Seattle Slew
Seattle Slew was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who became the tenth winner of the American Triple Crown. He is the only horse to have won the Triple Crown while being undefeated in any previous race. Seattle Slew was the 1977 Horse of the Year and a champion at ages two, three, and four. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century Seattle Slew was ranked ninth.
Joe Hirsch of the Daily Racing Form wrote of Seattle Slew's three-year-old campaign: "Every time he ran he was an odds-on favorite, and the response to his presence on the racetrack, either for a morning workout or a major race, was electric. 'Slewmania' was a virulent and widespread condition."
Seattle Slew later became an outstanding sire and broodmare sire, leading the North American sire list in 1984 when his son Swale won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Another son, A.P. Indy, won the Belmont Stakes and continued the sire line through descendants such as Mineshaft, Tapit, and California Chrome.
Background
Seattle Slew was a dark bay horse with a small white patch of hair by his left rear hoof. He was bred by Ben S. Castleman, a Kentucky racing commissioner, and was foaled at White Horse Acres near Lexington, Kentucky. Seattle Slew was the first foal out of My Charmer, a stakes-winning daughter of the otherwise obscure sire Poker. My Charmer went on to produce the 2000 Guineas winner Lomond and Seattle Dancer, and several of her daughters became outstanding producers. My Charmer descends from champion and noted "blue hen" Myrtlewood. Castleman originally intended to breed My Charmer to Jacinto but that stallion's book was full so Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm recommended the mare be bred instead to Bold Reasoning, a first-crop sire who had won the Jersey Derby and Withers Stakes in 1971. Bold Reasoning was a grandson of Bold Ruler, whose descendants, including Secretariat, dominated the Kentucky Derby in the 1970s.Seattle Slew was not considered particularly attractive as a foal, leading some to say he looked like a mule. He was so awkward that his first nickname was Baby Huey. As he matured though, he developed a graceful front-running style with an acceleration that was compared to "a falcon in a dive". At maturity, he stood high at the withers with strong hind legs and a powerful shoulder. However, his right forefoot was noticeably turned out.
Seattle Slew was purchased for just $17,500 at the 1975 Fasig-Tipton yearling auction. His new owners, later known as "the Slew Crew", were Karen and Mickey Taylor and Jim and Sally Hill. Horse owners since the early 1970s, Karen Taylor was a former flight attendant, and her husband, Mickey Taylor, was a lumberman. They lived in White Swan, Washington. Jim Hill, a veterinarian, picked out Seattle Slew at the sale, though the original budget was only $12,000. Karen Taylor, liking the look of the colt, urged her husband to go higher. They named the colt for the city of Seattle and the sloughs which loggers once used to transport heavy logs. Karen felt that the pronunciation of slough — a slow-moving channel of the Pacific Northwest — would be too hard for people to remember, so the spelling was changed to Slew. A later co-owner was Glenn Rasmussen, the accountant for the equine partnerships.
Seattle Slew's owners sent the colt to Billy Turner, a friend and former steeplechase rider who had trained horses seasonally in Maryland since the early 1960s. Based at Belmont Park in the mid-1970s, Turner accepted Seattle Slew and another Taylor-Hill purchase and sent them to Andor Farm in Monkton, where his wife at the time, Paula, taught yearlings to be ridden.
Seattle Slew was described as "intelligent, dominant and determined". "He was very easygoing," Turner said. "He liked people but he wasn't lovey dovey. He didn't like people petting him. He was the boss hoss. He would stand back and just look at you. He would let you do whatever you wanted him to do, but only if he wanted to do it."
Racing career
1976: two-year-old season
Seattle Slew's debut was delayed by his initial awkwardness, but he started to attract attention over the course of the summer at Saratoga with some fast workouts. Taylor later recalled that the colt had been timed in a brilliant time of seconds for three-eighths of a mile, but the clocker instead recorded the time as 36 seconds because he felt people wouldn't believe the right figure. Slew was set to make his first start at the end of August but injured himself in his stall. He finally made his first start in a six-furlong maiden race on September 20, 1976, the fifth race at Belmont Park. The big, nearly black colt was bet down to the 5:2 favorite. He gave the public its first look at what was later called his "war dance" and won by five lengths. He followed up in seven-furlong allowance race on October 5, 1976, winning by lengths.On October 16, Taylor stepped the colt up in class to enter the Grade I Champagne Stakes, then the most important race for two-year-olds in the United States. His biggest rival was For the Moment, who had won four straight races including the Belmont Futurity and was a full-brother to champion Honest Pleasure. Nonetheless, Seattle Slew went off as the almost even-money favorite. Jockey Jean Cruguet sent him straight to the lead and opened up a lead down the backstretch. None of the other riders chose to challenge him, perhaps believing the colt would tire down the stretch. Instead Seattle Slew continued to draw away, eventually winning by lengths in a time of 1: for one mile, then a stakes record.
