Riders up. They say it's the greatest two minutes
in sport. Running for roses, black -eyed Susans
and carnations. Before you get your flowers,
then it comes down to the test of the champion.
You only get one shot. There are no second chances.
Three races, five weeks, no time to rest. No
time to hesitate. It's all or nothing. The most
coveted title in American horse racing. Calm,
then a cacophony of cheers. The thunder of hooves,
the roars of adoring crowds, the Kentucky Derby,
the Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes. Together,
they are the triple crown of American horse racing.
This is the Sporting Almanac Podcast. afternoon
ben afternoon jack how are you today yeah i'm
okay thanks mate i'm having a very restful weekend
how are you i'm in london because uh we're down
for the marathon my wife is running the marathon
yeah and uh couldn't couldn't be more excited
by that yeah i was gonna say you are actually
attending a major sporting event this weekend
I'm attending a genuine major sporting event,
which I did mention just right at the end last
week. Probably should have given it more attention,
really. It's the kind of thing I can see us doing
a full episode on in the future, shall we say.
Yeah, definitely. Plenty of history behind it.
I went last year as well. It is actually genuinely,
if anyone can get into London for it or is around
London, it is a genuinely interesting and fun
thing to watch. Obviously, we've got the elite
runners first. Obviously, you've got all the
people dressed up. rhinos you've got people dressed
as fridges last year um roresh raganathan was
running it last year and was getting a lot of
attention um it's just it's just a nice place
to be would recommend it's an all -day event
isn't it it's um basically a day out pro race
it's definitely a day out yeah yeah pro racing
in the morning uh men's women's disability races
and then um then all the amateurs for the entire
day which is nice. People lining the streets,
a few drinks if the weather's good. Yeah, I think
I'll be heading to the Cutty Sark, so looking
forward to it. Oh, that'll be a good location
to watch it. Indeed. I've got a friend whose
daughter is doing St John's Ambulance, and she's
going to be at Mile 22, so I suspect she will
be busy. Yes, I suspect so. But yeah, it's good
of her. Yeah, exactly. Where should we start?
Last week's events? yeah last week's events obviously
we'll start with the the main events and we've
had first few rounds of the the NFL draft Cam
Ward going first overall to the Tennessee Titans
as expected Travis Hunter going second pick as
expected but not to the Browns as expected the
Jaguars traded up for him so two -way player
Travis Hunter will be at the Jacksonville Jaguars
next season so lucky for us Brits because I believe
they're coming to Wembley the major shock of
the Draft so far is Shadow Sanders dropping way
down, so we'll see how that resolves itself.
I have opinions about that. Maybe that's best
for another episode. I did see that. That's the
big shock, isn't it? Anyway, snooker as well.
Yeah. Big news there. Lots of updates in the
snooker. Yeah, the rocket. The rocket's through.
Beat Ali Carter. Good. Comfortably, in the end.
Yeah. Fairly comfortably in the end. Four -time
winner Mark Selby is out. Yeah, a bit of a shock.
He lost to Ben Williston. And obviously we've
previously mentioned that reigning champ Kyron
Wilson is gone. Less of a shock. Almost a certainty.
Yeah, well, some really good last 16 ties are
underway, actually, involving Mark Higgins. Sorry,
not Mark Higgins. John Higgins and Mark Williams.
They're not playing each other, but they're in
a bit of a ding -dong, both of them. And the
pick of the last 16 rounds is probably Judd Trump
versus Sean Murphy, both former champs. Yeah.
And the other bit of interesting news was Mark
Allen hit a 147, which obviously we discussed
in our snooker episode. It's very rare. And very
lucrative for him. Very lucrative for him, along
with the qualifier, pocketing himself quite a
lot of money, £147 ,000 a pack. Unless he gets
a share of it, I don't know. I need to check
that. It might now be divided. Either way. But
still, yeah, it's a handsome payout. But he's
also out. Oh, okay. So just a little bit of a
bet out. Yeah, it's a sweetener for Mark Allen
as he went out. A consolation prize. Yeah, he
hit his 147 when he was like 9 -3 down or something.
So pressure off and why not? That's for the weekend
sporting news. We are recording too early to
come across. We've got Liverpool potentially
wrapping up the title tomorrow and the Arsenal
ladies. taking on Lyon in Lyon, a goal down.
So we'll see how that resolves itself. And, of
course, the Red Roses and France Grand Slam decider
in the Women's Six Nations tomorrow. So fingers
crossed for all our respective teams there. Absolutely.
Do you want me to just summarise what we've got
coming up on this bank holiday weekend that is
approaching? I'm going to whistle -stop it because
there is a lot. So we've got the Beach Soccer
World Cup, which has started and is ongoing.
That's coming up. We nearly did an episode on
that. Maybe next year or next time. Exactly.
We flared with that one. But we decided to go
in a different direction. The women's Vuelta
in cycling starts, which is cool. Nice. Men's
Champions League semi -finals in midweek, which
is obviously Arsenal, PSG and Barcelona versus
Inter Milan or Internacionali, I think as they
prefer to be called. Nervous? Very. So stop talking
to me about it. I'm trying to stay calm and not
think about it. Premier League, as you've already
mentioned, will be wrapped up in terms of relegation
and title race by then in all probability. But
the top four is very fun. So that carries on.
IPL continues. Gadrat, Delhi and RCB are all
setting the pace at the halfway point or near
halfway point. We have the Miami Grand Prix next
weekend. There is a lot, isn't there? Mate, it
gets worse. The Champions Cup semi -finals in
Men's Rugby Union. Northampton Saints versus
Leinster and Bordeaux versus Toulouse. The European
Challenge Cup semi -finals in Men's Rugby Union.
Lyon versus Racing 92 and Edinburgh versus Bath.
The Super Rugby season has kicked off and is
approaching its halfway point with the Chiefs
and the Crusaders leading the way. And you have
the Super League season also. near enough at
the halfway point in terms of regular domestic
season games. Hull KR and Wigan setting the pace
there. And you have the Diamond League in athletics
in China, in Shanghai. So bank holiday weekend,
just tuck in, basically. Tuck in. And that's
without even mentioning our main event. Yeah,
I think we can safely say it's something for
everyone this weekend. Yeah, exactly. If you're
a sports lover. Yeah, including fans of horse
racing, of course. What do we have this weekend,
Ben? We have the first race of the American Triple
Crown of horse racing from the Kentucky Derby.
Kentucky Derby. We're going to do this all episode.
You're going to call it the Derby because that's
what the Yanks call it. And I'm going to call
it the Derby because it's named after the Epson
Derby. this is true uh it is uh it's a bit like
last week me referring to football and soccer
uh you've got to respect the uh the hosts of
the particular event and that's that's all i'm
doing ben but you go about it whichever way you
want no you're right you are right um i just
will slip into calling it the derby constantly
because out of habit i'm also i'm also potentially
going to go to tennessee later in the year to
kentucky sorry later in the year and tennessee
and a few other places. So I feel like I have
to be respectful for my future hosts and they
will be making my food. So best to start now.
They will be making my food. I love that. Yes.
Okay. Well, Kentucky Derby then. Derby. I will
try and get into the habit. But should we start
with what the Triple Crown itself is? Because
it's quite niche, actually, if you're not familiar
with horse racing and particularly not familiar
with American horse racing. yeah so um i mean
these are the three events that american horse
racing revolves around essentially they're all
grade one listed races uh can you tell us anything
about what grade one listed means ben yeah i
can you know i love a tangent into the technicalities
the highest class of race in an american horse
racing basically um it's difficult to summarize
the classification process it's quite complex
various criteria but the grade level is ultimately
really assigned by looking at data that indicates
the quality of the field for the last five years
and basically in order to i think in simple terms
in order to achieve or maintain grade one status
it's necessary to attract a competitive field
for a number of years Obviously, they look at
the data over the last five. But the longer you're
doing it, obviously, the more likely you are
to fulfill that criteria. They also have some
very strict anti -doping requirements, which
we might flirt with in this episode. It'll get
mentioned. Yeah, basically, it'll become pretty
self -explanatory. But yeah, you have to meet
some anti -doping. uh regulations essentially
in order to be grade one um and the decision
is taken by the american grade stakes committee
of the thoroughbred owners and breeders association
which is an absolute mouthful um it is a mouthful
but yeah many one grade one races a weight for
age so uh that's weights adjusted only according
to age and sex um obviously male or female horses
and there are also some set weights um where
all the horses are required to carry the same
weight Usually applicable when all the horses
are of the same age and sex, which will become
pretty relevant to our events that we're discussing
today because they are all three -year -olds
across all three of the Triple Crown races. And
the Grade 1 races must have a purse of at least
$300 ,000, but not all races with such a high
purse are Grade 1, if that makes sense. So if
you have... a purse of over three hundred thousand
dollars you can be grade one but just because
you do doesn't make you a grade one there are
i think yeah some other races that are more lucrative
but i feel that i feel there's probably more
races on the borderline than the kentucky derby
the preakness stakes or the belmont stakes which
are the free triple crown events i feel like
these are comfortably grade one events and that
is not going to change anytime soon Yeah, and
that's probably something to do with their longevity,
their cultural significance, et cetera, et cetera.
Yeah. Go on. Like in the UK, horse racing is,
obviously the horse racing in the UK goes back
in organized terms to the 18th century. Obviously,
America is a much newer country, but these are
still old races. The Belmont Stakes is actually
the oldest. It's still third of the three to
be run of the Triple Crown events each year.
It was first run in 1867. Which is mad. which
is very old, the Preakness Stakes following it
in 1873. And then two years later in 1875, the
first ever Kentucky Derby, which is, I would
say, it feels to me the most famous and the most
prestigious. But of course, winning the Triple
Crown is the greatest thing you can do. So they
are nothing without each other in this case.
