whittingham
Jockey: Pat Valenzuela
Who Won: Easy Goer
Why he lost: Sunday Silence raced without Lasix. Easy Goer had a huge home-court advantage; he was 13-for-15 racing at New York tracks.
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1997: Silver Charm (finished second, on the inside)
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Gary Stevens
Who Won: Touch Gold (on the outside)
Why he lost: After battling with Free House, Silver Charm led into deep stretch. But under a masterful ride by Chris McCarron, who used to ride Silver Charm, Touch Gold set the early pace, dropped back, then came charging outside to get up late. Silver Charm never saw him coming.
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1998: Real Quiet (finished second, on the outside)
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Kent Desormeaux
Who Won: Victory Gallop
Why he lost: Many say Desormeaux moved too soon, surging to a daylight lead turning for home; but many Belmonts have been won that way. Real Quiet simply got rubber-legged in the final sixteenth, and Victory Gallop appreciated the extra distance.
Michael Marten/Daily Racing Form
8 of 12
1999: Charismatic (finished third, middle)
Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas
Jockey: Chris Antley
Who Won: Lemon Drop Kid (left)
Why he lost: Instead of taking back, as he did in the Derby and Preakness, Antley pressed the pace set by champion filly Silverbulletday. Charismatic took the lead into the stretch, but then broke down in the final furlong.
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2002: War Emblem (finished eighth, not pictured)
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Victor Espinoza
Who Won: Sarava (right)
Why he lost: They’re off, you lose! War Emblem, the 6-5 favorite, lost all chance when he stumbled badly out of the gate. He made a menacing move to the lead on the far turn but then tired badly to finish eighth, beaten by almost 20 lengths.
Said Baffert: “He was so one-dimensional, as soon as he was behind horses, I had to sit there for 2 ½ minutes waiting for the race to be over.”
REUTERS
10 of 12
2003: Funny Cide (finished third, pictured second from right)
Trainer: Barclay Tagg
Jockey: Jose Santos
Who Won: Empire Maker
Why he lost: fter working too fast – :57 4/5 – the week of the race, Funny Cide ran off with Santos over a sloppy track that he didn’t like, but Empire Maker did.
AP
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2004: Smarty Jones (finished second, pictured in the middle)
Trainer: John Servis
Jockey: Stewart Elliott
Who Won: Birdstone (left)
Why he lost: Conspiracy theorists blame Jerry Bailey, Alex Solis and John Velazquez, the jockeys of Eddington, Rock Hard Ten and Purge, for ganging up on Smarty Jones to get him beat; others blame Stewart Elliott for moving too soon. Most likely, Smarty wanted to go-go-go, and Elliott couldn’t hold him back.
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12 of 12
2008: Big Brown (last)
Trainer: Rick Dutrow Jr.
Jockey: Kent Desormeaux
Who Won: Da’ Tara
Why he lost the Belmont: Seemingly unsinkable at 1-5, Big Brown was engulfed by a “Perfect Storm” of trouble. Was it the quarter-crack he suffered after the Preakness? Being taken off steroids? Acting up in the detention barn? The heat and humidity? His bad break from the gate? The rear shoe that came loose in the race? A poor ride by Desormeaux? We’ll never know the real reason why Big Brown was eased on the far turn in the worst performance ever by a horse going for the Triple Crown.
Charles Wenzelberg
