The Richest Of Them All

They turned for home three abreast, stride for stride, and bounded down the stretch in the Hollywood Gold Cup. From almost the drop of the flag, Affirmed and Sirlad had battled head and head, and by the final bend Text had ranged alongside of them. Now the three were joined—Affirmed on the rail, Sirlad right next to him, Text on the outside. They had just raced through a fiery mile in 1:34[1/5], and coming off that final turn they seemed hooked, like a team, each refusing to yield an inch to the others. It was a classic duel, one rivaling the memorable match between Affirmed and Alydar in the 1978 Belmont Stakes, but there were three horses this time, heads bobbing together, with the crowd of 48,884 on its feet and roaring.

Down to the eighth pole the three kept coming, with Jockey Laffit Pincay raising his whip and lashing at Affirmed—once, twice, three times, beating right-handed in rhythm to the colt's stride. Beside Pincay, whipping almost in unison with him, Darrel McHargue flailed at Sirlad. And on the outside, Bill Shoemaker was bumping and thumping on Text.

With about a furlong to go, Text began to yield. Fifty more yards, he was half a length behind and out of it. Now the duel was just as it had begun—Affirmed and Sirlad. Inside the sixteenth pole the two still fought it out. Finally, Affirmed pulled a head in front, then a neck, then half a length. In the final yards of the 1�-mile race, with Sirlad still hanging on tenaciously, Affirmed edged away to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:58[2/5], only [1/5]th off the world record for the distance set by Quack in the same race in 1972.

The 1979 Gold Cup had been a tremendous race, and all at once a joyous bedlam broke out at Hollywood Park. Toward the winner's circle, angling past the tumultuous crowd, came Laz Barrera, trainer of Affirmed, looking vaguely stunned at the spectacle just seen. Beside him, wiping her face, was Patrice Jacobs Wolfson, wife of the winner's owner, Louis Wolfson. Spectators shouted, "Attaway Laz!" to Barrera all the way down to the winner's circle. Barrera, plunging on past the throng, muttered several times, "What a race. What a race." And then, reaching the circle, he said, "A great horse, isn't he? A great horse."

The crowd erupted again as Pincay, rocking in the stirrups, brought Affirmed back to the finish line. Barrera walked out to meet him, both hands pumping over his head.

"Thank you," Barrera said.

"Congratulations, Lazaro," the smiling Pincay replied.

A moment later, as the chestnut colt strode to the winner's circle, the voice of track announcer Harry Henson called out the message of the year in racing over the loudspeaker: "Ladies and gentlemen, the richest racehorse in thoroughbred history—Affirmed!"

So it was last Sunday when Harbor View Farm's Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown winner, became the first horse in the history of thoroughbred racing to win $2 million in purses. The setting and the event were certainly consistent with the history made. Almost 30 years ago, Citation closed out his illustrious career with a victory in the same race (it was $100,000 added in those days) to become the first thoroughbred to earn $1 million—$1,085,760, to be precise. Twenty-three horses have since passed the million-dollar mark—testimony to ever-expanding purses—but only two came close to $2 million. Kelso left the racetrack in 1966 with earnings of $1,977,896; at age nine, the old horse simply couldn't go on. Forego, with recurring injuries stopping him at last, retired last year with $1,938,957.

Not that Affirmed was particularly close before the Gold Cup. He came to the race with earnings of $1,769,218, a full $230,782 shy of the record—by ordinary standards at least two, maybe three, major victories short of his goal. But the Gold Cup was not ordinary in money offered or circumstances leading up to it. Earlier in June, the gross purse was boosted from $350,000—with a winner's share of $192,500, not enough for Affirmed to break the $2 million barrier—to $500,000, making it the richest thoroughbred race in American history, and increasing the winner's take-home pay to $275,000, enough to push Affirmed's bankroll to $2,044,218.