I'd agree with that, though. It's weird because
it's the newest, but it's certainly internationally
the most reputable. yeah if you said kentucky
derby i think most um armchair sports fans would
know what it was i've heard of it yeah exactly
but i wouldn't necessarily say the same is true
of the belmont or the preakness no i wouldn't
say so and it's certainly uh it's only really
this year that i've even before we even started
this podcast i just happened to have been reading
a book or listening to a book because i don't
read i only listen uh listening to a book on
on this um which is great horse racing mysteries
which i can recommend by john mcavoy so uh that
sort of turned me on to the subject matter and
uh obviously it was only really then i really
appreciated the preakness stakes and the belmont
stakes i'd heard of them but didn't appreciate
how big they were and how much history goes behind
it so it is very it's a very fascinating event
very fascinating history And boys are a lot of
scandal and a lot of controversy in the past
of it as well, which we will get into. Yeah,
I mean, it's a strange event, like how it came
about as well, because like you say, the order
in which the races emerged historically and then
now the order in which they are run and the reputation
that precedes each of the respective races. But
I think it came about because basically thoroughbred
owners began sending their successful Kentucky
Derby. race winners to yeah to compete in the
others in the preakness that is and in the belmont
and then because they were doing that there was
just a consistency about it and it slowly turned
into um what is known as the as the triple crown
yeah but i like that i like it when things develop
naturally and develop in a sporting manner like
that the uh people realize naturally over time
it is hard to win all three races And it didn't
happen until 1919 was the first time it happened.
Sir Barton, the first horse to win all three
races. But even then, it was 1930 before the
phrase Triple Crown was really utilised as a
phrase. When Gallant Fox became the second horse
to win all three after Sir Barton. And sports
writer Charles Hatton brought the phrase into
American usage there. So the races were going
on for... what was that 60 years before uh they
were sort of linked together so i i like that
it's happened naturally and i like that it is
again we said this previously about sports it's
so rare you get a triple crown winner that it
makes it special indeed we went 37 years until
recently without one um so yeah no it's cool
i think it's cool it is very cool and they're
like um It's funny how these things sort of gather
pace, isn't it? Because you mentioned our sports
writing friend, Charles Hatton, as if we know
each other. But I think that was sort of like
the first example, not a first example, but one
of the first examples of media hype and public
interest really playing a role in the emergence
of what is now a well -known series of races.
Because I think there was basically... a lot
of speculation and media hype around the possibility
of a super horse that could win yeah all three
races uh having um in the weeks leading up to
the derby because uh yeah i don't think they
necessarily run in the same order back then either
but it probably got coined because of that because
of people championing uh you know and hyping
up a particular horse and then it happened and
then it happened exactly yeah which is great
and then that captures um public interest for
years to come and obviously we've said before
about how We mentioned with the NFL last week,
sports growing in the 1920s, 1930s. Baseball
obviously took off there with the New York Yankees,
particularly being the first sort of super team
in American sport. It was because everyone had,
at that point, a lot of people have radios in
their house and that is instantaneous news. Instead
of having to pick it up the next day via newspapers,
being able to listen to sportscasts coming through,
live updates of a game going on hundreds, thousands
of miles away. And yeah, this kind of jumped
on that particular bandwagon and came at an opportune
time, obviously 1930. Gallant Fox doing it and
the rest, as they say, is history. I mean, to
say how these races were considered separate
to one another prior to this, they were also,
the Preakness was ran on the same day as the
Derby on a couple of occasions. The Derby, sorry.
So 1917, 1922, there was no way you could have
a triple crown. winner that year yeah exactly
those two years rather um yeah those two years
i think it was yeah was it before 31 it was 11
times the preakness was run before the derby
and it was from basically after gallant's fox
won it that's when they decided to like formalize
the process and put it in the order in which
it is now run i think yeah on the back of the
the public interest essentially i can imagine
so yeah There was no trophy for it either until
the 1950s. I think, in fact, 1950. That's when
the trophy was commissioned. It was retrospectively
awarded to the winners that had achieved the
feat. Posthumously, I imagine, for the horses.
Yeah, yeah. But there's been a trophy ever since
1950. Not that many people have won it because
only 13 horses have ever won the Triple Crown.
Most recently, Justify in 2018. And I really
like the name of this horse, American Pharaoh.
Yeah, it's a good name. In 2015. But as you said,
there hadn't been a Triple Crown winner. Between
2015 and 1978, which is the longest gap ever
in the history of the Triple Crown, 37 years.
Yeah. The 1970s were actually a very fruitful
decade for Triple Crown winners. And they were
kicked off by the legendary Secretariat in 1973.
who will almost certainly come up again because
I don't think a horse has ever been more dominant
probably no I think by any measure by the lengthy
one by the statistical analysis that goes into
horses incredible horse incredible yeah and we
say that coming off the 1970s where you had Secretaria
and then two more winners in the 1970s 37 years
without a Triple Crown winner, it doesn't remove
from the mystique of it. It adds the mystique,
and then when American Pharoah finally did it,
it's global news when that happens. It's good.
It shows how history builds onto individual events,
which is essentially what we're trying to do
with this podcast, give you the context for it,
and then it makes when it happens seem all the
more special. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, it's
supposed to be hard, right? Yeah, it is. Well,
it's incredibly hard. You only get one shot at
it. I only get one shot because it's only three
-year -old, so basically every horse only gets
one attempt at it in its career. And the races
are over five weeks, and I'm not a horse racing
expert by any stretch of the imagination, but
I think that it's rare that you run a horse that
regularly. Yeah. And they're sprints, essentially.
I mean, the closest you can get to sprints in
horse racing. They're over two -minute races,
of course. The Kentucky Derby called the... What
was it? The greatest two -minute sport. The greatest
two -minute sport. There we go. I think it's
the greatest. I'll double -check that. It's a
fair description either way. But yeah, you can
get injuries. Obviously, the horse might not
be ready. uh to run in the first race which would
completely scupper you but it could be ready
to run in the you know in the belmont for example
um there's a lot of variables which would mean
the horse doesn't run uh in all in all three
over such a short window there's a lot of traveling
as well because these race courses yeah america's
a big place and whilst these race courses might
appear on a map to look as though they are near
to one another they are not um that close to
one america is a very big country i can tell
you that from personal experience yeah and i
to illustrate just how difficult it is no philly
or gelding has ever won the triple count only
colts and if you want to know what that that
means triple crown i do i do so the triple the
triple crown is three -year -old thoroughbreds
and a thoroughbred is a breed I had to look this
up, everybody. I'm not this good at horses. Thoroughbreds
are effectively considered like hot -blooded
horses that are known for their agility, speed,
and spirit. They're basically the athletes of
the horse racing world and the sprinters. And
a colt is defined as an uncastrated male from
the age of two up to and including the age of
four, but obviously in this instance would all
be three -year -olds. A gelding is a colt, but
castrated. And a filly... Which is, I should
point out, that is usually done to control a
very fiery animal. Yeah, a boisterous animal.
To calm down a boisterous animal. But the trade
-off of that is in the short sprint events, if
you lose a bit of that fire, does it act as a
disadvantage? So geldings have won individual
events within the Triple Crown, but as Ben mentioned,
they've never won all three. Exactly. Only colts.
And a filly is a female horse under the age of
four. Yes. And fillies like Geldings, yes, like
Geldings, have won individual events in the Triple
Crown, but have never won the Triple Crown. Yes.
Actually, the history behind how thoroughbreds
came to be in America is kind of fun. I think
the first thoroughbred horse that they believe
to have entered the American colonies, as it
was back then, was Buell Rock. He was imported
in 1730 from England to America by a merchant
mariner named James Patton. at the age of 21.
And Mr. James Patton. Yeah, here we go, man.
Here we go. We're going five for five. He was
distantly related to US General George S. Patton.
So there you go. I think that's probably as close
as I'm going to get to World War II in this episode.
I'm not going into it. So we did it, though.
We managed to squeeze it in somehow. But yeah,
Buell Rock was a racehorse himself. And although
a reasonably average one, he predominantly ran
at York, which is where you're from in the 18th
century. Oh, there you go. Which is kind of fun.
But he was followed to America by Messenger in
1788. Messenger didn't have a long racing career
himself. He was a common ancestor. But the reason
he's famous is he's a common ancestor of many
successful racehorses that came to be in the
20th century. Mainly from standard breads rather
than thoroughbreds though. But yeah, horse racing
essentially can be sort of traced back to a handful
of horses. I think one of the most famous ones
is Diomed, who is named after the ancient Greek
hero Diomedes, which is kind of fun. Cool. Another
great horse or great noble horse racing lineage
moved to America in the late 18th century. It's
considered one of the best colts ever seen in
Britain in the 18th century and won the inaugural
Epson Derby. so we can say derby there yeah he
then uh he basically became a stud uh and has
had a significant impact on american racing um
i think it started with his son sir archie um
john f wall a racing historian said that sir
archie was the first outstanding stallion that
they can claim as a native american thoroughbred
um And he was actually retired from the racetrack
because of a lack of opponents. That's how good
he was. I mean, the history of breeding in thoroughbreds
is, I mean, you have to be a bit of a nerd, but
pretty fascinating to begin with. And you can
trace ancestry back as you can with most pedigrees
and animals for an awful long way. and two common
ancestors as well same as in British thoroughbred
racing where you can trace it back essentially
to three horses in the 17th century I believe
which I imagine these will trace back to too
because being thoroughbreds they're probably
related to the same common ancestors but yeah
if you're into that sort of thing genealogists
throwing you a bone yeah it is very interesting
well it's also relevant because you know we've
just lifted off like three or four horses there
that came over from england but it's basically
after the american revolution the center of thoroughbred
breeding and therefore by extension racing in
the united states just moved west um because
it was obviously uh east in in the first instance
because for obvious reasons it's just slowly
move west and that's where the land is that's
where the space is yeah and good conditions to
race horses and as you'll probably find out on
your upcoming holiday kentucky and tennessee
just basically became the epicenter of american
horse breeding and racing you get give me this
is giving me a lot of context for my upcoming
holiday i'm actually quite excited by it my wife's
gonna get annoyed with me saying oh What breed
do you reckon that horse is? Do you reckon that's
a thoroughbred? Well, they're massive and muscular,
so. Yeah, I'm sure I'll spot them. But yeah,
I mean, obviously, and that's how you come full
circle to effectively the Kentucky Derby is because,
yeah, that became the very center of American
horse racing after those particular horses were
brought over. Fun little tangent. That's very
interesting. Shall we start off with the Kentucky
Derby then? A bit of information behind the jewel
in the crown of the three races, as far as we're
concerned anyway. Yeah, might as well. It seems
a sensible place to start chronologically, given
that it's coming up. It's also this coming weekend,
so yes, it makes sense. So yeah, as Ben mentioned,
it's a Grade 1 stakes race run at Churchill Downs
in Louisville, Kentucky, which I think I'm going
to. I'm excited about. it's 20 horses and they're
all three -year -olds as mentioned uh which obviously
means you can't win it twice it's only for three
-year -olds um so in your three -year -old seasons
that means if you're free on january the first
i believe so some of them may technically be
four years old but it's their three -year -old
season and it's run over a distance of one and
a quarter miles or 10 furlongs about 2000 meters
So Colton Gilding's carry 126 pounds and Philly's
121 pounds. So it's a set weight they carry.
