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Belmont a most elusive jewel
Final hurdle in Triple Crown presents a dauntiong challenge
Northern Dancer, already a winner in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, was a mile and a half away from becoming the ninth horse to capture one of sport's most-elusive and treasured prizes.
The fans and bettors were big believers in E.P. Taylor's white-stockinged colt, sending him to the starting gate as the 4-5 favourite. Trainer Horatio Luro and jockey Bill Hartack quietly concocted a strategy they were convinced would get the job done.
But, as the Dancer learned that day, there are no sure things in horse racing. And even more pointedly, it proved that the final jewel rarely is a gift with a Crown on the line.
"There are some damn good horses that won the first two and couldn't finish this thing off in the Belmont," said trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who today will help jockey Chris Antley into Charismatic's saddle and hope the racing gods decree he is the sport's 12th Triple Crown winner.
Charismatic, a rapidly improving great, great grandson of Northern Dancer, will face 11 other three year olds in the race billed as "The Test of a Champion."
A win and he will join the revered ranks of Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, Omaha, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Count Fleet, Assault, Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed.
HOLDING THEIR BREATH
It has been 21 years since teen jockey Steve Cauthen rode Affirmed to the most-recent Crown, a gruelling series raced during five weeks on three different racing surfaces at three different distances. It is the second-longest drought in history behind only the 25-year gap between Citation in 1948 and Secretariat in 1973.
Since Affirmed, seven horses have won the first two jewels only to come up short in the longest race of them all. After Real Quiet and Silver Charm fell agonizingly short, tomorrow, for the third spring in a row, race fans will hold their breath during the Belmont stretch drive.
"There is something about that last bump in the road that is a little bit harder than the other two," Lukas said.
Northern Dancer wasn't the only great horse to be denied. Spectacular Bid, widely acknowledged as one of the best, couldn't turn the trick in 1979. Nor could Alysheba in '87 or Sunday Silence in '89.
"I know how it feels to lose a Triple Crown and it's something that stays with you," said Arthur Hancock, Sunday Silence's owner who could turn the tables today with his own potential spoiler, Menifee. "But you have to earn it and it's tough to do. There are so many questions. Charismatic is a doggone good horse but to win the Triple Crown you must be great."
And sometimes, even that isn't enough. The 1964 Belmont was raced at Aqueduct while its traditional home, Belmont Park, was being rebuilt. The American Racing Manual wasn't too charitable on the Dancer's performance that day.
"Northern Dancer had the indelicacy to get himself thoroughly beaten at 4-to-5, most of the 61,215 who thronged the Big A feeling sanguine he could spread his speed 12 furlongs and become a Triple Crown hero," the report reads.
In fact, Northern Dancer finished third, beaten by six lengths to winner Quadrangle. To this day, Hartack's ride is questioned. The jockey tried to preserve his horse through the opening three-quarters before unleashing a strong late run. When asked at the half-mile pole, Northern Dancer responded, but not as much as Quadrangle. He wearied coming for home, surrendering second to Roman Brother.
The Dancer, who has five descendants in today's race, didn't pack it in after the Belmont blemish. Two weeks later, in front of a crowd of 31,228 at Woodbine, he won the Queen's Plate at the track Taylor built.
Northern Dancer then returned to Belmont to prepare for the Travers later in the summer but ripped a tendon during training. He was retired and began one of the more prolific stallion duties in the modern history of the sport.
A son of Summer Squall, Northern Dancer's blood is present in Charismatic, as is Secretariat's. At 5:27 p.m. today, we could learn which strain runs stronger.