THE TRIPLE CROWN
Written by
Troy Andrew Smith
THE TRIPLE CROWN: Who Remembers Sham? At the time I first wrote this we had a potential Triple Crown Winner in Big Brown. I’m very sure a lot of Race Fans will remember Big Brown for years because he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. How many horses have we seen win the Derby and Preakness but lose the Belmont Stakes? I don’t know but we still remember them because they won. But who remembers Sham? I do, because I think his story is one of the most tragic tales in horse racing history. It’s not tragic in the sense of him falling or coming up lame during a race. It wasn’t tragic because anything crooked or illegal took place. You see, horse racing history as well as most other history is about winners; the also rans are soon forgotten. If you don’t believe me think about Sham. Before the Derby or any of the big races the experts line up on TV to give their touch of trivia to the festivities. When the commentators talk about all of the great race horses, when was the last time you heard them brag on Sham? He has pretty much been forgotten by all except for the inside elite breeders who take their top mares to him to be bred. But to the race goers, the fans, the casual observer, and yes the media he has pretty well been forgotten. Even though his time in the Kentucky Derby was faster than had ever been ran in any Derby before; he lives in the murky shadows of racing history. Why? Because he never got to win. His second place finish in the Kentucky Derby was a new record. That is fantastic! Wow! Can you imagine how anti climatic it would be to his owners to own a horse that just ran a record setting time in the Derby, but know it would never be even jotted done for a moment in the offical book. Why not you ask? It was never a record because he was beaten in the same race by the horse that did set the new record and came in first. In the Preakness he flew past almost all of the field; except one. Think about it. Here’s a horse that came in second in the Derby and any other year he would’ve held the record for the fastest time to ever run the Kentucky Derby. In the Preakness in any other year he would’ve won. He never ran in the Belmont Stakes because his owners and trainer didn’t want their super horse to be beaten again by Secretariat.
I, like many millions of others, went ballistic as Secretariat drove home twenty eight lengths ahead of the field at Belmont to make history! I was a big fan of the big Red Horse and still am today; even though he is long gone to that stable in the sky. I still thrill at the replays when they show him run. Even now, just writing this paragraph makes my blood start to pump and my breathing quickens. To me, I think he was the greatest horse to ever run! Many people will point to Whirl away or Affirm or the legendary Man of War and claim they were the best ever and I’m not trying to make light of any of the great ones because I love them all, but to me it’s Secretariat. He set record times that still stand in the Derby and the Stakes. Ask anyone old enough to remember and you’ll hear about the debacle with the OFFICAL time clock at the Preakness. It started before the race did. Otherwise Secretariat would’ve held that record as well. What about Sham?
Sham was right there driving down the home stretch right alongside of Secretariat. Until the Preakness was over, many people believed he would win one of the races and beat the great super horse. I’d have to go back and look it up but I believe he did finally beat Secretariat in the last race Secretariat ran before retirement, but it was a hollow victory. Secretariat was packing so much extra weight as a handicap it was almost a sure bet he wasn’t going to win on that day. So, Sham sort of went off into breeding programs and Secretariat went into the history books. Poor, poor Sham. If you think about it, Sham was a great horse, argueably the second best race horse in history. After all, his only losses came at the hands of the big red machine, Secretariat, who was argueably the best race horse ever. It’s true Sham never won a Triple Crown race and it is sad that no one remembers him when they discuss the great ones, even though he could’ve probably out run them all; except Secretariat of course.
Still, the world didn’t stop at the end of the Preakness. Sham went on to be a great sire of stakes race winners and I believe, his get is more successful than Secretariat’s. There were rumors, or maybe they were the truth, I can’t say for sure, that Secretariat had a low sperm count. Secretariat was a super horse; he had to be in order to beat the other super horse; a horse named Sham. In the world of bloodlines and offspring Sham is not forgotten. So, in the long run, Sham may have been the more successful of the two horses. Sham’s problem was timing!
In any other year Sham would’ve been a Triple Crown winner! He just happened be born in the same year as Secretariat. I wonder what the odds were on two such horses being born in the same year? Many a lesser horse is more famous than Sham, just because they won. Sham was the number two man in his year. In our society we hardly recognize second place. As foolish as it may seem we sometimes pay more attention to the third place winners, because ‘they tried their best’, than we do the number two guy. I myself can identify with Sham because I’ve spent a life time of being the number two guy. It can be a hard habit to break but I’m trying and that’s a whole ‘nother story. Now, I do things like; I won’t pump gasoline from the #2 pump; I take the stairs rather than have to punch the #2 button on the elevator; I push to be #1 or I’ll die trying because; nobody remembers the #2 guy. I don’t really know that this little anecdote will help anyone out there with their therapy or change even one other person’s perspective about being second… I just thought we ought to remember Sham at least for a little bit.
