|
as told to Mark Maloney by Steve Cauthen I don't know why it took 25 years for a horse to win the Triple Crown – from Citation in 1948 to Secretariat in 1973. Nor do I know why no horse has swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont since I rode Affirmed to the Triple Crown in 1978. Some horse will come along and do it again, but it won't be easy. After all, only 11 horses have done it, starting with Sir Barton in 1919. A Triple Crown winner is almost a Michael Jordan-like athlete. You have to be so much better than everybody else that you can overcome all obstacles. That's Affirmed, who had a huge obstacle – Alydar. Most other years, Alydar might have been a Triple Crown winner. Alydar's jockey, Jorge Velasquez, and I rode in what is arguably the greatest Triple Crown series of races ever. Affirmed won the Derby by a length and a half, the Preakness by a neck and the Belmont – well, let me tell you about the Belmont. In 1978, I was "The Kid" – 18 years old – from Walton, Kentucky. Affirmed practically fell into my lap his two-year-old season, when Laz Barrera put me in the saddle for the Sanford at Saratoga. Angel Cordero and Laffit Pincay already had ridden Affirmed, but Angel chose to ride another horse that day, and Laffit opted not to make the long trip to New York from the west coast. I was coming off an injury and excited to be riding for Laz, who had won the 1976 Derby with Bold Forbes. Even after the Sanford, Affirmed didn't impres me as a superstar. But three weeks later, when he beat Alydar in the Hopeful, I began to realize this was one serious horse  Sports Illustrated had the right kid for man of the year. It was too early to be thinking Triple Crown, though, as I was just going race by race. Looking back, that was a good thing. Sometimes people can get ahead of themselves, thinking "Triple Crown" before you've even won the Derby. The Derby, in my home state, was a special thrill. My dad Tex, who was so important in my career, and mom Myra were there. So were my older brother Doug and little brother Kerry, who was eight. Kerry had his Kodak camera, pushing people aside in the winner's circle so he could get the perfect shot. I was like, "Okay, we won the Derby. Now let's try to win the Preakness." I knew there weren't any guarantees. Alydar was always going to be a tough nut to crack. I never took him for granted. But we cracked the nut a second time, winning the Preakness in another race for the ages, and now the game was on. The Derby and Preakness were huge. But I didn't know what pressure was until those three weeks between the Preakness and Belmont. I'd had plenty of attention as an apprentice and up-and-coming jockey, but now I was doing live satellite interviews with media in Australia and Japan – not to mention the national press. I focused on not letting the attention get into my head. I didn't want to screw up. Affirmed's owners, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Wolfson, and Laz showed great confidence in me. And I had confidence in Affirmed, even though I knew Alydar was always going to be tough to beat. The great unknown was the distance – a mile and a half, longest of the Triple Crown races.
|
Newswire 
