I've been going to the races and following the horses since before I can honestly remember. For example, my best recollection of being in the stands for Secretariat's amazing run in the Belmont was not the race, but the stands shaking so much beneath my feet. Quite an experience for a little guy who just turned 4! Two of my favorite fellow handicappers are my brother and my father. My one year old daughter is already showing signs of loving the horses :>) My favorites...how about Wajima, Spectacular Bid, Fancy Naskra, Five Star Flight, Christmas Past, Princess Rooney, Lady's Secret, With Approval, Paradise Creek, Sunday Silence, Unbridled, Skip Away, Free House. Musket Man and Rachel Alexandra, just to name a few.
With every heart pounding stride it was becoming painfully evident that the quest for racing’s holy grail was in jeopardy. Only seconds before, Mike Pegram’s Real Quiet had seemed home free, as he and Rider Kent Desormeaux had stormed to a commanding lead early in the stretch. He was on the verge of becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed had outfought his great rival Alydar to the Belmont Stakes wire twenty years earlier. While Affirmed had to best the great Alydar in three straight classic races, Real Quiet’s foil was Victory Gallop. The late developing son of Cryptoclearance had finished second to Real Quiet in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and was back to challenge for a third time. The two proud colts were now in the midst of thrilling the second largest crowd to see the race in the rich history of the Belmont Stakes. The thrilling duel, down the Belmont stretch, brought the crowd first to a fever pitch, and then to an eerie silence on a gorgeous June afternoon in New York.
Immortality would slip away from Real Quiet on that day, as Victory Gallop methodically reeled him in during the final few strides of the Belmont Stakes. In the end, Real Quiet had been beaten a scant nose, and in that tiny margin, the hopes of millions of race fans, desperately seeking a new hero, were dashed. Adding to the drama of the closest Belmont since the Affirmed/Alydar epic, was the announcement after the race that stewards might have disqualified him if he had won the race, due to bumping Victory Gallop twice nearing the finish. It marked the second year in a row that Real Quiet’s trainer Bob Baffert was denied after coming agonizingly close to completing a Triple Crown. He had been turned away the year before when Silver Charm was passed by Touch Gold late in the race. This near miss was closer though, much closer. I could not help but feel for Real Quiet and his connections. I was not alone in my disappointment.
Real Quiet was bred by Little Hill Farm in Kentucky, and born on March 7, 1995. The bay colt was by sired Quiet American, out of the Believe It mare, Really Blue. His narrow frame and crooked knees did not attract much attention from prospective buyers, and so the young colt was snatched up at auction by trainer Bob Baffert, to be owned by his friend Mike Pegram, for a mere $17,000 as a yearling. The bargain purchase would set the stage for Real Quiet joining Seattle Slew as a quintessential rags to riches racing story.
The first time I saw Real Quiet in person was a very memorable day for me. It happened to be my first ever visit to Santa Anita Park, and I had decided my money would be on the bargain basement colt. The loser of his first six races, including two at the Downs of Santa Fe in New Mexico, Real Quiet had blossomed when stretched out in the Fall of his juvenile year. He broke his maiden impressively at Santa Anita and culminated his two-year-old season by winning the Hollywood Futurity. My first experience at Santa Anita and seeing Real Quiet came in the 1998 Santa Anita Derby. I bet on The Fish, so nicknamed by Baffert because of his skinny appearance from head on, as he faced off against California’s other top sophomores in Artax, and Baffert’s new star, Indian Charlie. My selection ran a solid race that day as he made a strong rally and split horses early in the stretch to finish second to his favored stablemate. Indian Charlie was too good for him that time, and at that distance, but Real Quiet had the look of a colt who would thrive at the longer distances to come. Things would soon be different.
The 1998 Kentucky Derby seemed like it was ripe for the taking. Ligthly raced Indian Charlie was the favorite despite questions about his ability to get the Derby distance. Real Quiet and Victory Gallop were two of many of the horses thought to have a real chance to pull the upset. Pull the upset he did. Sent off at 8-1, Real Quiet stormed to the lead on the far turn and had enough to hold off the strong late rally of Victory Gallop, with Indian Charlie checking in third. It was no surprise to winning trainer, Bob Baffert, who knew the colt was peaking at the right time. Two weeks later further demonstrated how good Real Quiet was becoming, as he clinched the first two legs of the Triple Crown with an easy 2 ¼ length score in the Preakness Stakes. Victory Gallop again rallied for second, but this time he could not come close to The Fish. The Belmont, three weeks later, may have been opportunity lost, but it completed an awesome stretch of racing in a five-week period for Real Quiet.
Despite being sidelined after his sensational Triple Crown chase, his accomplishments in the first half of 1998 earned him the Eclipse Award as Champion three-year-old male. Real Quiet would further demonstrate his class when returning the following Spring as an older horse. After a couple of narrow defeats, off the layoff, in graded stakes in the South, Real Quiet would be reacquainted with a classic distance in the historic Pimlico Special. I must admit I did not bet The Fish that day, because he was up against one of my all-time favorites in Free House. Real Quiet would prove that last year’s Triple Crown was no fluke by earning a hard fought neck victory over his accomplished foe. Interestingly, Gary Stevens was the winning rider that day, yes the same Gary Stevens who had ridden Victory Gallop on that fateful day at Belmont Park. By winning the Grade 1 Pimlico Special, he became only one of five horses ever to win both the Preakness and the Pimlico Special, joining four Triple Crown winners, Assualt, Citation, War Admiral, and Whirlaway to win both races.
