Mr. Fitz's Story

I don't pretend to be a handy fellow at writing anything. I've been a trainer nearly all my life and I've never tried to write about any of the horses—either the good ones or the bad ones—I've trained. But if people are interested in Nashua, and if, as they say, he is the sort of horse that now "belongs to the public," I'm very glad to answer the obvious questions about how he won the match race. But the last thing I want is that my opinions on the subject be taken to mean that Nashua won because of anything special I, as his trainer, did.

Nashua's victory was simple—except for a little common sense. Nashua won because he is the best three-year-old in the country. He has beaten all the good three-year-olds there are, and although he has yet to prove his greatness—which he can only do by giving away weight and winning handicaps next year—I believe he may become one of the best.

Let's go back a bit. We had Nashua in Florida this winter. My orders from Mr. Woodward were simply to train this horse for campaigning—and the campaigning that he had in mind, I knew perfectly well, would be the toughest sort of campaigning possible: in other words the major Florida stakes, the Wood Memorial and then the triple crown, followed by the Arlington Classic and then on to Saratoga and back to New York for the important fall stakes. These were the sort of races the late Mr. Woodward Sr. would have wanted any good horse of his to enter, and so I knew I was going to do my best to see that Nashua was always ready for the toughest races.

Nashua got into wonderful condition in Florida. He was fit, and it seemed to me he was ready to run any distance. I still am very confident that he can run any distance although he's probably tougher to beat at anything over a mile and a quarter than in the shorter races.

After the Wood, which he won in a tough race against Summer Tan, we went to the Kentucky Derby. Nashua did not lose the Derby because of any fault of his. He lost it because I chucked it for him with my instructions to Eddie Arcaro to watch Summer Tan. I didn't know much about this horse Swaps, but a few fellows who thought they did told me they figured him for a mile or a mile-and-a-furlong horse—in other words one who probably wouldn't like the mile-and-a-quarter Derby distance. I was wrong to believe it. In that race we lay back—as it turned out we lay back too far—watching Summer Tan while Swaps did the first three-quarters in an easy 1:12 2/5.

[You don't have to understand horse racing's fractional times to enjoy a horse race, but it helps when reading the Daily Racing Form or when listening to horse trainers. Rough rule of thumb: good racing time is an average of 12 seconds for every furlong {eighth of a mile) for any event of a mile or over.—ED.]

When Eddie finally saw Summer Tan was not going to be the threat that I had said he would be, he went after Swaps. It was no use. Swaps had a good finishing kick, and we were cleanly licked. We had no excuse. I've never alibied for any loss and never will. But I figured I chucked that race, and I felt all along that things might be different if the two horses ever met again. I know Eddie felt the same, and I guess Mr. Woodward wanted another meeting about as bad as anyone else.

But a match race is something different. In principle I am opposed to match races. Too many things can go wrong, and if you duck out at the last minute you are accused of all sorts of things. In ordinary races, if your horse isn't right you just don't run him. In a match race there is a special obligation to see the thing through, even though a lot of things can suddenly come up which make the race a very untrue test. I don't like 'em, and I'd prefer to run against any kind of competition in almost any kind of a race except match races.

But a lot of people had been talking about a match race between Swaps and Nashua, so I wasn't too surprised when Mr. Woodward told me in July that the official announcement would probably come after we ran in the Arlington Classic. He said to me, "Mr. Fitz, we're going to be in a match race with Swaps on August 31, and I guess this is one that you, Eddie and I would like to win pretty bad."

I told him, sure, I'd like to win against Swaps, but what about the Saratoga season? I wanted him to put Nashua in the Travers at Saratoga. It's the oldest stake in the country and a good race to win—not so much for its value, but because of its prestige and tradition. Mr. Woodward Sr. used to like running in the Travers, and I thought it would be fitting to have Nashua go in it too. But Mr. Woodward gave me another answer. He said, "No, Mr. Fitz, I know what Saratoga means to you, but I want Nashua to come up to the match race without any competition following the Arlington Classic on July 16. We'll take him to Saratoga—but to train, not race."