Affirmed vs. Alydar - 1978 Travers Stakes (Final Meeting)

[bg147]

Love Harvey pack.

[RoeserFan2]

I was privileged to be working in the Clubhouse at Saratoga during this race. At 17, I knew I was watching a great race but didn't really appreciate that I was a witness to history. This was the greatest rivalry in horse racing history and I feel lucky to have seen it in the flesh.

[bcleeusa]

Thanks for posting... it's too bad about the DQ. Affirmed probably would have won it anyways if the race was clean. Tragic RE Alydar's death... makes me sad when people are so cruel.

[ausfuhrpramienjagar]

I have a filly with Alydar being the grandsire on the topside with Affirmed on the dam's side. At present she has won her first two starts, going wire to wire both times, the last out was at a mile! Long live these two great bloodlines!........"Jagar"

[711ATOM]

I was an Alydar fan in 1977 and 1978, and backed the horse in all the face-offs with Affirmed. Affirmed was the better horse and proved it where it really counts, on the track in ten races. I read many comments about circumstances of Ferdinand's death (a lot of moral superiority and finger wagging), but Alydar's end was far worse, and it happened at Calumet Farm. If it were not for the late Henryk de Kwiatkowski (owner of Conquistador Cielo , among others), Calumet would have gone to ruin.

[JulioAlyForever64]

Affrimed and Alydar both amazing horses!! I have OTTT grandson of Alydar and very proud to have him as part of our family. If you look at Affrimed and Alydar's pedigrees you will notice they are closely related and that sheds some light on why they alway ran close together in races!! It is beyond sad what ended up happening to Alydar!! :((

[lovedbysweetie]

What a brave little man, I loved Alydar!

[brady2010irish]

its a real shame Rachel Alexandra's camp wont put her in the feild with Zenyatta. looking back at the 70's scene in racing there was so much intrigue with the rivalries like Alydar and Affirmed, plus Sham and Secretariat. just wish we could get a chance to see R.A. and Zen meet up cuz it would really be something to watch

[syren345]

Funny how this was such an amazing rivalry with feats that have not since been accomplished and hadn't been accomplished before, but today's hottest rivalry is on paper only. :(

[syren345]

How many times total did the horses in this amazing rivalry clash?

[cf1970]

Ten times.

[thegoalie66]

@syren345 They met a total of 10 times. Affirmed won 8, but was disqualified in the Travers. He officially beat Alydar 7-10. If you have never seen the 1978 Belmont, do yourself a huge favor, and watch it. Amazing !

[innit27]

Most greats need a great rival to push them to their limit.

[joefederico]

Tough to really decipher who was the better horse as they were both great in my opinion. As for this race, there was no reason for Pincay to impede but he did and Alydar showed guts after losing a ton of ground. And yea, Affirmed was pretty much a dud at stud where as Alydar sired much better.

[jfurry616]

Hold on- Affirmed Got DQ'd right? he deserved to

[VanorOrion]

alydar also won this race after affirmed was disqualified for cutting him off very abruptly..... alydar almost stopped completely because of cauthen and affirmed, yet you saw how he came back again. most horses would have quit after that.. but not every horse was alydar....

[armaghmike]

Affirmed's jockey that day was Laffit Pincay, not Steve Cauthen. I am virtually positive of this - check and let me know - thanks!

[Arps103]

Yes your correct, it was Laffit Pincay. My father was on the backstretch watching this race and recalls Pincay saying absolutely nothing and not even acknowlaging the cheers that he was getting from the backstretch crowd (Many could not see the incident from the 7 furlong chute area), as if he knew his number was coming down.

[VanorOrion]

he had a great heart..wasnt a quitter.. alydar was onr of the best...

[TwilightJumper17]

The horse I lease is Alydar's grandson!

[dolcevitausa]

the score card may read Alydar 3 and Affirmed 7, but Alydar certainly got the last laugh in the breeding shed producing numerous winners and champions

[xmi11]

Yeah the ground saved on the inside would probably have given the race to Alydar.

[joeyjoey444]

sigh.. i bet alydar in all of these match races lol

[samynonthegreen]

My stepdad was at an OTB in Brooklyn watching this race. One of the guys had $200 to win bet on Affirmed, a big amount for that time in that neighborhood. When they took Affirmed down he was so fricking heated that he took one of those wire mesh garbage cans from the corner and fired it through the window of the OTB. One of the wildest scenes ever.

[ebbets1965]

It was Pincay rather than Cauthen riding Affirmed. At the time people said that California (Pincay's base) was more liberal in terms of allowing horses to cut off other horses (a bit like NASCAR I think) and thus he tried to shut off Alydar and almost knocked him down. Yes, Affirmed was DQ'd. That triple crown was equisite with the Belmont probably the most exciting race in history.

[cf1970]

Glad you enjoyed the race, but the "boring" voice you hear is not MINE, it's the excellent Harvey Pack, legendary fixture on the New York thoroughbred racing scene for more than a quarter-century! This is the way the video was made, and I really don't appreciate your blunt rudeness. If you watch the other nine races in the AFF/ALY rivalry feature, you'll see that Harvey is in all of them. Just try to enjoy this video for what it is, will ya? It's the only race call I have.

Peace.

[samynonthegreen]

Thanks for posting these videos. Sorry you have to read the comments of low IQ people like the commish. We will try to limit his computer time will doubling up on the meds here at Creedmore.

[augie127]

Alydar was declared the winner in this race for those who do not know or it is unclear.

[melc1949]

What happened to Alydar at 1:19? He is obviously suddenly checked back..ran out of room? angled too close to the rail? clipped? That he came back at Affirmed is incredible. There is some wonderful footage of Alydar on the tribute to Northern Dancer. Magnificent horse!