Yeah, 57 kilos and 55 kilos if you prefer the
metric system. Which, yeah, throw a bone to our
Canadian listeners there. Some kilograms for
you. I think Canada's actually the same in the
UK. We just make it up as we go along. Pounds,
stones, kilograms. Yeah, miles. We know it all.
yeah miles furlongs apparently i think we said
earlier didn't we race was first run in 1875
yeah unlike the others um older races the triple
crown in the triple crown rather it's been run
every year since its inception it was twice rescheduled
within the same year though first time during
world war ii 1945 normally a good excuse Second
time due to, as it's becoming a reoccurring theme
with these. We should just say for the usual
reasons, yes. COVID -19. Yeah. Rearranged, but
not cancelled. Yeah, exactly. Not cancelled.
So it's gone every year. The Derby and the Oaks.
The Oaks is the Derby, rather, a sister race.
They're the oldest major sporting events in the
US that have been held annually since their beginning.
Nice. I think that's a pretty cool stat, actually.
That is a cool stat, yeah. And among Thoroughbred
Stakes races, they are the oldest that have been
held annually on the same track every year, because
we won't go into all the nuances of it, but basically
the Belmont and the Preakness have changed venue
a few times. Nice. Yeah, which is kind of fun.
Yeah, it's the most watched and most attended
horse race in the United States, unsurprisingly.
And it will be the 151st running, we hope, because
we got that wrong before, on Saturday, 3rd of
May, 2025. Yeah. This coming Saturday. So a lot
of history, steeped in history. And it came about
after Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., grandson
of... Which is an incredibly famous name in American
history. I mean, obviously, I know this is the
grandson of, but Meriwether Lewis Clark. Junior
is just an amalgamation of a couple of very famous
people in American history. Lewis and Clark,
specifically. Nice. Who are they? William Clark
and Meriwether Lewis. I genuinely didn't know
that. I didn't know the Lewis and Clark connection.
So Lewis and Clark were two explorers at the
start of the 19th century as America was expanding.
I think whoever the president was then, I want
to say Thomas Jefferson, basically chartered
them to explore the Missouri River and try and
find the continental divide. So they basically
traveled down the Missouri River with their crew,
I don't want to say crew, with their team on
the expedition and discovered a whole load of
America that had been... very minimally explored
by Western people before, and in doing so, obviously
met a lot of the native population along the
way. Man, it's mad that you even knew that. I
read a book on it. Oh, okay. It comes as no surprise
to you, yeah. Yeah, I should have known. It's
a very interesting story. I would recommend anyone
into their pure history delving into it. There's
a very good book on it, which, again, I should
have got information about. This is the book
I... Yeah, but I blindsided you with the reference,
mate, so... You did. You can't be criticized
for not being prepared for that. Well, you didn't
blindside me. You sent me the notes in advance.
Well, nonetheless, I didn't expect you to necessarily
have to hand your references for Missouri River
expeditions. Indeed. William Clark, so his grandson,
this man who is named after an amalgamation of
very famous Americans. Well, his grandson, he
basically traveled to England in 1872 and he
visited. Epson in Surrey, where the Derby had
been running annually since 1780, as I think
we previously mentioned on our national podcast
episode. Indeed. From there, he went over to
Paris in France. He met a group of racing enthusiasts
who had formed the French Jockey Club in 1863.
They had organized a Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp,
which is also a very famous horse race. Yeah.
greatest race in France, in fact, I think it
is coined as. And when he returned home to Kentucky,
inspired by his European adventure, he organized
the Louisville Jockey Club to raise money for
building quality racing facilities just outside
the city. And he was successful in raising that
money, built a track, which would soon become
known as the Churchill Downs, which was named
after John and Henry Churchill, who provided
the land for the racetrack. Fair enough. Yeah.
That's the way these things go, isn't it, historically?
And naming went officially. Sorry, the naming
went official in 1937. So, yeah. That's pretty
cool, though. Pretty cool link. I mean, the historical
links are everywhere, though. I mean, like the
Kentucky Derby at its inception was a mile and
a half. So the same distance as the Epson Derby,
which makes sense because it was inspired by.
or based upon, but it changed lengths in 1896
to its current distance of one and a quarter
miles. I'm not really sure the reasons for that,
but it doesn't really matter. We're talking the
difference between a quarter of a mile. It's
a sprint. Yeah. I've got a second World War II
reference, actually, to slip in here. Go on.
And a reference to our personal favourite television
series, probably ever, but certainly about the
Second World War. The book was called Undaunted
Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose. Stephen E. Ambrose
also wrote the book Band of Brothers, of which
the TV series is based. That is very cool. That's
a nice little segue. I think that's probably
why I read it, because I probably bounced off
Band of Brothers straight onto it by him. But
yeah, it's interesting. It's an interesting story,
interesting book. We digress. We do digress,
yeah. We like to digress, though. That's all
part and parcel of it. Sorry, where did I get
to? I was just giving a little bit of history,
wasn't I? So May 17th, 1875 was the first Kentucky
Derby. Ran in front of an estimated crowd of
10 ,000 people. I presume estimated because people
probably weren't doing the turnstiles the way
they do in this day and age. Often the case.
Yeah. A field of 15 three -year -old horses contested
it. And a colt named Aristides won the inaugural
derby, or derby as I should. Remind myself to
say. Sounds like another Greek name, that. Yeah,
yeah. It's a theme there, isn't there? He later
also came second in the Belmont Stakes, but obviously
the Triple Crown didn't exist back then. Wouldn't
surprise me if the horse Aristides, sounding
like Greek origin, probably was related to Diomed.
I would bet on that, as we mentioned previously.
That would be cool, but I haven't done the family
tree. See if I sound smart after this. It's rare
that you don't. And it's been on the radio since
1925. It's been on TV since 1949. And it's been
on national TV. It's been on national TV since
1952. So it's a pretty big deal. So big a deal,
in fact, that the purse for the Derby is $5 million.
Solid. Which is a decent amount of cash, but
not as much as is bet on it. And this is, I think,
is absolutely insane. 210 million pounds a million
dollars sorry which what does that work out probably
about 170 million pounds somewhere around there
yeah off the top of my head is bet on it or was
bet on it uh in last year or its highest maybe
its highest um probably probably go up this year
yeah but i mean that's like it's a two minute
race it is yeah absolutely wild but uh people
like it and they're prepared to bet on it And
like the Grand National, it's an institution,
it's cultural, so of course they do. It's probably
exactly the same philosophy as over here, which
is it doesn't really matter if you like horse
racing. You watch the derby and you throw a couple
of quid on it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, as we mentioned
in our episode on the National, there's people
who don't probably even notice that horse racing
exists the rest of the year who will tune in
every... yeah as a family even perhaps to to
watch the national and maybe even put a bet on
it so yeah traditions yeah uh records interested
in any always so the course record i think this
is if we earlier on we touched on secretariat
and we said that we were going to come back to
him and the reason we're going to come back to
him is as we said he is just a ridiculous horse
and i think this There is no statistic or record
that better sums up how damn fast this horse
was. Yeah. So the course record at the Kentucky
Derby is held by Secretariat, the great Secretariat.
Unsurprisingly. Yeah, who in 1973 posted a time
of 1 minute 59 .4. He's like one of three horses
to run sub two minutes. Secretariat in 1973.
Monarchos in 2001. And then this is so like,
I don't know, I like this stat, but it also breaks
my heart a little bit. And Sham, who finished
second to Secretariat in 73, also ran sub two
minutes. So basically would have won. Yeah, 1973
is probably the greatest. I mean, it is almost
certainly the greatest event in history. You
can obviously still see the footage of it. It's
very, very fun. Yeah. It's incredible. Two incredible
horses, clearly. And you'd think that me just
talking about the sub two minute finish is what
I was talking about in terms of the statistic
that's remarkable and illustrates Secretariat's
dominance. And it isn't. The thing that's absolutely
insane is that Secretariat did something that's
unique and frankly crazy, not just in like horse
racing terms, not just in terms of triple crown
races, but like in terms of any kind of athletic
performance. Secretariat ran each successive
quarter of the race faster than the last. So
basically the horse ran negative splits. It got
faster as the race went on, which anyone who
knows anything about running just doesn't happen.
That's incredible. To try and illustrate this
point, if you're watching the 100 meters and
you see someone pulling away at the end of the
100 meters, you could be forgiven for thinking
that that person is accelerating away from the
rest of the field. And in actual fact, what is
happening is they are decelerating slower. so
so everybody else is slowing down quicker than
the winner so then the winner pulls away and
so running negative splits over like that distance
in a sprint is just stupid it's crazy yeah what
a horse and in terms of like if you were to try
and translate into a race because using 100 meters
there to illustrate that that performance um
it's probably a bad one because the 100 meters
are so short it's kind of like running negative
splits in the 800 meters like just getting faster
and faster as the 800 meters goes on yeah which
is like no one does right maybe people run the
last 200 meters faster because they saved a bit
for a kick but it's like speeding up in the 800
meters until the finish and the 800 meters is
a barbaric event so yeah um people don't run
negative splits probably a bad comparison really
yeah it's just anyway i just love that stat i
just think it's really really cool And I like,
I've noticed or I've realized this about me,
Jack, which I don't think I really appreciate
it before we start this podcast. I love horse
racing because I love the horses. Like these
statistics about the horses are just like, I
don't know. It's so pure because the horse doesn't
know what it's doing. It's just running for the
love of the game. It's obviously trained to win
an inch of its life and that's fine. Like, of
course it is because it's an elite level animal
and athlete. It just isn't aware of that. But
I just love the fact that they do these insane,
remarkable things and they're not doing it for
the accolades, the money or anything like that.
