Record Run in Strub Simply Spectacular

It was a case of a great horse having one of its great days.

Spectacular Bid did exactly what his trainer, Bud Delp, said he would at Santa Anita’s Strub Stakes, 19 years ago today.

He won, easily, and set a world record for 1 1/2 miles, 1:57 4/5, that still stands. The time broke the mark of 1:58 1/5, set by Noor in 1950.

Spectacular Bid won by 3 1/4 lengths over Flying Paster, who actually was gaining on the winner in the stretch.

Spectacular Bid went off a 3-10 favorite and was paid this tribute afterward by his rider, Bill Shoemaker: “There’s no doubt about it, he’s a great horse. He’s at least as good as any horse I’ve ridden in my career, and maybe better.”

The gray, 4-year-old son of Bold Bidder, a record-setter himself in the 1966 Strub Stakes, won $124,500 before 57,993 on a bright, hazy afternoon and boosted his career earnings to $1,899,417.

And speaking of Shoemaker, this is also the anniversary date of his last ride. On Feb. 3, 1990, Shoemaker, 58, took Patchy Groundfog into the lead briefly in the stretch, but there his horse faded to fourth.

After 40 years, it was his 40,350th and final race. Tally: 8,833 wins, 6,136 places, 4,987 shows. Earnings: $123,375,534.

A crowd of 64,573 saw his finale, on a day when 40% of the win tickets bought on Patchy Groundfog were $2 tickets, presumably by bettors who wanted to keep them as souvenirs rather than cash them.

Also on this date: In 1962, Pole vaulter John Uelses broke 16 feet for the second consecutive night, raising his day-old world record to 16- 3/4. . . . In 1956, the Boston Red Sox signed Ted Williams for $100,000. . . . In 1998, Dino Ciccarelli of the Florida Panthers became the ninth NHL player to score 600 regular-season goals. . . . In 1969, baseball owners fired commissioner William D. Eckert.