They Were Always So Close That If One Didn’t Win, the Other One Did

Affirmed and Alydar raced against each other on 10 occasions--six times in 1977 when they were 2-year-olds and four times in 1978 as 3-year-olds.

Alydar beat Affirmed three times. He won twice in 1977 at Belmont Park and in 1978 he was placed above Affirmed in the Travers at Saratoga when Affirmed was disqualified for interference.

Excluding the 1 3/4-length difference between them in the Travers, Affirmed’s largest margin of victory in the seven races in which Alydar finished second was his 1 1/2-length win in the ’78 Kentucky Derby. Affirmed’s total edge in the seven races was about five lengths.

Affirmed won the three Triple Crown races--the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes--by at total of less than two lengths.

Here’s a look at the 10-race rivalry:

1977

June 15--Affirmed, who had beaten maidens in his first start three weeks before, won the Youthful at Belmont Park by a neck over Wood Native, with Alydar, favored as a first-time starter, running fifth.

July 6--Alydar, carrying five fewer pounds, won the 5 1/2-furlong Great American at Belmont, with Affirmed finishing second.

Aug. 27--Prior to the Hopeful at Saratoga, Alydar was considered the best 2-year-old in the country. Louis Wolfson, who owned Affirmed with his wife Patrice, said Alydar was the best young horse he had seen since his own Raise a Native, Affirmed’s grandsire, in 1963. Affirmed broke away from Alydar near the sixteenth pole to win by a half-length.

Sept. 10--Affirmed, running on the rail, got his nose to the line ahead of Alydar to win the Futurity at Belmont.

Oct. 15--In the slop at Belmont, Alydar overtook Affirmed in the stretch to win the mile Champagne Stakes by 1 lengths. “Affirmed didn’t see Alydar coming,” trainer Laz Barrera says. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let him by.” This was the last time Alydar would run ahead of Affirmed.

Oct. 29--The general feeling was that if Alydar didn’t run again, he would win the 2-year-old title based on his win in the Champagne. But both horses started in the 1 1/16-mile Laurel Futurity in Maryland, and this time jockey Steve Cauthen kept Affirmed well off the rail. Alydar rallied along the inside, but was second by a neck, with the next horse 10 lengths behind. Affirmed was voted the 2-year-old title.

1978

May 6--Despite four straight wins by Affirmed as a 3-year-old--including the Santa Anita and Hollywood derbies--Alydar was a 6-to-5 favorite in the Kentucky Derby, with Affirmed going off at 9-5. Alydar had won the Flamingo and the Florida Derby, and nine days before the Derby was a 13-length winner in the Blue Grass. At Churchill Downs, however, Alydar was far back early and finished second, 1 1/2 lengths behind Affirmed.

May 20--Running much closer than he had in the Derby, Alydar still missed by a neck in the Preakness at Pimlico. “Alydar got close, but my horse just wouldn’t let him by,” Cauthen said of his rival. “That breaks the hearts of a lot of horses, but Alydar just keeps trying.”

June 10--Affirmed won the Triple Crown with his win by a head over Alydar in the Belmont Stakes. It was the first time in Triple Crown history that the same horse had finished second in all three races.

Aug. 16--In an unsatisfactory finish to the rivalry, Affirmed won the Travers at Saratoga by 1 3/4 lengths, but was disqualified by the stewards and placed second for cutting off Alydar near the far turn. Affirmed was voted the 3-year-old title and Horse of the Year, a championship he won again in 1979.