They're just doing it because the horse loves
running. So like when you see... No, I mean,
it'd be hard to accuse a horse of having an ego.
Exactly. Do you know what I mean? Like, oh man,
I just, I think it's, I think it's really romantic.
I think it's really... It is, yeah. And I do
understand why people love horses so much and
the sport of horse racing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean, I know we've delved into the morality
of it previously, but at its core, I don't think
anyone could deny the beauty of it and the majesty
of horse racing. Certainly of the animals themselves.
Yeah, exactly. Maybe the treatment and all that
stuff that goes around the edges. And there is
plenty of that. Yeah. Historically, certainly.
And that's up for debate. And good, healthy debate
is a positive thing because it enacts change,
as we've said. But like, Jesus, man. Like, I
love the horses. I think they're so cool. Anyway,
I've gone very deep there. I guess to get us
back on track, I should just tell you that the
longest odds to ever win the derby are 91 to
1. Well, we're covered. Yeah. 1913 by, I think
it's pronounced Donrail, but it could be getting
that wrong. I'll take your word for it. Yeah.
And the second highest odds occurred in 2022
when Rich Strike, who if anyone hasn't seen Google,
like Google, YouTube it, it's very fun. He went
off at 80 to one and won the race. Yeah. Yeah.
That's an incredible one. Yeah. It's got a load
of traditions as well, like a lot of American
sports, like we touched on with the Masters,
for example. A lot of food and drink related
traditions. Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? Which
are some of the best traditions, if you ask me.
Yeah. Do you want to cover any of them? Any particular
favorites or ones that you want to mention? Well,
I didn't actually know this until we started
doing this research, but the mint julep is a
tradition associated with the event, which is...
An ice drink consisting of bourbon, mint and
sugar syrup. The traditional beverage of the
race and I've actually had a mint julep before
and they are very tasty. I was going to say that
sounds nice. Yeah, sounds good. It's just very
refreshing. It is obviously quite a warm place,
Kentucky, even in May. So I think a refreshing
drink like that over some ice. Very nice indeed.
You can see why it's popular. On a probably slightly
less appropriate for hot weather, a burgoo. which
is a fixed stew of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables,
which apparently is a popular Kentucky dish served
at the Derby. Nice. There you go. That's a weird
juxtaposition, though, in terms of drink to culinary
experience. It's not what I put together. I'm
not sure the pairing is one I necessarily go
for, but I'm not a culinary expert, so what do
I know? Do you want to wash your stew down with
a bourbon? Have a nice mint julep. um yeah there
you go maybe maybe there's uh maybe the two things
are designed for different parts of the track
maybe there's some uh the hoi polloi maybe like
the stew sat in the the infield which is an area
uh with virtually no view of the race and then
there's the uh millionaire's row as they call
it where perhaps there's more mint juleps going
which is the seats uh along the finish line uh
different parts of the track yeah nice well there's
a party isn't there in the infield i think there's
a bit of a Like a shindig, so to speak. Oh, is
that the infield? Yeah, I think so. But also...
You can't actually see the race. No, yeah, well,
exactly. It's like sort of probably because of...
Just busy dancing and eating their stew. It's
not unlike British horse racing, though. There's
definitely parts of the race course you can go
to where basically people are just getting pissed.
Most of Aintree, in my experience. uh what else
what else do they like to do traditionally at
the derby i think they they love a song they
do yeah the famous um which we have heard already
the call to the post played on bugle um and they
actually have a a dedicated chap who attends
every event and plays that called steve buttleman
um as the horses parade before the grandstands
he plays his call to the post on the bugle which
you'd have heard at the beginning of this and
i think anyone who's heard any horse racing jingle
probably recognizes uh call to the post oh nice
and then they also play my old kentucky home
i think nice a tradition that began in 1921 the
university of louisville cardinal marching band
plays that yeah my old kentucky home but we love
a song over here don't we as well so we we can
We're going to do the FA Cup final very shortly
in a couple of weeks ahead of the two FA Cup
finals, men's and women's. And we have our own
singing traditions there. So who are we to judge?
Yeah, abide with me. Not that we're judging at
all. We love it. We do love it. Yeah, we'll talk
about abide with me. Obviously, they sing the
national anthem. They're in America. But we do
too before the FA Cup final. Yeah, but the FA
Cup final. Oh, okay. So it's okay before the
FA Cup. Oh, I see. Yeah. No, I meant that if
you're in America, it doesn't matter. British
exceptionalism on show here. Oh, God, man. All
I was trying to illustrate is that the Americans
love their national anthem and will sing it at
any given opportunity. I'm not criticizing. Well,
half of us hate our national anthem but sing
it anyway. That's the distinction I was touching
upon. But yeah, anyway, I sounded perhaps a bit
of a dick then. But yeah, all I really meant
was America. Of course they sing the National
Anthem. We're five episodes in. We're used to
you by now, Ben. Yeah, true. Flowers. Flowers?
Yeah. It's very like the Masters, this. It is,
actually. Drinks, food, flowers. Yeah, a lot
of similarities. Traditional traditions. Although
they don't sing the National Anthem at the Masters,
so I've just disproved my own theory. I bet they
do at some point. Yeah, that's true. But as we
found out with the Masters, the people who run
Augusta National consider themselves above the
president anyway. So maybe they consider themselves
above the country too. I was going to say, I
think they consider themselves historically above
everyone. Although, you know, to their credit,
they are evolving. Slowly. Yeah. So flowers.
A rose blanket is awarded to the Kentucky Derby
winner. A lush blanket of 554 red roses. Precisely,
554. Yeah, I think so. I think that's a thing.
Started in 1896, but they think it originated
from 1883 when a socialite presented ladies at
the post -Darby party with roses. And somehow
that transitioned into draping the horse in them.
So there we are. And there's a traditional command.
From the paddock judge for the jockeys to mount
their horses in advance of the upcoming race.
Do you want to recite it? I think it was in the
intro. Bear with me. I was clicking on my other
notes. Riders up, I believe, is a traditional
command from the paddock judge for jockeys to
mount their horses in advance of the upcoming
race. See how slick and smooth and professional
we are as a duo. Well, you know, we fly by the
seat of our pants. It is. Since 2012, at least,
the Grand Marshal recites this, which is another
tradition. So we've seamlessly transitioned there.
See, we are becoming better at this. It's been
very seamless so far, this. Yeah. And the Grand
Marshal is just a celebrity, for want of a better
phrase. Oh, cool. I'm sure we could find out
who have been Grand Marshals in the past if we
wanted to. But it's just basically a bit like
the first pitch in baseball. You just come out.
You say, riders up. Jockeys get on their horses.
yeah that's fun and the whole thing is part of
the kentucky derby festival nice yeah they have
like a build -up basically to the race as you
might imagine uh it's quite long i think it lasts
about a week no sorry i think i'm i'm just correcting
myself the festivities start in earnest two weeks
before the derby so there's a real build -up
considering it's a two -minute race uh and i
think this is fun they have an air show called
the thunder over louisville uh where there's
basically an air show and fireworks display which
is good oh very nice yeah so it's pretty cool
a lot going on at the derby i mean did is it
worth touching on the stadium i think quickly
i mean it's a it's a big old stadium 170 000
people uh most most significant feature is the
oval it is a dirt track um on which the derby
and all the other triple events are all run on
dirt as opposed to grass so anyone watching in
the uk will find it very unfamiliar um it will
look very different not being on a lush green
thick muddy grass um yeah it's on dirt but that
is obviously still very affected by the weather
and by the uh ambient conditions as well as to
how heavy that is and how easy it is to run on
that's pretty cool um it's got quite a lot of
distinctive features um Clubhouse now has a 36
foot or 11 meters again for the metric lovers
out there. There you go. Mural depicting all
jockeys to have won the Kentucky Derby. It also
has another mural depicting all of the trainers.
Updates are done yearly to accommodate obviously
new winners and trainers, jockeys, et cetera.
But the most famous feature of it is the stadium
is probably, or the race course rather, is the
famous Twin Spire Grandstand. which was built
back in 1895. Very nice. Yeah, it's very cool.
20 years after the course opened. But obviously,
you know, modernity, is that the right word?
I don't know. I think you can think of other
words for it, but we'll call it modernity. Always
gets in the way. They obviously just built a
shitload of modern luxury suites in 2008, which
effectively blocked the view. yay for capitalism
yeah exactly block the view of the famous spires
from most parts of the ground but obviously you
can still it's still like the feature front of
the stadium I think it's near the main entranceway
etc etc yeah and that's despite the fact that
Churchill Downs has been designated a national
historic landmark since 1986 in america um which
i think tells you a lot about america in many
ways yeah about their priorities well definitely
but i also you know i love these tangents and
i i looked up what a national historic landmark
is uh in america of course he did naturally yeah
it's a building district object site or structure
that is officially recognized by the united states
government for his outstanding historical significance
They are abbreviated, as you might imagine, to
NHLs, and they are designated by the United States
Secretary of the Interior because they are sites
where events of national historical significance
have occurred, places where prominent persons
lived or worked, icons of ideals that shaped
the nation, outstanding examples of design and
construction, places characterizing a way of
life, or archaeological sites. Able to yield
information. Interesting. Yeah. It's definitely
not that. No. I'm actually sort of, I guess it's
probably an, I don't know, an outstanding example
of design or construction or site where events
of national historical significance occurred.
Yeah. Places characterizing a way of life, maybe.
