Legends

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A Classy Champion: 1989 Belmont Stakes Winner Easy Goer

If you look through racing history closely enough, you’ll find horses that had the misfortune of racing at the wrong time.

It’s the hand that fate dealt talented horses like Sham and Alydar, who became supporting characters to Triple Crown champions Secretariat and Affirmed.

Then there’s Easy Goer.

Eventual Horse of the Year Nashua wins the 1955 Wood Memorial.

Nashua: A Classic Racehorse

Any rivalry needs something more than great competition to make it legendary.

East vs. West. Rich vs. Poor. Big vs. Small.

Sprinkle any of those ingredients into a battle between two great athletes and you have something memorable.

Champion racehorse and top sire A.P. Indy at Lane's End Farm in 2006.

1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy: Destined for Greatness

A.P. Indy was seemingly born to greatness. He was sired by Seattle Slew, a Triple Crown winner. His successful dam (mother), Weekend Surprise, was no surprise because she was sired by Secretariat, another Triple Crown champion.

Ambitious owners will pay massive sums for such regal bloodlines, so it was no surprise that Japanese owner Tomonori Tsurumaki went to $2.9 million before the auctioneer’s hammer fell at Keeneland’s July yearling sale in 1990.

Belmont Winner Rags to Riches in League of Her Own

Todd Pletcher has won more than 5,700 races in his extraordinary training career. One stands out above the rest.

That would be the 2007 Belmont Stakes, when big-hearted Rags to Riches became only the third filly to win the famed “Test of the Champion” and the first since Tanya in 1905.

Secretariat 1973 Preakness Ron Turcotte Penny Chenery 1973 Triple Crown Lucien Laurin

Spectacular Second Jewel for Secretariat Featured a Car Crash, a Trio of Nuns, and a Surprising Move

It’s a good thing the connections of Secretariat had their confidence built up by their star’s performance in winning the Kentucky Derby, because they needed every bit of it to fend off the demons and bad omens that swirled around the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course, May 19, 1973.

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