Even I had the winner of this race

[classhandicapper]

I was there that day.

Those were glory days of racing. Not only did we get a run of great champions but they ran at 4 (or beyond in the case of Forego and other geldings). So we got a chance to see them develop further and spot weight.

[HuggingTheRail]

I bet 45 seconds after the start of the race...

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Buckeye

Best horse I ever saw run in person.

He didn't even look that good, my father told me, "he looks like a milk horse."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGLC1e01OV4

first time I ever saw that replay

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Redboard

Since my favorite "race" was brought to the table, let me throw this question out ( some of you might remember this since we talked about this before).
The connections of Bid were very upset after this race, why?

I dont know; what is the answer?

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Prytanis

I wasn't a big fan of his,but i didn't.

I was just messing w/you. You can hear the boos reigning down from the NY'ers-quite loud on the video

[ultracapper]

You come out to the track to watch him bury at least a couple other horses, and you get a $150K workout.

[Redboard]

Originally Posted by Afleet

I dont know; what is the answer?

They only received 1/2 of the purse. NYRA dug out some obscure statute in their rules that the winner of a walkover will only receive 50% of the purse.

Of course they didn't mention this until after the race.

[Afleet]

Originally Posted by Redboard

They only received 1/2 of the purse. NYRA dug out some obscure statute in their rules that the winner of a walkover will only receive 50% of the purse.

Of course they didn't mention this until after the race.

very interesting. Spectacular Bid brings out all the fans and the handle that goes with it, then they screw the connections-typical

[trifecta]

Bid Goes Solo In Woodward
By Andrew Beyer September 21, 1980
Washington Post

They gave a horse race and nobody came.

All of Spectacular Bid's potential challengers dropped out of the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park today. The champion had only to make a pro forma solo gallop of 1 1/4 miles to "win" one of the most prestigious races in America.

The events of the day revived a term that had seemingly become extinct: walkover. The last time a horse found himself devoid of challengers in a major race was 1949, when Coaltown went into the starting gate alone for a stake at Havre de Grace, Md.

Walkovers don't happen any more because someone is usually willing to run for the standard 20 percent of the purse that goes to the second-place finisher in any race. It was an unusual combination of events that kept anybody from taking the Woodward's $40,000 second-place money.

Bid did not figure to have many opponents because he figured to be almost unbeatable under the Woodward conditions, which required him to carry only 126 pounds. Many of the nominees to this race ran instead in a $150,000 handicap at the Meadowlands on Thursday night.

Only three horses were entered against Bid. The trainers of Dr. Patches and Temperence Hill didn't have any serious intentions of running, but Winter's Tale figured to give Bid a decent battle.

When Winter's Tale was injured and scratched out of the race on Friday, Temperence Hill and Dr. Patches had a chance to win the easiest $40,000 of their lives. But even with that money available, trainer Joe Cantey was more concerned about seeing Temperence Hill voted the champion 3-year-old colt.

Getting him beaten by 20 lengths on national television would not have helped his prospects. Jan Nerud knew that Dr. Patches wasn't fully fit, and throwing him into a match race against the best racehorse on earth would hardly be salutary.

So Bid was left alone.

"I have mixed emotions," Bud Delp, Bid's trainer, said. "I would have liked to have met Winter's Tale because he's genuine. But I had said a few years ago that I would like to see Bid in a walkover and my dreams came true."

Delp had to give Bill Shoemaker, Bid's jockey, the simplest instruction of his long riding career: "Hold on."

Bid galloped the 1 1/4 miles in a good 2:02 2/5, with fractions of 26 1/5, 50 2/5, 1:14 1/5 and 1:38 1/5. The exercise served as a tuneup for his next start, the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 4. Bid earned $73,000 -- about half of what he would have earned in winning if the race were competitive -- for the most lucrative walkout in racing history. The rest of the purse went to the New York Racing Association.

He increased his all-time money-winning figure to $2,773,557.

Stymie was the last horse to win in a walkover in a major New York race, the Saratoga Cup in August, 1946.

[Buckeye]

Greatest horse to ever look through a bridal,

that was the quote.

He never lost once the jockey change was made.

[Buckeye]

Ok, he did lose to Affirmed (an older Triple Crown winner) in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 1979.

But he was the best horse I ever saw run and I've seen a few.

[Buckeye]

https://www.google.com/search?q=1979...nt=firefox-b-1