A New Bid For A Triple

"With Ron Franklin, something will have to be done to get the pressure off him. Heck, when I won on Carry Back, I still had the feeling that the clerk of scales had been on me. I really let him have it after the race. He said, 'John, I haven't said more than a couple of words to you all week.' I cussed him out again. That's how tough things can get."

To lessen Franklin's jitters, Trainer Bud Delp helped him get a mount on a gelding named Seethreepeo in the race immediately preceding the Derby, the $25,000 Twin Spires. Franklin got into a duel with Angel Cordero, the jockey Delp and Franklin had criticized severely following Franklin's poor ride in the Florida Derby. But at the top of the stretch, Franklin's horse pulled away. A lot of the pressure might well have been removed in that race. When the Derby gate opened, Spectacular Bid appeared to dawdle before getting in gear. All the trouble that had been predicted for Franklin seemed about to crystallize. But as General Assembly, Shamgo, Flying Paster and Lot O' Gold swept into the first turn, Franklin moved Spectacular Bid to the outside to be in the clear. Bye-bye, trouble, hello, roses.

When trouble struck, it was elsewhere. At the start a maiden named Great Redeemer ducked from the No. 2 post and slammed into Golden Act, the winner of the Louisiana and Arkansas Derbies and the eventual third-place finisher on Saturday. "We got bumped a couple of times even after that," said Act's jockey, Sandy Hawley.

As for Flying Paster, Pierce said, "I went into the race with a lot of confidence, although I was concerned about the track. But if you have a good horse you have to run with him all over the country and have to take what comes. He's a lot better horse than he showed in the Derby."

General Assembly, a son of Secretariat, ran an excellent race and will probably shoot at Bid again in the Preakness. "There are more than 30,000 foals every year," said Bert Firestone, the colt's owner. "It's no disgrace to have the second best. Spectacular Bid is very good. So is General Assembly. His day will come."

Great Redeemer's probably won't; he finished last, beaten by 47� lengths. For a good part of the winter his owner, Dr. J. A. Mohamed, a San Antonio specialist in radiology, had taken ads in horse publications stating, "Spectacular Bid WILL NOT WIN any of the Spring Classics.... Nor will General Assembly, Flying Paster or Terlingua." Mohamed suggested that for $25 a year a fan could get the lowdown on racing from a newsletter he writes.

Give Mohamed the roses for cheek, but for the real lowdown, just watch Spectacular Bid's hoofs.