Affirmed vs. Alydar: ’78 Derby revived the sports - BostonHerald.com

An already famous rivalry between two chestnut colts was set to explode on the first Saturday in May. Whom to pick? Alydar, the strapping liver chestnut with all the glamour of the famed Calumet Farm behind him, versus Affirmed, champion 2-year-old with an 18-year-old Kentucky boy named Steve Cauthen on his back. Both had more statistics and sentiment than any fan could ask for.

Maybe Alydar had the edge. Just a few weeks before, he’d won the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland by 13 lengths. He was a bit of a fairy-tale horse, a symbol not only of Calumet’s vaunted breeding stock but also of its resurrection as Lexington’s most famous thoroughbred farm.

The halcyon setting of red trim and white fences had produced eight Kentucky Derby winners, two Triple Crown horses - Whirlaway and Citation - in the 1940s, and a host of champion fillies. Affirmed might have played the upstart - he was born in Florida, after all - but he, too, had the goods, winning seven of nine starts in 1977, a year that ended with his Eclipse Award for best 2-year-old.

The symbols didn’t quite hold for the whole story, the one that follows the horses back to the barn and the breeding shed and happily ever after, but the crowd got its history, the start of one of the most exciting Triple Crown campaigns ever. The fact is," says racing historian Ed Bowen, "that this Triple Crown was the greatest contest in modern racing." That Derby Day was sunny and beautiful, as it nearly always seems to be.

Alydar’s trainer, 32-year-old John Veitch, had vanned him over from Calumet the day after the Blue Grass Stakes, and remembers a "media circus," with the theme of "Calu met’s return to prominence." Affirmed had plenty of fans as well, and his story was already deeply intertwined with that of Alydar. Affirmed was owned by Louis and Patrice Wolfson, who had a successful breeding and racing operation in Florida.

Patrice Wolfson was the daughter of famed trainer Hirsch Jacobs; Louis had bought Alydar’s sire Raise a Native as a yearling, the same horse who was Affirmed’s grandsire. Affirmed jockey Steve Cauthen had told the story of that Derby so many times over the years that it’s rote: The night before the Derby he’d slept on the floor of his family’s hotel room because it was his turn.

But he was used to it, and slept well, and the day of the race, tried to stay calm as he reviewed his and trainer Laz Barrera’s plan for the race. Then there was the walk up the track to the paddock, with the singing of the state song, and fans chanting "Alydar, Alydar." This was my first dance," Veitch said.

I’d won some big races before that, but there’s nothing like the Derby I it was magical." Finally, they were off, and there was Affirmed near the front. I got to the front because I really wanted to go when and if Alydar got close," Cauthen said. To me, he was always the horse I was going to have to beat to win the race." Once Affirmed got away from Sensitive Prince, "it pretty much happened as planned."

That is to say, Affirmed won the race from the second turn on without too much interference. In the beginning, Alydar was ninth, farther back in a race than he’d ever been, Veitch said. Although he rallied to second place, he still finished 11Z2 lengths behind Affirmed. 2008, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.) Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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