Despite starting just three times, Seattle Slew was named Champion Two-Year-Old of 1976.
1977: three-year-old season
Turner scheduled three races for Seattle Slew leading up to the Kentucky Derby, which was then considered to be a light campaign. Turner felt that the main threat to Seattle Slew was his health, because the horse ran so fast and hard every time. Hill later said that Turner used the prep races as workouts and did as little as possible in between. Turner scheduled only 19 breezes for Seattle Slew before and during his Triple Crown campaign, instead trying to get the colt to relax.Seattle Slew's first start came as a three-year-old in an allowance race on March 9, 1977, at Hialeah Park Race Track. Going off at odds of 1:10, he dueled with White Rammer for the early lead while completing the first quarter-mile in a swift seconds. He kept up the pace, completing the half-mile in 44 seconds and six furlongs in 1:08 flat. Eased in the final sixteenth of a mile, he still set a seven-furlong track record of 1: in winning by nine lengths. Despite the ease of the win, Turner was concerned, fearing the colt was using too much energy early in his races to withstand the challenge of the longer races to come.
On March 26, Seattle Slew entered the Flamingo Stakes, where he went off at odds of 1:5. He set his own pace and opened a large lead moving into the final turn. He was eased down the stretch but still won by four lengths in a time of 1: for miles – the third-fastest time in the stakes' 51-year history.
He then shipped north to Aqueduct Racetrack in New York, where he became the subject of intense media scrutiny. His owners considered entering him in the Gotham Stakes on April 9 but Turner was against it because heavy rains had rendered the main track unusable, meaning the colt had not been able to properly work out. Instead, Seattle Slew made his third start of the year on April 23 in the Wood Memorial Stakes. Going off as the 1:10 favorite, he went to the early lead, challenged by Fratello Ed. Cruguet got the colt to relax and they set sensible fractions, then coasted to a length win. The time of 1: was considered unimpressive, but his connections were pleased by the horse's demeanor. "He doesn't have to run the way he has before," said Cruguet. "He was never really pressed."
Kentucky Derby
The "Slew Crew" then relocated to Churchill Downs where the Taylors set up a camper opposite the colt's stall in Barn 42, which traditionally houses the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. With Mickey Taylor's father acting as chief bodyguard for the colt, the connections dealt with a constant stream of visitors. Showing his growing maturity, Seattle Slew remained relaxed throughout the week leading up to the race. His training did not go entirely to expectations however when he posted an uncharacteristically slow workout the Sunday before the race. Turner planned to sharpen the colt with a five-furlong breeze on the Thursday before the race but the track came up muddy. Seattle Slew's final workout was a three-furlong breeze in seconds the morning before the Derby was held.The 1977 Kentucky Derby was held on May 7 before a crowd of 124,028. The track was rated as fast despite showers earlier in the day. Seattle Slew was the heavy favorite at odds of 1:2 but still faced a large field as many felt the colt would be vulnerable at the Derby's distance of miles. The second choice was Run Dusty Run, who had been the second-ranked two-year-old and had run second in several major Derby prep races. For the Moment was also given a strong chance after winning the Blue Grass Stakes.
In reaction to the crowd noise, Seattle Slew washed out in the paddock and again during the post parade. Cruguet did little to warm up the colt, instead taking him away from the crowd to relax. He had drawn post position three, and had to wait in the starting gate for the rest of the field to load. Slew reacted slowly at the break then swerved nearly sideways and found himself trapped near the back of the field. He reacted by charging through the field, bumping several other horses who were in his way. After two furlongs, he had worked his way into second place just behind For the Moment. The two colts then dueled around the first turn before Cruguet got Seattle Slew to relax down the backstretch, under a tight restraint, allowing For the Moment to open up a lead of a length. For the Moment completed the first three-quarters of a mile in 1:, then was joined again by Seattle Slew as they moved around the final turn. At the top of the stretch, Cruguet went to the whip and Seattle Slew pulled away by 4 lengths, then shut down in the final eighth of a mile to win by lengths over Run Dusty Run.
The colt still had his detractors. The final time of 2: was considered slow, particularly as the final quarter mile was run in seconds. Turner pointed to the interruptions in the colt's training. "Because of the circumstances, he was somewhat undertrained. You knew it, and I knew it," he said.
Seattle Slew was visibly upset after the race. "It was the only time I was scared of him," said his groom, John Polston. "He was so high-strung that night, he was evil, just evil. I couldn't believe how wound tight he was. It was like he hadn't even been in a race. I had to take him from the hotwalker and he ran over me a couple of times. I'd never seen him like that before."