Obituary: A.P. Indy

Belmont Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic winner of 1992, A.P. Indy, whose wins in both races garnered him Horse of the Year honors for that year,  has died at the ripe old age of 31 (technically 30 as his birthday was in late March).  A.P. Indy was not only an outstanding racehorse with an incredible pedigree, he would also be one of the greatest thoroughbred sires in American history.

A.P. Indy was by far the best offspring of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, who, without  this great horse, would not have had as much influence on the breed as had been initially thought.  Slew had a great career as a sire, as we all know, but his sons have fizzled out in terms of impact on racing.  Except, of course, for A.P. Indy, whose influence has been tremendous over the past 20 or so years.

But it isn't just because he was a son of Seattle Slew.  A.P. Indy's dam was the great Weekend Surprise, also the dam of 1990 Preakness winner Summer Squall, among other offspring she had.  However, there is more, as we all know.  Weekend Surprise was one of the great broodmares sired by the incomparable Secretariat, in my view the greatest racehorse to have ever lived.  Secretariat, of course, was the son of Bold Ruler, the greatest thoroughbred sire of all time.  A.P., through both his sire's and his dam's sides, was Bold Ruler through and through.  He would be the horse who would carry the Bold Ruler influence into the 21st century.  It had gone dormant since the early 1980s, while the Northern Dancer and Raise a Native lines would ascend, but the line continued, thank God, and returned with a vengeance.

You can read more about A.P. Indy here.

A.P. Indy died peacefully at his home, Lane's End, in Versailles, Kentucky, yesterday.  He was a big attraction at the farm for visitors.  As a yearling he was bought by Japanese businessman Tomonori Tsurumaki, who named him. Breeders Will Farish and William Kilroy bought back part interest in the horse in 1992.

A bruised foot kept him out of the 1992 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, but he was fit for the Belmont, winning in the second-fastest time (tied with Easy Goer) of 2:26.  It seemed appropriate for a grandson of Secretariat.

A.P. Indy's offspring include Mineshaft, Bernardini, Honor Code, and Rags to Riches.

As important as this he was the sire of leading sire Pulpit, who unlike Indy did not live very long, and Pulpit in turn is the sire of one of the "hottest" sires in the world,  Tapit.

The strange irony here is both the sire of Pulpit, A.P. Indy, and the dam of Pulpit, Preach, both lived to  be 31 and both died within days of each other.


1992 Belmont Stakes:




1992 Breeders' Cup Classic:



And this tweet:

One of our favorite videos of A.P. Indy with his sons Mineshaft and Honor Code. It’s almost as if he looks at Mineshaft and says can you behave yourself please they’re taking photos 🐎#fathersonmoment #legend pic.twitter.com/6LYlgewyxV

— Lane's End (@LanesEndFarms) February 22, 2020

Belmont Stakes 1970-1979

More vintage races from the final jewel of the Triple Crown.



High Echelon 1970:






Pass Catcher 1971:






Riva Ridge 1972:



Secretariat 1973, the legendary performance:





Little Current 1974:






Avatar 1975:




Bold Forbes 1976:




Seattle Slew 1977:



Affirmed 1978, in the greatest race of all time:



Coastal 1979 in a race he shouldn't have won but for a lousy ride by Spectacular Bid's jockey Ron Franklin:

Pre-1980 Preakness Stakes

It seems some collectors are rather slow in putting up old Preakness races, and a few of them refuse to put in embed codes.

Spectacular Bid 1979:



Affirmed 1978:



Seattle Slew 1977 from this link.


Master Derby 1975


Secretariat 1973. Secretariat's move on the first turn is the most sensational in the history of the race. I HATE the music with this race. Just show the race with no trimmings:



Canonero II 1971. This is in Spanish:



Majestic Prince 1969:



Northern Dancer 1964


Greek Money 1962 by a tiny margin over Ridan.

Bold Ruler 1957. Footage is silent:



Bold Ruler, the greatest sire in thoroughbred racing history, sired 1973 winner Secretariat, who in turn sired 1988 winner Risen Star.

Fabius, son of Citation, 1956. Newsreel ighlights:

Kentucky Derby 1970-1979

The decade of champions. Oh, how I miss Chic Anderson!

1970: Dust Commander:





1971: Canonero II:



1972: Riva Ridge:



1973: Secretariat, who set the track record which still stands today and in a freakish performance in which he ran each quarter faster than the previous one:



1974: Cannonade:



1975: Foolish Pleasure:



1976: Bold Forbes:



1977: Seattle Slew:



1978: Affirmed:



1979: Spectacular Bid:

Belmont Stakes.

Bill Nack interviewed Billy Turner, trainer of Seattle Slew and the last surviving trainer of a Triple Crown winner, about last Saturday's disastrous Belmont Stakes, at least a disaster for Big Brown and his connections.

Turner was pissed about Big Brown's connections running the horse in the first place when he was not "structurally sound." As I said a million times before, the great Buckpasser, the favorite for the 1966 classics, had to skip them entirely because of a quarter crack.

And Turner was pissed off royal at Kent Desormeaux, who already received a lot of criticism over Real Quiet's narrow loss in the 1998 Belmont Stakes. I love the fact Turner compared his ride with the infamous No Mas! boxing incident when Roberto Duran, apparently suffering from gas pains from eating too much steak beforehand (or didn't), abruptly quit his fight with Sugar Ray Leonard back in 1980.

“He was getting beat and he couldn’t stand it,” Turner said. “When I saw him pull up, I thought, ‘Oh, no! He’s broken down and the rider’s saving him.’ But then I saw him when he walked off and there was nothing wrong with the horse. The horse was happy. He would have beaten most of the horses in the Belmont…No wonder (trainer) Rick Dutrow had nothing to say after the race. What can you say? The stewards have got to do something to prevent this from becoming a regular practice. They can’t allow this kind of thing to go on.”

What made this worse was all kinds of gossip abounded about the race being rigged, that Desormeaux threw the race. Of course it didn't happen. Questions could be raised as to whether Dutrow ordered Desormeaux to ease the horse if it looked as if he couldn't win the race. In any case, if Big Brown continues racing, it is very likely Desormeaux will never ride him again.

Turner saves his harshest remarks for trainer Rick Dutrow. Turner studied previous Belmont races and how winning trainers prepared their horses. Turner knows what he is talking about. In his opinion, Dutrow didn't train Big Brown properly. It is clear the horse was and is very talented; notice the way he so easily won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness despite some criticisms of the quality of the field. It was the quarter crack that drove Dutrow to prepare Big Brown in a half-assed manner. With that injury and with that training, or lack of it, it would have been a miracle for Big Brown to have won Saturday's race.

Read the whole article. It is excellent.

1977 Belmont Stakes.

Seattle Slew became the first undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown by winning on an off track at Belmont Park:





Unfortunately, Slew lost his very next race, the Swaps Stakes, to J.O. Tobin.