After the big win at Pimlico, Real Quiet was upset by the hard hitting Behrens in the Mass Cap, before heading back to Southern California for a date in the Hollywood God Cup. Proving once again that he was a terror at classic distances, The Fish won the ten furlong Gold Cup by a half length. It marked his fifth race at a 1 3/16 or farther, with only the nose loss in the Belmont blemishing his perfect record. The Gold Cup would send Real Quiet out as a winner, as shortly after the Gold Cup in June, Real Quiet suffered a fractured bone in his right front leg and never raced again. All told he won 6 of his 20 starts, finishing in the money 17 times, and earned $3,271,802. Real Quiet was a horse who was not afraid to rise to the occasion, as five of those six wins came in grade 1 races.
After retirement, the bay stallion entered stud at Vinery in 2000 and later moved to Taylor Made Farm before being relocated to Pennsylvania. As a sire, he produced Midnight Lute and two other Grade 1 winners, Pussycat Doll, and Wonder Lady Anne L. Midnight Lute would of course win back to back Breeder’s Cup Sprints and was named the Champion Sprinter of 2007. It is with great sadness that I report that Real Quiet’s stallion career has come to a tragic end.
The fifteen-year-old stallion passed away suddenly after a freak accident in his paddock yesterday afternoon at Penn Ridge Farms, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Frankly, it was not my plan to write about the 1998 champion, Real Quiet today, but when I had heard that he had died, my duty was clear. It is always tough to lose a popular horse, and in Real Quiet, racing lost a real champion yesterday. No horse has ever come so close without winning the Triple Crown. He will always be remembered for his heartbreaking loss, but as he proved on many occasions since that afternoon at Belmont Park, The Fish was far more than the horse who narrowly missed out on becoming the 12th ever winner of America‘s Triple Crown. I remember you Real Quiet.
I will never forget the look in his eye as he turned to eyeball his great rival Silver Charm coming down the stretch of the 1997 Preakness. It was like he was telling his adversary to bring everything you have, because you are in for the fight of your life. Never mind the two other great horses on either side of them, Captain Bodgit and Touch Gold. This was all about two great rivals giving their all to get to the wire first. It was the fight of both of their lives as they battled to the wire in a head-bobbing, too-close-to-call finish. That was the day my appreciation grew into a real love for Free House. Oh, those long white legs and those expressive eyes.
It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul and for Free House, I knew this to be true. I always felt that he had just a little more depth to him than the average thoroughbred race horse. Smart and sensitive with a whole lot of heart. His heart was on display for millions to see that day in the Preakness. For me, a sad result, but fitting in a way that Silver Charm got the head-bob and defeated Free House by a nose or a small head or whatever they would call it. You see, Free House was the perfect horse to root on, for a diehard Cubs fan like me. Always teasing greatness, but never able to win the really big one. I take solace in the fact that next year or the next race could finally be the big one.
Don’t get me wrong, Free House had a very successful career. He is considered to be one of the greatest California breds ever to run. The homebred son of Smokester won 9 times in a 22 race career and earned over three million dollars. Trained by Paco Gonzalez and owned by John Toffan and Trudy McCaffery, his victories include the biggest races run in California: the Norfolk, San Felipe, Santa Anita Derby, Swaps, Bel Air, Pacific Classic, San Antonio, and the Santa Anita Handicap. He never raced in an allowance race and was a major player in one of the best crops of horses I have seen. 3-year-olds of 1997 included Silver Charm, Touch Gold, Captain Bodgit, Pulpit, Deputy Commander, Concerto, Behrens and my favorite, Free House.
Together with Silver Charm, he was part of one of the greatest rivalries of modern racing. Their rivalry was another reason for me to be so fond of Free House. Fans could not help taking one side or the other. They faced each other eight times, all in major stakes including all three races of the Triple Crown. Silver Charm won four of those races and Free House won three. Only in the Belmont Stakes did another horse, Touch Gold, win a race that they both ran. In that race Silver Charm and Free House battled the majority of the stretch before Touch Gold swooped by them late with Silver Charm just missing out on a Triple Crown and Free House, who had gone very wide throughout, a tough luck third. Most fans were heartbroken over the Charm losing his bid for immortality, I was saddened that my gray lost again after such a valiant performance. What a Triple Crown series he had run only to be defeated by Silver Charm each time. The final tally was Silver Charm 5 and Free House 3. I for one, wonder when we will ever see two great horses like these ever face each other so often again.
It was ironic that in Free House’s final race he found himself battling to the wire again at Pimlico. This time he would fall just short to another Bob Baffert trained, near Triple Crown winner, Real Quiet in the Pimlico Special. It was almost exactly two years after his finest hour and again he showed all the courage that he had in that thrilling Preakness. The performance was all the more impressive when you consider he strained a muscle early in the race. He retired as one of the few horses ever to win at least one Grade 1 race in four consecutive years.
Free House’s life came to a sudden, tragic end in 2004 when he injured himself severely at his farm in California. He was only ten years old. In his short career as a stallion, Free House was well on his way to becoming a force among California sires. His life was cut way too short, I miss those long white legs and those expressive eyes. I remember you … Free House.