Yeah. Would add a stretch. But it's like, you
know, it's a pretty big deal. I mean, other examples
of NHLs are... the new york stock exchange brooklyn
bridge empire state building um so yeah like
around central station yeah and other places
presumably outside of new york city yeah yeah
like they're all over the place but i think new
york's got high density of them um i imagine
so yeah washington dc probably will as well um
probably yeah plenty there but yeah it's a it's
a big deal so obviously it also gives you a little
you know um insight into like you said about
america being a relatively new country um but
yeah whatever we're the crucible is a is a graded
building here so we can't really no i think everything
everything we've listed so far is prettier than
the crucible yeah it's all about the history
exactly so i mean we should probably shut our
mouths um yeah notable events in the stadium's
history though uh i think this is a I think this
is a pretty cool story, actually, given the period
of time in which it happened. On June 5th, 1907,
African -American jockey James Lee set a record
that has never been beaten, and he won the entire
six -race card at Churchill Downs, which is fun.
Yeah, as you say, very impressive at any time
in American history, especially impressive in
1907, where it was not easy to be an African
-American man anywhere in the United States,
let alone in Kentucky. Yeah. But in more recent
history, the stadium got hit by a tornado, which
is pretty weird. That's interesting. Yeah. Well,
I say the stadium got hit by, I think it was
the stables, which is obviously, you know, important
given that's where all the horses live. And they
had to move 200 horses out to evacuate them and
relocate them elsewhere. But the tornado didn't
cause any damage to the twin spires or the clubhouse.
So, you know, we carry on. Yeah, exactly. I mean,
yes. Not uncommon in that part of the world.
Well, that's all the key features of the derby.
But, I mean, we love a story. We do love a story.
And I do actually have some stories. I don't
know how many of these we'll be able to fit in.
But I think we'll try and fit a few stories in.
I've got some good stories. Yeah, go for it.
We've got time. We've got time. We've always
got time. So I'll go back in time. I think I'll
start with the most recent one and work my way
backwards in time with these. So we'll start
in 2008. So this is 31 years. No, sorry, 30 years
this will be after the last horse to win the
Triple Crown. So as we mentioned, it was 37 years
in between Triple Crown winners, which might
be a bit of a spoiler for how this story ends.
But this is a horse called Big Brown. And in
2008 Kentucky Derby, he cruised, roared past
the leaders at the turn and pulled away with
ease to win by nearly five lengths, which obviously
got the attention of the nation. Great name as
well, by the way. We're talking about tragedy
that happens. That was a derby that was marred
by tragedy. Second place finish at eight bells,
collapsed after the finish and was unfortunately
euthanized on track. So he cast a shadow of the
day and just to... Just to point out, this is,
while there aren't any fences, it's still a dangerous
race. But the Preakness was next, and at Pimlico,
at Pimlico, Big Brown was 1 -5. He was a favourite.
He was expected to win. He had to win. And he
did win, in breathtaking style. Sat just off
the leaders, and then unleashed his signature
move. Draw -dropping burst that left the field
gasping behind him. The dream was alive. One
race left. The Belmont Stakes. The race of champions.
his chance to end 30 years of hurt. And with,
obviously, as you can imagine, the eyes of a
nation upon him. But then the cracks began to
show, unfortunately, quite literally in this
case, when a three -inch quarter crack reappeared
on Big Brown's hoof. Same kind of injury that
sidelined him before. His trainer described it,
his trainer, Rick Dottereau, described it as
a little hiccup. And the hoof was stitched, patched
and bandaged, stainless steel wire and fiberglass
implanted. And he was expected to still run.
but he missed critical days training. He fought
through the heat. He fought the deep, tiring
track at Belmont, and he ran. He broke cleanly
through, but his jockey, a man called Desormo,
fought for control, pulling rank and pulling
hard against the bit. Going into the first turn,
he bumped another horse, not once, but twice.
And down the backstress, he seemed unsettled,
sweating more than usual. His ears were pinned
back. And then, shockingly, around the far turn,
his jockey pulled him up. He had nothing left.
He was eased. He was pulled up. I don't know
whether the jockey had in mind the horse had
lost his life earlier, but regardless, it was
the right thing to do. It was a controversial
thing to do. A veteran horseman named Billy Turner,
who trained Seattle slew, said bluntly, if DeSormo
had pulled up a horse like that in my day, the
stewards would have run him out of state. And
Steve Haskins said, no one will ever know for
sure why a horse that personified perfection.
suddenly came apart at the seams uh so yeah big
brown at that point undefeated champion had fallen
um so that was the closest uh anyone who got
in 30 years to winning the wall and uh heartbreak
just to just to tell you what the race can do
from a sporting sense yeah yeah that's my first
story that's like i like it i like the story
i um i also like the jockey because Yes, it was
the right decision. He put the horse's welfare
above everything else, and that's the most important
thing. I was actually thinking as you were telling
it, should he even be running in the third race?
But I guess the Triple Crown is so coveted and
so rare, it would be a brave man to just not
enter when you've won two in a row. Yeah. But
that's the pressure of money and prestige, isn't
it? Yeah, you can repair a hoof like they did,
obviously. desire for him to run was there it
probably would have caused a the bookies to have
to refund a lot if it was a late decision to
pull him out um nevertheless the right decision
was made in the end and yeah just missed out
but still still still cool story won the derby
yeah won the preakness and the preakness exactly
and many horses are yeah there's been a lot of
horses i think somewhere in the 20s we've won
two out of the three events, but haven't been
able to bring it home. And it is often the Belmont
that is the undoer of horses. It is a bit longer
than the other two. It's a slightly different
challenge, but yeah, this was one of those cases.
Yeah, yeah. That's a good story, though. I like
that. Good name as well. Yeah. Big Brown. Got
any others? I think he was named after a US Postal
Service parcel. I think they have a standard
parcel called a Big Brown. I might be wrong on
that, but I'm sure I read that somewhere. a good
reason to name him um yeah yeah i've got i've
got other stories um so this is we're getting
on to conspiracy theory side of things now and
a little bit of gambling math this is fun let's
go let's hear it a bit of yeah so this is the
1994 kentucky derby and the story of holy bull
so holy bull wasn't just good heading into the
derby he was an absolute phenomenon as a three
-year -old he'd won eight out of his ten starts
that year Five of them at grade one level. He
had raw numbers which were off the charts. And
he had out -dueled some very good horses to win
the Hodgson Stakes early in the year. Florida
Derby blew away the field by six lengths with
the fastest time since Alidar in 1978. Alidar
being a Triple Crown winner. So going into the
last Triple Crown winner before this 37 -year
stretch. Going into the Kentucky Derby, Holy
Bull wasn't just a favourite. He looked like
a sure thing for the Triple Crown, let alone
just the Derby. But then, disaster. So the Derby
track was sloppy that day, but even to account
for that, Holy Bull's performance was inexplicable.
He broke poorly, he ran listlessly, and he staggered
home 12th in the end. His trainer, Jimmy Crowell,
was adamant something was wrong. He believed
Holy Bull had been drugged before the race. The
horse, Crowell said, was unusually lethargic
even before entering the gate. And afterwards,
Holy Bull was treated with antibiotics for possible
infection, but no clear cause was ever found.
And crucially, no blood samples were taken immediately
after the derby, meaning if something had been
done to him, there's no way to prove it. Hence,
conspiracy theories. Sabotage. Yeah, rumors quickly
spread that if Holy Bull had been sabotaged,
it wasn't just about revenge or sabotage or trying
to give another horse the best chance of winning.
They did some maths and worked out that it created...
artificially created what is known as a dutch
book so a dutch book in gambling in simple terms
is a situation where the odds are so badly set
that you could place bets on every outcome and
guarantee a profit so it would be like if you've
got uh let's say there's a two horse race and
both horses are rated three to one you bet on
both of them you will get make a profit in that
situation so That's obviously not something the
bookmaker is ever going to do and they work hard
to make sure this doesn't happen. However, if
you end up with a horse who is such a favourite
over any other horse and then you take him out
of the race, essentially, the other horse's long
odds would allow you to bet on multiple other
horses and still give yourself a good chance
of making a profit, if that makes sense. You
take out the horse with odds on and then you're
left with horses with long odds. you could book
on bet on several of them and guarantee yourself
or close to guarantee yourself a good outcome
so that's what they reckoned well that was what
the rumors are happened um the overwhelming favorite
was going to run badly not because of the conditions
not because of random chance but just make sure
of it and you can turn the whole betting market
upside down as a result public would keep pouring
money into holy bull keeping the odds inflated
for everyone else. Meanwhile, you could quickly
spread your bets across all the other horses,
exploit the inside information that you had created,
and take advantage of the bad odds of the other
horses. Drug the favourite, keep it quiet, bet
the field, and cash in. Completely illegal. Nearly
impossible to prove after the fact, especially
if a blood test isn't taken. But here's the thing.
Here's the kicker, I should say. Holy Bull didn't
just fade away after the derby. He roared back
in the Metropolitan Handicap, beating all the
champions by over five lengths. He crushed the
Dwyer Stakes. He conquered the Haskell, outclassed
the Field and the Travers, and finished the season
by dominating the Woodward Stakes. At the end
of 1994, Holy Bull was named Horse of the Year,
receiving 241 out of 245 votes, with mind -blowing
average speed figures. He wasn't just good, he
was historic, other than the fact he didn't bring
it home in the derby. So yeah, looking back on
that, it makes the derby stand out even more
sharply. A one -off single race, the biggest
race of the season, sandwiched between so much
success and creating such a beneficial situation
for bettors, potentially, or for betting markets.
Remind me, when did you say this happened again?
This was 1994. 1994. I was wondering if it was
in the sweet spot of the American mafia. Because
that has got... Yeah, that stinks, basically.
It's very smelly, that one, isn't it? Now, we
love a conspiracy theory, and I'm not saying
for one second there's any actual evidence backing
this up. But you look at the facts, and you look
at the setup, and you look at the scenario, I
can see a scenario where this would be very beneficial
for certain people. And that's what makes a good
conspiracy theory. And a good thing to discuss,
even if there is, of course. absolutely no proof
to back it up you're i mean you can draw a pretty
strong inference there i think that maybe the
horse didn't have a bad day yeah i mean as as
i think the one line in that which um potentially
would be a logical explanation as i said he was
treated with antibiotics potentially for an infection
afterwards so but then again maybe it was symptoms
showing up strangely wouldn't want to speculate
no Yeah, well, let's just leave it to others
to determine whether they think that it's an
awfully conveniently timed infection. Dear viewers,
we will leave it for you to make your own conclusions
here. Yeah. It's funny as well, because you know
you mentioned Aladar in there, in that story.
