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Catching Up With . . .
Affirmed, Triple Crown winner
June 19, 1978
Posted: Tue June 2, 1998
These
are
golden
years in the life of Affirmed, who 20 years ago became horse
racing's last Triple Crown winner and who today reigns on a
private acre of plush pastureland at Jonabell Farms in
Lexington, Ky. On dry mornings he canters coltishly about,
often before admirers.
Affirmed is then attentively groomed and served a midday
repast of fresh oats, cracked corn and bran, all mixed in
sweet molasses. After lunch the horse ambles contentedly,
his muscular neck bowed to taste the clover and bluegrass
at his
hooves.
From mid-February to early July, Affirmed's morning gambols
are often delayed. Two or three days a week, he is gently
roused in his roomy stall, bathed and led to a rendezvous
with a mare. Affirmed has not sired any great thoroughbreds
but rather many
good ones, including 64 stakes winners. Farmhands review his
breeding form with wonder. He approaches mares
respectfully, cautiously, lest they buck in defiance. When
he senses acquiescence, Affirmed breeds with uncommon
swiftness and vigor. "He's very
sensitive to the mare—he has incredible instinct,"
says Phillip Hampton, Affirmed's stallion manager,
"but he's also the most aggressive breeder on the
farm."
He was aggressive in his 29 career starts as well, winning
22 times, finishing in the money in every race but one
before retiring in 1979. The most memorable victories were
those over Alydar in each leg of the Triple Crown in 1978.
Affirmed, the second choice, outlasted favored Alydar by
11/2
lengths in the Kentucky Derby. In the Preakness the two
raced together down the stretch before Affirmed,
18-year-old Steve Cauthen up, won by the length of his
chestnut neck. Then came the Belmont, in which Alydar and
Affirmed galloped the last mile flank-by-flank, thundering
majestically ahead of the field. Alydar seemed to nose
forward at the
3/16 pole. Cauthen switched the whip from right hand to left,
and Affirmed responded; at the finish line he thrust his
head forward,
victorious.
This Saturday, Real Quiet will try to match Affirmed's
feat. Hampton, who says
Affirmed always "gets a little antsy this time of
year,"
hasn't told the horse about Real Quiet's bid. Not that
Affirmed would fret. He's a beloved 23-year-old stallion
with years of good life ahead. "He's real happy,"
says Hampton. "And he deserves to
be."
—by Kostya
Kennedy
photo: Heinz Kluetmeier; Bill Luster (cover)
Issue date: June 8, 1998
Past Editions of Catching Up With...
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