by James McNally on June 7, 2004
In the spring of 1978, my friends and I would ride around on our bikes pretending we were atop racehorses instead. My mount? Alydar. His name sounded so much more exotic than his rival, Affirmed, which sounded like something written on a profit-and-loss sheet.
Alydar has been the only horse in the history of the Triple Crown to finish second in all three races. In any other year, he would have been the champion. It seems fitting that no horse has won the Triple Crown since 1978, the year of Alydar and Affirmed’s great rivalry.
After a very successful career as a stud horse, Alydar broke his leg under mysterious circumstances in 1990 and had to be put down. A June 2001 story in Texas Monthly alleges that in fact, he was murdered.
More on the career of this great racehorse.
by James McNally on April 23, 2004
Sports Illustrated’s April 5 issue featured a story about a “runty racehorse [who] has captured the imagination of a country that has fallen on hard economic times.” No, it’s not Seabiscuit. It’s an 8-year old Japanese mare named Haruurara (Japanese for “gentle spring”). Although the horse has lost all 106 of her starts, fans have thronged to her races, and the government has even presented her with 440 pounds of carrots, for “services to tourism.”
In her most recent race, on March 22, 13,000 spectators crowded in to see her romp home 10th in the 11 horse field, despite the fact that, for the first time, she was being ridden by the country’s top jockey.
Good article with more background information.
![Alydar [image]](http://www.runner-up.org/images/alydar.jpg)
![Haruurara [image]](http://www.runner-up.org/images/haruurara.jpg)