Aladar, yeah. Yeah, I had a... Which is a great
name as well. It is a great name. I have a...
You just remind me of a little statistic I'd
come across. He is the only horse to have finished
second in all three races. Oh, really? Yeah,
he was defeated each time by Affirmed in 1978.
Oh, of course, no. Sorry, it's Aladar and Affirmed.
I was wrong when I said he won the Triple Crown.
I have made a silly error. It was Affirmed. That
was an incredible series of races, yeah. Sorry,
yeah, so Aladar was... He came second in all
three, which is insane to Affirmed. And his combined
losing margin over all three races was two lengths.
Yeah. And most of that was the Kentucky Derby.
Like one and a half lengths of that was Kentucky
Derby. I'm ashamed of myself for getting Affirmed
and Harry Darby mixed up. Yes. Punish myself
for that. Self -flagellation. Yeah, literally.
It hasn't ruined the story though, mate. The
story was all about whether or not they would
open up horses. Yeah, it still makes the fact
that this horse outran him statistically impressive
because Ali Doll was clearly a Triple Crown winning
worthy horse even if he didn't win any of them
incredibly. Yeah, which is really cool. I could
have done a story on that alone. Anyway, I've
got more stories if you want them. Oh, mate,
more than merrier. You know I'm partial to historical
stories. So, yeah, fire off. We've had heartbreak.
We've had conspiracy theory. Are we ready for
some, well, technically more conspiracy theories,
but around a time that America was, let's just
say, one of the most interesting years. eventful
years in American history is 1968. So 1968 was
a year of assassinations, riots, protests, upheaval.
There was a country teetering on the edge, cities
burning, people bitterly divided. The Vietnam
War was raging abroad, taking thousands of young
American lives each month. At home, the civil
rights movement was at its boiling point, struggling
not only for equality, but for survival against
growing backlash. Trust in political leaders
was crumbling on every side. Hope itself seemed
a fragile thing. Kentucky and Louisville in particular
felt these tremors keenly. The Louisville itself
had a relatively progressive streak compared
to other southern cities. It was still deeply
tied to the traditions of the old south. Segregation,
though technically outlawed, lingered in practice.
In 1968, Rachel's tension simmered under the
surface of Kentucky society. Flaring into the
open whenever the national spotlight turned towards
race relations, the memory of Louisville's own
racial protests and school integration battles
were still very fresh in people's minds. People
were nervous, defensive and fiercely protective
of the cultural institutions represented the
old ways, not more so than the Kentucky Derby,
the crown jewel of the state's identity. And
then a month before the Derby, America suffered.
one of the most profound tragedies in its existence.
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April the
4th. His death sending shockwaves throughout
the country, understandably throughout the world.
Grief of... Grief turned to rage. More than 100
American cities erupted into riots. Washington
DC, Chicago, Baltimore among the hardest hit.
Louisville too. Store streets filled with protesters.
Christ for justice. Sometimes meeting tear gas
and police batons. Downtown businesses boarded
up their windows. Tensions between black and
white citizens ran dangerously high and the scars
of April bled through into the atmosphere of
early May and the Derby. Mate, you've set this
up so I want to know what the fuck happened at
this race. That is some context. So what the
fuck happened at this derby? So a man named Peter
Fuller was a owner of a horse named Dancer's
Image. Dancer's Image arrived at Churchill Downs
among the favourites. Peter Fuller had publicly
donated the horse's winnings from a recent race
to Coretta Scott King. the widow of Dr. Martin
Luther King. And that meant a gesture of support
for the civil rights movement and to support,
obviously, a grieving widow. But in Kentucky,
where many viewed the civil rights cause with
suspicion or hostility, as mentioned, Fuller's
politics was seen as potentially an insult, a
challenge to the traditions that the Derby and
its elite circles proudly upheld. Fuller's gesture,
however noble, had already made him an outsider
at Churchill's Down before the starting bell
even rang. The race itself should have been a
fairy tale for Fuller. Dancer's image broke poorly
out the gate, falling dead last almost immediately,
but showing remarkable resilience. The grey colt
fought back through the field. The crowd roared
as he surged past the favourite forward pass
at the eighth pole and drove home to a stunning
come -from -behind victory, only the fifth time
in the Derby history that a horse had gone from
last to first. In any other year, the performance
would have been immortalised in gold. Instead...
The victory was almost immediately clouded in
suspicion. Within days, officials announced that
Dancer's image, for the first time ever, first
time this had ever happened to a derby winner,
had failed his post -race urinalysis, testing
positive for phenylbutazone, a common anti -inflammatory
drug that was banned at the time in Kentucky
racing, or was banned during meets. It was okay
in between meets, I believe. Churchill Downs
officials swiftly disqualified Dancer's image,
stripped fuller of his trophy, and awarded the
winter forward pass. Fuller protested furiously,
insisting that the drug could not have been in
Dancer's Image's system unless someone had tampered
with the horse or the sample after the race.
Many believed him, or at least believed that
his political statements made him a target in
a year when America's anger could boil over into
any aspect of public life, even horse racing.
The idea of sabotage, once unthinkable, seemed
chillingly plausible in a world where assassinations,
bombings and betrayals filled the headlines.
Fuller's legal battle, which cost him $250 ,000.
To overturn the disqualification, dragged on
for years, but was eventually unsuccessful. The
decision stood and the dream was dead. For more
than 50 years, Dante's image remained the only
Kentucky Derby winner disqualified after the
race. 2019, maximum security crossed the line
first, but was disqualified within minutes for
interference, handing the win to Country House.
Nevertheless, again, another one. Make your own
mind up about that. That stinks of absolute shit.
like that that feels like it's smelly it's too
it's too convenient you know like it's i mean
the timing yeah yeah and also like i don't know
come from an answer yeah i don't know i don't
know that that just that that yeah in the context
which you so eloquently described as well that
is um that's rancid I would be inclined to give
our protagonist the benefit of the doubt there
and lean heavily in favor of a conclusion that
suggests that he's been royally fucked over.
But yeah, that is a very good story. That was
very interesting. Yeah. Got any uplifting ones?
I have another story. Yeah, but is it a nice
one? I have another story, Ben. Yeah, okay. Don't
ask questions you don't want to know the answer
to. You should know that more than anyone. Oh,
no. Okay, go on. One more. Let's hear it. This
is the final story. I want a romantic one. We're
going... Well, I mean, you could say there's
romance in this. It involves a married couple.
Is it an underdog? We're going back... We're
going back to the 1950s. Actually, to be honest,
on a sporting sense, this is a very good story.
We're going back to the 1950s here. So it was
a time when horse racing, it was more than just
a sport. It was the heartbeat of society, obviously.
There was kings, there was moguls, all barons,
bluebloods, all spending fortunes for a shot
of glory beneath the twin spires of Churchill
Downs. And no name was more envied than that
of William Woodward Jr., who was heir to the
Bel -Air stud dynasty. The Woodwards didn't just
own racehorses. They bred them like Renaissance
artists, shaping marble, crafting champions like
Gallant Fox, previously mentioned, Omaha, and
at this point in time, a new horse called Nashua.
Nashua was bred for greatness. From the moment
he hit the ground in 1952, everything about him
spoke of destiny. Trained by the legendary Sonny
Jim Fitzsimmons, who had already shepherded two
Triple Crown winners, and ridden by Eddie Arcaro,
a master tactician who was... I believe the most
successful jockey, I think the only jockey to
have ridden multiple Triple Crown winners. Oh,
can I jump in there quickly? Eddie Alcara, now
that you've mentioned him, he's obviously in
the American Thoroughbred Horse Racing Hall of
Fame. He has won more American Classic races
than any other jockey in history and is the only
rider to have won the US Triple Crown twice.
He's regarded as one of the greatest jockeys
in American history. So, yeah, sorry. Eddie Alcara,
there you go. Yeah, very famous, very successful
jockey. So this horse was obviously highly rated
for the Kentucky Derby that year. But out of
the dust and the heat of California came a horse
called Swops, who was nicknamed the California
Comet, which is a great nickname. So Swops was
everything Nashua wasn't. Where Nashua was polished,
Scraps was raw. Nashua was a very well -bred
horse. well -chiseled horse, whereas Swaps came
out of a bit more of a rough background. Well,
I say a rough background, it makes it sound like
he grew up on the streets. But his owner, Rex
Ellworth, wasn't society stock. He was someone
who built a career out of... He turned a patch
of the desert into a racing empire and had brought
this horse, Swaps, to the table. So the two colts
met head -to -head in the 1955 Kentucky Derby.
But it wasn't Nashua who crossed the line first.
It was Swaps leading a lot of people on the East
Coast stunned. Nashua would then regroup and
would win the Preakness and win the Belmont as
well. But the sting of Derby defeat and missing
out on the Triple Crown gnawed at the Woodwoods
like acid. Was Swaps truly the better horse or
had fate intervened on that day in Louisville?
There was only one way to settle it, Ben. A race.
Nice. A one -on -one match race between the two
horses. Horse against horse. No excuses and no
second chances. August the 31st, 1955 at Washington
Park Racetrack in Chicago. 35 ,000 people pressed
shoulder to shoulder beneath the summer sun.
Millions more leaning into their radios, hanging
on to every word. East versus West. Aristocracy
versus ambition. The American dream. Rags to
riches. Maybe not quite that, but you've got
to build a story, haven't you? Yeah, I was going
to say, no one's coming from rags in horse racing.
But yeah, carry on. The start was clean anyway.
Nashua sees the early lead. Swaps try to keep
close, but Nashua is relentless. Arcaro later
said, I knew from the first turn he wasn't coming.
