Wood Memorial Influence has Varied

Posted by BarbaraAnne Helberg Apr 6, 2007

Horses, those who train them know, have their own way of underappreciating the moment, or quickly losing their focus on a competitive edge. It can be said of any, and all of them, in some race in time.

Even the grand Secretariat.

In 1943, Count Fleet, son of 1928 Kentucky Derby winner Reigh Count, raced to history, becoming the sixth Triple Crown champion. Prior to the three-race Triple events, he ran circles around the Wood Memorial competition April 17 at New York City's Aqueduct race course. Ridden by the talented Johnny Longden, Count Fleet was a sweet treat to watch. He rarely missed a hoofbeat.

The Wood Memorial, a huge Kentucky Derby prep race worth $750,000, will be run Saturday, with just one name entry vying for Triple Crown attention - Nobiz Like Shobiz. But there have been many times when the Wood was the one, before the Derby.

It was so in 1973. Secretariat was 1972's two-year-old male champion and the year's Horse of the Year, a rare combination for a juvenile. In '73, his connections expected a banner year, but Big Red got off to a bad start against his chief rival, Sham, in the Wood Memorial.

Angle Light, Secretariat's stablemate, was the beneficiary. Running slow, but running to the wire, Angle Light pulled off the upset while Sham, showing no particular motivation to beat his electric opponent, Secretariat, finished second, and Secretariat, ambling in third, looked lack luster and plainly disinterested.

Lucien Laurin had trained a winner, Angle Light, who won his race wire to wire. Laurin was, nonetheless, crushed. Secretariat was his star.

Laurin didn't have to hang his head, or worry, for long. Secretariat got interested again. His Triple Crown races were astounding feats, all three of them. The whole country had adopted Secretariat by the racing season's end.

The beautifully conformed chestnut won the first Triple Crown title in 25 years with immeasurable performances of speed and stamina and focus. How could the same animal who didn't look like he wanted to put one hoof in front of the other in the Wood Memorial run through the Triple Crown races as though possessed to win?

No one could answer that then. No one can now. It's part of the unpredictability of the Sport of Kings.

Guess that's really why they call it a horse race. And why those eyes are so soft and sensitive and secretive.