Affirmed, so Tough to Beat, Loses Battle With Disease

Steve Cauthen saw Affirmed at the farm about a month ago.

“He had had recent surgery and was in pain,” Cauthen said. “But this was Affirmed, and he had such a great heart. He always looked younger than what he was. You just didn’t ever think of Affirmed dying. You thought he was a horse that would live forever.”

But the pain was too much. The surgery last October repaired ligament damage in Affirmed’s left foreleg, but afterward laminitis, a largely incurable circulatory hoof disease, attacked him in the right fore. Just turned 26, Affirmed was euthanized Friday at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., after veterinarian Larry Bramlage, who had done the surgery, decided it was the humane thing to do.

Affirmed was the 11th and most recent Triple Crown champion. With the teenager Cauthen riding, he narrowly defeated another determined colt, Alydar, in a series of 1978 races that thrilled fans and captivated the country. Seattle Slew, now the only living Triple Crown champion, had swept the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes in 1977.

“Affirmed only ran enough to win,” said the colt’s trainer, Laz Barrera, who died in 1991. “He did what he needed to. Any time he saw another horse coming, he wouldn’t get beat.”

Affirmed, who raced in the pink-and-black colors of his breeders, Louis and Patrice Wolfson, won five Eclipse Awards, among them horse-of-the-year titles in 1978 and 1979. His career started in New York, but he also made a big impact in California, where he won the Santa Anita Derby, the Hollywood Derby, the Strub Stakes, the Santa Anita Handicap and, under 132 pounds, the Hollywood Gold Cup in 1979. Affirmed’s 1 1/4 miles in 1:58 3/5 is still the fastest Santa Anita Handicap.

Elected to the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 1980, Affirmed earned $2.3 million in an era when there were no Breeders’ Cups and stakes purses had not yet peaked. For winning the Triple Crown races, Affirmed earned $433,380. Now, those three races are worth $1 million apiece. Fusaichi Pegasus earned $888,400 for winning last year’s Kentucky Derby.

In three years, Affirmed won 22 of 29 starts. He had five seconds and one third, and the only time he finished off the board was when his saddle slipped and Cauthen somehow stayed on to finish fifth in the 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.

The Jockey Club was part of a four-race losing streak, and by early 1979, the Wolfsons and Barrera replaced Cauthen with Laffit Pincay. Pincay, who had finished first three times earlier with Affirmed, rode him to the seven consecutive victories that carried the colt into retirement.

On the phone from Florida on Friday, Patrice Wolfson still was in tears about Affirmed’s death. She said that her husband, doing better after a lengthy illness, had taken the death of their horse reasonably well.

“Affirmed gave us and the racing world a real show,” Patrice Wolfson said. “Not many horses could have done what he did: Take on the very best, carry weight, travel from coast to coast and usually win. Everybody took a run at him--Alydar, Spectacular Bid, a lot of others--and he was too tough for them. He was very strong, and he loved to run. But this is a very sad day. It’s as though a member of the family has passed on.”

The Affirmed-Alydar rivalry already had begun before the 1978 Triple Crown series. They ran 1-2 against each other five times as 2-year-olds, with Affirmed winning three.

Despite Affirmed’s four consecutive California wins that started 1978, Alydar, who had won the Flamingo, the Florida Derby and the Blue Grass, was the 6-5 favorite in the Kentucky Derby. Affirmed defeated his rival by 1 1/2 lengths, then his margins shrank with each ensuing Triple Crown race--with Alydar still unable to completely close the gap.

Alydar had been hit in the eye with a clod of dirt going into the first turn of the Derby, and his trainer, John Veitch, thought a more aggressive riding style from jockey Jorge Velasquez would turn the tables in the Preakness two weeks later. At Pimlico, however, Affirmed still was the best. He was a head in front with an eighth of a mile left and won by a neck.

The Belmont Stakes, three weeks later, was the longest in the Triple Crown, at 1 1/2 miles. This time, Alydar hooked up with Affirmed early. In a grueling duel, they were nostril to nostril for the final seven-eighths of a mile.

At the top of the stretch, Affirmed led by a head, but Alydar drew even and might even have put his nose in front with three-sixteenths of a mile left.

“I knew then that it was going to take something extra special from him to win,” Cauthen said.

In 10 previous races, Cauthen never had hit Affirmed with the whip from the left side, but now they were on the inside, Alydar almost painted to their right flank, and Cauthen, not knowing what to expect, had no choice.

“When I hit him left-handed the first time ever, I got that response,” Cauthen said. “He dug in extra deep.”

Affirmed won by a head.

“It was a dogfight all the way,” Cauthen said. “Those two together gave thoroughbred racing something they’ve never seen before. The Belmont was the greatest race I’ve ever been in, or ever seen.”

When Affirmed and Alydar met again, it was in the Travers at Saratoga, two months after the Belmont. Pincay, riding because Cauthen had been injured, rode Affirmed to a 1 3/4-length win, but they were disqualified by the stewards for interference and Alydar was moved up to first place. Affirmed wound up with a 7-3 edge in their battles.

“Can you imagine what people would be saying about Alydar if he hadn’t had Affirmed to contend with all his career?” Patrice Wolfson said Friday.

Alydar, voted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, turned out to be a better sire than Affirmed. Alydar, who broke a leg in a mysterious stall accident at Calumet Farm, died in 1990.

Affirmed, a Florida-bred son of Exclusive Native and the Crafty Admiral mare Won’t Tell You, had offspring that earned more than $40 million, 77 of his more than 740 foals winning stakes. Among his progeny were Flawlessly, twice a distaff champion on grass, and Peteski, voted horse of the year in Canada. At a stud fee of $30,000, Affirmed was scheduled to stand for a full breeding season this year at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky. Instead, he was buried there Friday, with a set of the Wolfsons’ colors.

“He was the definition of a champion horse,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Jonabell.

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Select Circle

Horse racing’s 11 Triple Crown winners and their jockeys:

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Year Horse Jockey 1919 Sir Barton Johnny Lofus 1930 Gallant Fox Earl Sande 1935 Omaha Willie Saunders 1937 War Admiral Charley Kurtsinger 1941 Whirlaway Eddie Arcaro 1943 Count Fleet Johnny Longden 1946 Assault Warren Mehrtens 1948 Citation Eddie Arcaro 1973 Secretariat Ron Turcotte 1977 Seattle Slew Jean Cruguet 1978 Affirmed Steve Cauthen

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