We had him. In the end, Nashua pulled away with
mechanical efficiency, crossing the wire six
and a half lengths in front. Victory belonged
to Nashua and to the Woodwoods. So yeah, for
a brief glittering moment, it seemed the Woodward's
place atop society was not just restored, but
it was immortalized forever. Then came the night
of October the 30th, 1955, Ben, where our story
takes something of a sinister turn. At their
mansion in Oyster Bay, Long Island, a palatial
estate fit for kings, Billy and Anne Woodward
returned from a society dinner. So Anne Woodward
had come from a humble background. She was of
Midwest stock. She was... Not from anything like
an elite family, but she was a very, very beautiful
woman. She'd moved to New York and found a place
in society and eventually found her husband,
Billy, there. Billy's mother disapproved of their
marriage, thinking they weren't of the same stock,
as it were. But nevertheless, they were married.
The marriage was a tumultuous one. There was
rumors of affairs on both sides throughout the
marriage. On this night, October 30th, 1955,
shortly after midnight, a shot rang out. And
Billy Woodward, the heir to the Bel -Air dynasty,
one of the biggest horse racing studs in America,
was dead. And the shooter was his wife, Anne.
She would claim, and the Nassau County Grand
Jury would agree, that she mistook him for a
prowler. The whispers soon blossomed like poisonous
flowers for our society pages. What's a prowler?
Like a stalker? A prowler, as in someone who'd
come onto their property and therefore deserve
to be shot. Ah, in true American style. Classic
castle doctrine standards, yeah. So, whispers
bloomed across society pages and was a social
climber from Kansas. whose marriage to Billy
was cold and bitter, that Billy was preparing
to divorce her, that divorce would cut Anne off
from her wealth, the status, the life she built,
and ultimately the shooting would be no accident
at all. These were the rumours that circled around.
The Woodward family themselves of elite aristocracy
by American standards. They circled their wagons.
Billy's former mother, Elsie Woodward, who, as
I mentioned, was very much against the marriage
originally, wielded her influence like a broadsword,
ensuring that while no charges were filed, that
Anne's place in society was done with, preventing
scandal from coming across her family, but ensuring
that Anne would no longer be part of anything
resembling society. So she became a pariah, shunned
by the society that once embraced her, She fled
to Europe, living a half -life relatively compared
to her old life amongst villas and boulevards
of the Riviera. She famously cultivated affairs
with younger men, but she never remarried. And
in 1975, Truman Capote, another darling of high
society and a man who knew where all the bodies
were buried, if you believe certain people, published
a very thinly veiled story in Esquire magazine.
Capote depicted a character named Anne Hopkins,
very clearly based on Anne Woodward, as a cold
-blooded murderer. The exposure was brutal, humiliating,
and for Anne, apparently, too much for her to
bear. Because on October 10th, 1975, Anne Woodward
was found dead in her Fifth Avenue apartment,
the victim of a deliberate drug overdose. Her
funeral was described as sparsely attended. Society,
it seemed, had finally exacted its revenge upon
her. A tragedy didn't end there for the family,
unfortunately. Less than a year later, James
Woodward, who was her son and a Vietnam veteran
himself, haunted by addiction and grief, jumped
to his death out of a hotel window overlooking
Central Park. He was just 29 years old. And a
few decades later, the final Woodward heir, William
Woody Woodward III, followed the same dark path
as his brother, leaping from a 14 -floor kitchen
window in Manhattan in 1999. Leaving behind a
wife, a daughter, and unanswered questions that
have haunted his family for generations. Such
as, did Anne Woodward really kill Billy in a
tragic accident? Or was it something darker,
covered up to protect the family name? And resulting
in Anne being shunned as a result. So, journalist
Susan Brody spent years investigating the case.
She interviewed more than a thousand sources,
combed through decades of police records, and
her conclusion was that Anne Woodward had likely
killed Billy by mistake. At the time, there was
warnings, reports of prowlers in the area, and
there was in fact a man who later said that he
was casing up the joint and may well have been
on that night because he heard a gunshot and
ran. So they may well have heard someone. uh
genuinely uh invading their property and may
have reached for the shotgun and as so often
tragically happens in these circumstances saw
a shadow in a dark corner of the room thought
her husband was beside her pulled the trigger
and before it was too late uh tragedy had struck
so the myth was and meant to kill her husband
to avoid disgrace to avoid divorce uh proved
more durable than any mere fact as truman compote
himself once said all literature is gossip And
in this case, gossip wrote a tragic chapter.
Jesus. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like the Prestorius
defense to me. Oh, we will do an episode on that
at some point, won't we? My word. But yeah, I
mean, the answer to that question, the answer
to that night for me, Jack, is more guns. if
there had been more guns then i think this whole
tragedy could have been avoided uh that seems
a completely logical uh conclusion to reach should
we point out to anyone wondering otherwise that
sarcasm might be a play here oh yeah i mean like
i couldn't be more anti -gun if i tried but um
yeah but yeah that's i mean it's pretty wild
how all of this stuff can just emerge from you
know a couple of horse races just set the world
on a yeah particular path that is that's quite
an intense story that one yeah it's good though
isn't it it is good it's very good yeah um that's
what you get though with these events so they
you know they're so they're so long lasting and
they're so established that you know really fascinating
stuff does emerge from i honestly um as as the
book i mentioned before this is my the the sort
of subject matter that i took this from which
was Great Horse Racing Mysteries by John McAvoy.
The audio version is very well read. I would
recommend it, but I am just scraping the surface,
honestly. Not all of them are about the Triple
Crown events, but it's an American book. Most
of them are about the Triple Crown events, and
honestly, the stories, the tragedies, the rumors,
the conspiracy theories, yeah. Yeah, well, I
can imagine. When money is involved, when the
mob is involved, when shady figures are involved,
when gambling is involved, and when there's a
lot at stake. Either bad things can happen, or
if not, then if bad things do happen, where there
is no clear cause, rumours will come of it very
quickly. Yeah, for sure. There's a lot of stories.
I will probably, I mean, we'll almost certainly
rehearse more of them. as we come around to these
events in the calendar year uh yeah we would
love to tell every story in every in every episode
but it's just simply not possible because um
they are so rife um but and yeah yeah and as
i learned last week a two -hour episode takes
a very long time to edit yeah well we're learning
our lessons as we go and apologies to anyone
who was listening to last episode i completely
ballsed up my um microphone which is why it sounds
a bit odd um so i sold jack down the river there
but in your in your defense um it was the first
time we recorded in person and when you record
in person you don't wear a headset yeah and so
i can't get immediate feedback on how ben sounds
in that circumstance so never mind there you
go lesson learned lesson learned uh yeah i mean
we've done we've done quite a lot here but one
thing we haven't done We've continuously mentioned
the Preakness and the Belmont, but we haven't
really explained anything about them. I think
we can quickly. Just a quick overview and then
we'll... Wrap it up. We'll bid everyone and each
other good day. Yeah. Do you want to do the Preakness?
Yeah, so the Preakness. I mentioned this. There's
Pimlico Racecourse, which I might pronounce terribly
the first time I said it, even though it's a
word very associated with... the United Kingdom.
It's a Pimlico race course in Baltimore, Maryland.
The middle jewel of the Triple Crown and the
run for the Black -Eyed Susans. The Black -Eyed
Susan is the Maryland state flower and the winner,
like the Kentucky Derby, is adored with a blanket
of flowers. In this instance, flowers which look
like Black -Eyed Susans, but I do believe they're
not actually Black -Eyed Susans. They are not.
Black -Eyed Susans don't come into season until
later in the year. Yeah, they bloom two months
after the race, I think. But nevertheless, adorned
in flowers that look like Black Eyed Susans,
which I think is enough. So they also have an
infield fest, a party, fancy hats, official cocktail
called the Black Eyed Susan, made with vodka,
Saint -Germain liqueur and pineapple, lime and
orange juices, which again sounds quite pleasant
to be fair. That does. I'd have one of them.
I do love a cocktail. Nothing wrong with that.
So they used to sing the third verse of Maryland,
My Maryland, which is the official state song,
you would be surprised to learn, of Maryland.
accompanied by a marching band. But the song
celebrates the Confederacy and was discontinued
in 2020 due to the racial conversations, which,
yeah, I can believe that. The Black -Eyed Susan
is, of course, a tradition, but no Black -Eyed
Susan is ever used. They don't bloom until two
months later. So similar flowers are used and
historically would dye black as well, I believe.
Yeah, they are, yeah. And as soon as the Preakness
winner has been declared official, a painter
climbs a ladder to the top of a replica of the
old clubhouse Coppola. The colours of the victorious
winner's silks are applied to the jockey and
horse that are part of the weather vane atop
the infield structure. Mate, I love that tradition.
I think that's my favourite tradition that we've
come across. It's like if anybody's familiar
with Lords, there's a very famous, you know,
wind. dial thing at the top of the weather vane
thing at the top of uh the the um pavilion there
as well and it doesn't get painted um but i just
like the idea of it being painted i think that's
cool presumably that lasts a year until the following
year where it's replaced exactly where weather
itself probably wears the paint away so yeah
cool And the original Woodlawn Vase trophy is
kept at the Baltimore Museum of Art and brought
to the race each year under guard for the winner's
presentation. The winner does not keep it, receives
a replica, and then the trophy goes back to the
museum for the rest of the year. And it may surprise
you to learn the Preakness Stakes record is held
by Secretariat. There you go. There's the Preakness.
The Preakness. And so if you've managed to win
the Derby and the Preakness, then you go to Belmont
with an opportunity of winning the Triple Crown,
as you may now have probably guessed. Usually
held on the first or second Saturday in June,
five weeks after the Kentucky Derby, three weeks
after the Preakness. Run at Belmont Park in Elmont,
New York. That was a course opened in 1905, but
I won't bore everyone with the particulars, but
essentially the Belmont's moved a few times.
It's predominantly run at Belmont Park, and I
think it's actually being renovated. So it will
be held somewhere else this year and was last
year. I think it goes back to Belmont Park in
2026. Interesting. Yeah, I mean, it is for all
intents and purposes held at Belmont Park, but
it's moved around a lot. Yeah, race covers one
lap of the Belmont Park championship track. And
it's called that because nearly every major American
champion in racing history has competed on the
racetrack, which is kind of fun. I didn't know
that before reading into this event. Oh, cool.
