1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew dies at age 28
This town ain't had such glory in so many years
It seems like forever since those Pasadena cheers
His record is undefeated; he's a hero through and through
You ain't never seen nothin' like Seattle Slew
Seattle saw nothin' like it in 1977 when that year's Triple Crown champ, Seattle Slew, came to the old Long-acres racetrack for a couple "Golden Gallops."
"You have to remember the 1977 sports scene, we didn't have much glory," said Ken Alhadeff, then president of Longacres. "There was no football, no baseball, and the Huskies had not been to the Rose Bowl in a long time. So this horse was adopted emotionally by this community. There was even a record (see lyrics above) sung about him."
Of blue-blood ancestry but with a blue-collar ascent into horse racing lore, Seattle Slew died of natural causes yesterday at Kentucky's Hill 'n' Dale Farm, 25 years to the day of his victory in the 1977 Kentucky Derby. Suffering from arthritis and neurological problems, Seattle Slew had two operations since 2000 and had been removed from stud duty in February.
The big, black stallion, co-owned by Yakima couple Mickey and Karen Taylor and named after the Northwest's largest city, stirred the nation and region that year. He was flown here for a charity, non-racing event, just a gallop in front of the grandstands, but 16,000 fans showed up each of the two days he appeared.
"He was just galloping along, but once he got to the head of the lane and he heard the people screaming, he started running and he couldn't be held back," Alhadeff said. "He thought it was a race, and he was going to win."
Slew was the 10th of 11 Triple Crown winners. Now for the first time since the initial Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton in 1919, there are no surviving Triple Crown champions. Slew, the only undefeated horse (at the time) to win the Triple Crown, went on to win 14 of 17 races and collect $1,208,726 in purses before retiring at age 4 in 1978.
Jim Hill, a Florida veterinarian who owned a half share of Slew with his wife Sally, had previously helped the Taylors acquire horses. He had his eye on this stallion, son of My Charmer and Bold Reasoning and grandson of Bold Ruler, the 1957 Preakness winner.
"There was something about him," Hill said yesterday. "He was such an imposing horse, even as yearling. He was not pretty, but there were these great angles, his presence, legs like telephone posts, flat knees. He looked like a great athlete. We had hopes for him but didn't know how high to hope."
Seattle Slew was one of 4,918 yearlings auctioned that year. After only 19 bids, or 90 seconds, he was purchased for just $17,500, the only Triple Crown winner sold at a public auction.
Mickey Taylor, a fourth generation logger who lived in White Swan, near Yakima, had only owned horses for one year. They named the horse "Seattle'' because the Taylors lived in the state and "Slew'' because Hill came from swampy Florida.
He was a winner from the start, six in a row entering the Kentucky Derby. He was called "The People's Choice" because of his humble auction price.
When the gates opened at the Kentucky Derby, Slew smacked the gate and slammed into a horse next to him. The impact cut his mouth, and he bled the whole race. Jockey Jean Cruguet barely held on.
"He came out sideways, and I lost my balance awhile," Cruguet said. "After that I didn't think what would happen. Jockeys don't think too much anyhow. I just bumped people to move out of the way. I wanted to be where I wanted to be at the first turn. He was good enough to come back and win."
Trainer Billy Turner added: "To overcome a first quarter like that, then go on and win, no one has been able to do that and win the Derby. It was a remarkable race."
Slew, who could be stubborn and temperamental at times, nearly didn't make it to the gate.
"We were going to the paddock one by one and there were about 70 friends from Seattle all sitting in the lower end of the tarmac at Churchill Downs," Turner said. "All of a sudden, this group spots Seattle Slew and jumps up and cheers. The horse rears back on his hind legs and I thought, 'For gosh sake, this is all we need.' "
Two weeks later at the Preakness, Slew was behind briefly but won by 1-1/2 lengths. The Belmont was a start-to-finish victory with Cruguet, who had predicted the win, standing in his irons and pointing his whip skyward as he crossed the finish line.
"He was a winning horse," Cruguet said. "All he wanted to do was run."
The "Slew Crew," as the owners and trainers were called, then went through internal debates over the direction of Slew's career. The Taylors wanted to run him at the Swaps Stakes in Hollywood, three weeks after the Belmont. Turner argued against it, saying it was too soon. The Taylors won the argument and Turner "separated" from the Crew later that year.
Slew would run the worst race of his career, finishing fourth, 16 lengths behind the winner.
"People make mistakes," said Dan Rosenberg, Slew's caretaker for the past 17 years. "We should have listened to the horse."
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He sired Landaluce, who won the 1982 Hollywood Lassie Stakes by 21 lengths in 1:08, the fastest time recorded by a 2-year-old at Hollywood Park. He also sired Swale, who won the 1984 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and A.P. Indy, the 1992 Horse of the Year who went for $2.9 million, the highest paid for a yearling in 1990.
His 40-share syndication fee was $300,000 apiece. His stud fees ranged from $100,000 to $800,000 per mare. He was active even at an old age, as he had 46 breeding sessions last year.
Alhadeff owned one of his offspring, Elttaes Slew (Elttaes is Seattle spelled backward). Unfortunately, an accident last week broke a bone in the 2-year-old stallion's foot and he had to be put down.
"So it's a double sad week for me," Alhadeff added. "It was Slew's only Washington-bred horse and now the only one ever. But I'm going to try to buy one of his offspring, bring him here and have his bloodlines flowing through our state."
Bob Sherwin can be reached at 206-464-8286 or bsherwin@seattletimes.com.