Seattle Slew

[kiffa]

Seattle Slew died in his sleep today. What an amazing horse… an amazing race record, stupendous studline [shooting almost 100% in the last season - the horse shot few blanks], 28 years old, old.

Tip of my hat to you and I hope you enjoy those greener pastures with all the other great racehorses.

[astorian]

I still recall how slow the racing world was to give Seattle Slew any credit for his accomplishments. His bloodlines weren’t remarkable, and racing folk are rather snobby. It often seems as if they’d rather finish last with a well-bred horse than win with a “commoner.”

Indeed, even AFTER he’d won the Triple Crown, the highest praise he drew from anyone is the racing world was “he’s the best of a bad lot.” In truth, he was the latter-day Seabiscuit; a remarkable horse who didn’t get nearly enough credit.

Luckily for him, he was a horse, and neither knew nor cared about such things!

[Ruffian]

I still recall how slow the racing world was to give Seattle Slew any credit for his accomplishments. His bloodlines weren’t remarkable, and racing folk are rather snobby. It often seems as if they’d rather finish last with a well-bred horse than win with a “commoner.”

Indeed, even AFTER he’d won the Triple Crown, the highest praise he drew from anyone is the racing world was “he’s the best of a bad lot.” In truth, he was the latter-day Seabiscuit; a remarkable horse who didn’t get nearly enough credit.

Trainer Billy Turner commented on that today. From The Blood Horse article:

Trainer Billy Turner said the late Seattle Slew stood alone in comparison to racing’s other Triple Crown winners. “He was undefeated. He set track records. He did everything he had to do.” Yet Turner said some people resented the horse who won the 1977 Triple Crown, just four years after Secretariat.

“All of a sudden, Slew came along and you had a certain number of reporters and fans who didn’t like Slew because he was threatening the king,” Turner said. “It was very interesting. It just made Slew even greater.”

Ah, human nature. If their order had been reversed, with Slew winning in '73 and Secretariat in '77, the horseshoe may have been on the other hoof.

There is a thread in MPSIMS about Slew’s passing, too, BTW. NOt that I mind posting more than once about this champ.

I’m planning on visiting some of the stallion facilities in Kentucky this summer, and was hoping to sneak a peak at the champ. Alas…we are without a Triple Crown winner.

Enjoy your greener pastures, Slew…

[Rysdad]

I can’t remember which jockey said it, but the words were something like, “Once you see that big, black butt, you know all you’re racing for second place.”

Great, great horse.

[brachyrhynchos]

Gosh, some horses you just expect to live forever. For me, Seattle Slew was just such a horse. And then he’s gone.

Winner of 5 Eclipse awards:
Champion 2-year-old colt in 1976
Champion 3-year-old in 1977
Horse of the Year in 1977
Champion older horse in 1978
Horse of the Year in 1978.

Sired, among others:
A.P. Indy
Capote
Dr Caton (saw him come in second to Skip Away in the Haskell)
Flute
General Meeting (Leading California sire of 1998, 1999, and 2000)
Landaluce
Life at the Top
Slew City Slew
Slew O’ Gold
Swale
Surfside
Taiki Blizzard
Tsunami Slew

And his descendents include:
Boston Harbor - saw him win the Breeder’s Juvenile at Woodbine - but that was all they wrote
General Challenge
Kona Gold (Hi Ruffian!)
Lemon Drop Kid - saw him beat Charismatic at Belmont - very mixed emotions.
Tiznow
Here’s the stretch run of Slew’s Belmont race in RealPlayer and in AVI (AVI is about 2.6M).

What a Champ.

[Ruffian]

Dude, brachy, kickass link!

I have to say I have a soft spot in my heart for Slew. How fitting The Blood Horse has been profiling his 3yro season all spring…the issue that arrived today featured his Derby win, exactly 25 years ago today.

Great stats, too, brachy…ah, a kindred spirit! (And thanks for the Kona Gold nod! He’s running again for the 1st time in 8mos June 3! Hooray!)

I just whipped out my Blood Horse stallion register to add a few more of his phenomenal stats:

17 starts, 14 wins, 2 seconds, 0 thirds
Earned $1,208,726

Through October 27, 2001, he sired 20 crops:
938 foals
666 runners (71%)
457 winners (49% of foals, and 69% of runners)
100 stakes winners (I believe it’s 103 now)

This makes his AEI (Average Earnings Index) an outrageous 4.21, second in the entire industry to only Danzig. In comparison, Storm Cat (who stands for $500,000) has an AEI of 4.10, putting him third. And fourth on the list? Slew’s son AP Indy with an AEI of 3.96.

While Slew himself has left us, we will be feeling his effect on the industry for generations to come.

[kniz]

One of the nightly news did a piece on him in just the last couple of days. He is now in that Stud farm in the sky.