Yeah, and it's got a very large, wide sweeping
turn and long home stretch. It's basically considered
one of the fairest racetracks in America. And
the main dirt track is nicknamed the Big Sandy,
which I think is a cool name. And despite the
distance, the race tends to favor horses with
tactical speed. Basically, relatively few winners
close from far behind the early leaders. So you've
got to get out there. You've got to get out the
gate. Get out the gate fast. And like the other
two races, it has got a lot of tradition. Only
flower -based traditions by any chance. Oh, well,
now that you mention it, Jack. It was originally
known as Run for the Carnations, continuing that
flower theme for you. But when it became established
as the third race, it became known for obvious
reasons as the Test of the Champion. Nice. Yeah.
It's a good name. It is a good name, exactly,
because you are the double champ going into the
Belmont. But the winning horse is still draped
with a blanket of white carnations. And those
carnations, of which there are approximately
700... Only approximately? Yeah. Disappointing.
Come from Colombia, which I, you know, that's
quite... Okay. Yeah. And the New York Race Association
has long used the Pennock Company, a wholesale
florist based in Philadelphia, to import them.
I don't really know why I look up this shit.
It's not that. I was going to say, you're throwing
a bone to florists this week. Good stuff, mate.
Honestly, you're just keeping these, what was
it, architects previously? What else have we
had? Horticulturalists. I guess this is kind
of a bone to them as well. Big fans of yours.
Well, you know, we cater for everyone here on
the almanac. The winning owner ceremonially presented
with a silver winner's trophy, which is designed
by Tiffany and Company, which I thought was just
another weird tangent. I've heard of them. Yeah,
they're fairly famous. Yeah, first presented
in 1896. Who cares? Do you know what I mean?
There's a longstanding trophy, which is made
by Tiffany and Company, which is cool. They also
have a song, although this is weird. The Belmont,
I don't know, maybe it's part of its charm that
it moves locations, it changes its song, it changes
its nickname. There's a theme emerging, I guess.
At least they're consistent. It's currently themed
from New York, New York by Frank Sinatra, but
it's also changed loads. I think before American
Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015, some claimed
that changing the officials... belmont song accursed
the triple crown which is why no horse had won
since affirmed in 78 but others also um that
is famously what the gods look out for exactly
changes in music exactly and like others astutely
noted that there hadn't been any triple crown
winners between 1979 and 1996 even though um
the original sidewalks song was still being played
and sung so that is frankly don't let facts get
in the way of a good story but yeah it's gone
back at one point It was Empire State of New
York or whatever that song is by Jay -Z and Alicia
Keys. Fair enough. They were trying to appeal
to a younger audience, I think, but they realized
that people actually do quite like tradition.
And so that's why they've gone back to the Sinatra
song. Yeah. Belmont doesn't seem quite as keen
on traditions as the others. Maybe that's the
tradition in itself. I also like this about the
Belmont. There are drinks. Oh, yes. Yeah, the
official drink was changed in 1997 from the White
Carnation. Of course it was. It was changed from
the White Carnation to the Belmont Breeze. And
the New York Times has reviewed both drinks very
unfavorably, calling the Belmont Breeze a significant
improvement over the nigh -undrinkable White
Carnation, despite the fact that it tastes like
a refined trash can punch. Excellent. That is
damning. And then, yeah, 2011, the Belmont Breeze
again was changed to the current official drink.
Probably for the best. I'll probably let them
have that one. Yeah, known as the Belmont Jewel.
And I haven't read any reviews about the Belmont
Jewel, so I can't. Let's live in ignorance on
that one. Let's assume it's nice. Yeah. And then,
yeah, no prizes for guessing who holds the course
record. Secretariat. But also, this again, just
because I love this horse. His time of 2 .24
in 73 set a world record that still stands for
that length over one and a half miles, which
is in and of itself insane. But he won the race
by 31 lengths. Yeah, I mean, this is obviously
triple crown. I think it'd been a few years.
a few years at least before 73 without a Triple
Crown winner. Obviously, a lot of hype with Secretaria
for obvious reasons. Going into that last race,
what do you want? You want a nice tight finish,
a nice, you know, keep them on the edge of their
seats. 31 lengths he won by. Everyone else might
as well have not turned up. It's mad. So he,
when he won the Triple Crown, he set a course
record at all three courses. He ran negative
splits in the derby and then he won by 31 lengths
at the Belmont. Sorry, we're not even having
a goat discussion. Oh, no, it's him. Yeah, it's
just whatever. Anyone who says anything differently
is an idiot and just haven't even looked at the
basic statistics. But yeah, that's basically
the Belmont. There have been other famous winners
of it. Man O' War is probably the one that people
might have heard of in 1920. He won by 20 lengths,
which is a pretty astonishing victory. He also
won the Preakness, but didn't win the Derby.
He wasn't entered because I think the calendar
year, as we discussed at the beginning of the
episode, was different. And the trainer didn't
like racing in Kentucky. Yeah. Well, there wasn't
really the hype around it in 1920. Yeah. 1930
onwards. So maybe it just wasn't such a prestigious
thing at that point. Yeah, exactly. Shame. I
should have also mentioned, and it would be remiss
not to mention, so he said American Pharoah won.
um in 2000 and uh when did he win again 15 15
he he's the only horse to have won the grand
slam um he's the first and only horse to sweep
the four majors which is the obviously the triple
crown uh and he also won at the breeders cup
i think i think it's the breeders cup that makes
the grand slam so um we can probably verify that
before no yeah i think you're right i think you
are right But yeah, I mean, that's absolutely
absurd. That is impressive. So maybe put him
second in the argument. Yeah, he's second. He's
second. You can't compete with Secretariat as
winning margins and dominance. So the Breeders'
Cup's only been going on 41 years. So a lot of
the fact there's no Triple Crown winners will
be because of that. And there's also not been
any Triple Crown winners in most of those 41
years as well. that was the early 80s it will
have started so uh we'll um pinch of salt on
that one it's it's a it's a much newer so 1982
was the first breeders cup so much newer thing
this grand slam as we're talking about but nevertheless
the first winner perhaps we should refer to was
american pharaoh rather than saying no one's
ever won it before because obviously secretary
i never got the chance to yeah he didn't exactly
and would have can we be clear would i think
it's i think i'd bet on it put it that way i'm
not that bad at betting yeah um but yeah i mean
it's a it's just i mean i before we wrap this
up i think i just think it's such a cool event
um can i close this with a with a with a nice
little sentiment which i think sums up like the
romance i think in a second but let's before
we do that should we talk about where you can
watch it because i like to it seems very unromantic
to do that after some nice closing words let's
let's do the fundamentals first so you can watch
it if you're in the usa on NBC, All Three Racers.
The Belmont, for some reason, is also on Fox.
In the UK, Sky Sports for the Kentucky Derby.
Ireland, Virgin Media 2, and Canada, TSN. I'm
sure you can catch it on YouTube very soon afterwards
as well. Oh yeah, absolutely. I don't know if
the Preakness and the Belmont are shown. I doubt
they are. Maybe. I'm sure there's somewhere you
can find them, but I'll... Yeah. We'll, we'll
talk about that maybe in a couple of weeks time
before the Preakness. Yeah. See if we can slip
it in, but yeah, don't know. Cool. Well, before
we go then, now that we've covered everything
we want to cover, there's just like a really
nice story, which I think we were saying about
the rarity of the winners. Bill Hartek, who won
the Derby five times and the Preakness stakes
three times and the Belmont stakes once, but
never won the triple crown, had a shot at the
triple crown. on a horse uh called northern dancer
who was a canadian horse um in 1960 good name
then yeah yeah it's a really cool name in 1964
he had a shot at the the triple crown uh on northern
dancer northern dancer obviously had won the
uh the derby and the preakness and going into
the moment um was you know really There was a
lot of hype, as you imagine, because there was
a gap. I think it was like a 26 -year gap. And
unfortunately, he came up short. He didn't win
the Belmont. And because there had been such
a gap, I think people were disappointed. You
know, like the hype train, this, that, and the
other. And Bill Hartek being, you know, as successful
as he was as well. I think people wanted him
to win the Triple Crown. So there was a lot of
disappointment when Northern Dancer didn't win.
And he was asked immediately after the race.
like if he was disappointed in the horse which
i think is a shit question um i agree and to
bill's credit he responded and i think this is
just perfect really he just responded how can
it be disappointment when a horse runs his heart
out for you he certainly didn't disgrace himself
not to me anyway And it seems Canada agrees because
Northern Dancer was inducted into the Canadian
Sports Hall of Fame in 1965 and is considered
a Canadian icon, which I think is adorable. There's
a shiver down my spine. Thank you, Ben. He's
a horse. Good way to end. He's a horse and he's
in their Hall of Fame. So it's a lovely way to
end, I think. Yeah. So yeah, Citation 1948 was
the previous winner of the Triple Crown and,
of course, the next one a few years later. 1973,
Secretariat. We'll end on the mention of him
one more time. Yeah, so I think that's it. I
think next week we are moving over to do some,
well, sticking with the Canadian theme. Yeah.
Throwing a bone to Canada. Well, I say throwing
a bone. It's not something we're experts on,
but we'll do our best. It's the Ice Hockey World
Championships and the NHL playoffs that starts
as well. So we're going to do both. We're going
to talk about ice hockey and... yeah dive into
that and i'll probably it's probably good as
i said in the first episode of this a good chance
for me to educate myself a bit more on certain
sports and i think this is one of them so i'm
looking forward to that yeah same i know nothing
about ice hockey but i know it's brutal and i
know it's fun yes i saw an ice hockey game actually
last year i saw a pre -season game when i was
in las vegas between the colorado avalanche and
the vegas golden knights and it was fun cool
so if you want to learn more about ice hockey
Please feel free to join us then. But I guess
until then, have a great time at the London Marathon,
Jack. I will. And I'll see you soon. See you
soon, pal. Once again, thank you for listening
to the Sporting Almanac podcast. It is always
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that make it. Goodbye.