[derkommissar1917]

The stewards determined that Affrimed deliberately cut Alydar off at that point, and that is why Alydar was later ruled as the race winner. That he was able to come back after having to pull up that way, regain his stride and make a race of it was amazing. Affirmed's handlers were so mad they refused to ever race against Alydar again.

[ssredfoxx]

Derk- yep, I agree. Tremendous performance after essentially stopping midway... He came back after being cut and bleeding all the way to the finish.  No wonder Affirmed's handlers declined to race against him again. Alydar would have smoked him that day. Have always wished that horse would have been better appreciated. Perhaps he is, but, just read the article "The Killing of Alydar". Pretty horrifying. I never knew. Shameful end for such a great horse. RIP Alydar. And, go AfleetA

[schmephy]

ya there was a documentary on this, it was so tragic

[all4pharlap]

thats too bad i think affirmed was a better racer than alydar evreytime affirmed and alydar raced each other affirmed would win

and affirmed bet alydar in a kentucky derby

[derkommissar1917]

Affirmed didn't beat him every time. Alydar did beat him twice on the track (the 1977 Great American Stakes and Champagne Stakes), plus this race. We'll never know, but in the opinion of most people who were there, Alydar was going to win the '78 Travers if he hadn't been fouled.

[all4pharlap]

yeah i guess your right alydar was a great horse aswell but i think affirmed was better

on the track but alydar wasent far behind him

when they raced

[dcddjc]

I agree! All of them great Horces -but Alydar is in my heart for all times. I am young - I read about Alydar7 years ago - and he changed my life! Thank you Alydar!

[gfn02]

Shake Shake Shake; I love that name :)!

[cf1970]

Yeah, great moniker! I love the way Chic says it the first time. Classic Anderson.

[gfn02]

Yeah, he intentionally draws it out, I think it's because he knows how funny it is!

[5inthehole]

The obvious question is; why did Alydar check-up on the back strech? Was it the jockey or did he click heels with Affirmed? It wouldn't seem to make sense to change stride while trying to take a run at the leader? Anyone know?

P.S.-Made a lot of money on Affirmed all the way in 1978!

[terjer01]

Thanks again, cf1970! Between the race itself, Chic Anderson's powerful call and Harvey Pack's narration - great stuff! It definitely would have been an interesting last half-mile had there had been no contact between the two superstars. That check had to had cost Alydar at least three, maybe four lengths.

[cf1970]

Hey, glad you enjoyed it! Both those fellas are legends in my book.

If the race had no contact, I think Alydar would have come through to outlast Affirmed. He looked to have had a stronger kick when Affirmed cut in front of him. Regardless, a clean finish would have been terrific.

Take care.

[derbydreamer103]

Thank you for posting this race-- along with all the great races here. I never saw this, and didn't know the very sad end to a great rivalry. I left off with the Triple Crown. It is a sad ending to the greatest rivalry for me. I had no idea a DQ was issued, and in all fairness after watching this, I wish this fianl meet was a clean race. Very sad, and thanks again for posting this.

[cf1970]

You're very welcome. Thank you for the very kind compliments.

I completely agree, this was a sad ending to a legendary rivalry. Those horses sure brought out the best in each other. It would have been terrific to see them battle to the wire one last time.

Thanks for your support and viewership, I appreciate it very much.

[soldiergal]

my mare's grandsire is Affirmed but she was a lousy racer and steeplechaser so she doen't race no more

[cf1970]

Sad to hear. What is her name?

[soldiergal]

my mares name? lol her race name was Will she make it...answer: no.. were in Aus and i couldnt find her on the net when i bought her but ive got her book and shes by Swooping.

[FastFurlong]

And, yes, cf1970; your posted collection is priceless for the few remaining racing purists. I have much I'd love to post, but no idea what technology is involved. Thank you!

[cf1970]

Thank you for the very kind words! It's been a pleasure to share them. Send me a private message if you'd like to discuss the technology required for posting further.

Take care.

[fallight]

Thank you so much for all series of Alydar & Affirmed matches. I'm very pleased to see legandary racings and horses. All of your postings enlarge my horizons about horse racing. Thank you again.

[cf1970]

Hello, my friend! I'm happy you enjoy them and am glad to help you broaden your horse racing knowledge.

Thank you very much for watching and have a great day!

[FastFurlong]

Cordero, aboard Shakeshakeshake, apparently conspired with his friend Velasquez, Alydar's jockey, to help Alydar win the race. S-s-s ran on the lead for the first half mile with Affirmed stalking. Cordero then allowed S-s-s to drift into the five or six path, thus pushing Affirmed even wider. Velasquez shot Alydar through the gaping hole at the rail. Pincay then panicked and desperately whipped Affirmed toward the rail. Affirmed blatently cut off Alydar, causing the latter to pull up.

[cf1970]

Very interesting indeed, thanks for the great info.

[FastFurlong]

The Cordero/Velasquez 'conspiracy theory' is according to Bill Nack. John Veitch, Alydar's trainer, accused Pincay of 'trying to kill' the two most valuable commodities in the racing industry (Alydar and Affirmed). Veitch vowed to never again use Pincay on a Calumet Farms horse after the Travers incident and, from accounts, has not spoken to him to this day.

[cf1970]

Yes, it's too bad their battles had to come to an anticlimax in that way. Affirmed did badly impede Alydar though, so I feel his DQ to second was fair one.

I've read that Cordero deserved an Oscar for his part in selling it, but the incident looks pretty apparent to me.

[flatonia]

My bad.

[carlykaiser]

Such a poopy end to the rivalry. at least Alydar won, WOO! -.o

[flatonia]

Hard to figure out why Alydar checked up on the far turn.

[crzydesi]

I'm guessing Affirmed came over and forced him to check?