Beacon of New Orleans - Part Three: "My" Risen Star

For Risen Star it was the moment of truth and the opportunity to show the racing world the power and stamina his superior breeding had passed on to him. The Triple Crown, contested over five weeks, covering distances of 1 ¼ miles, 1 3/16 miles, and 1 ½ miles was right up his alley. If Risen Star was going to bring his vast potential to fruition, it would be now. It would not happen immediately however. As talented as he was, the Kentucky Derby was the most difficult race in America to win, not because it took the best three-year-old to finish first, but because there were so many factors besides talent that needed to coalesce. Risen Star would face sixteen other horses which meant the draw was critical to ensure a clean, clear start and improve the prospect for a good trip, where traffic congestion was as common as rush hour on a Los Angeles freeway. This possibility by itself was enough to keep a horse from using his ability to the fullest and be competitive. This one American race took a level of maturity, experience, foundation, skill, toughness, and good fortune, all parcelled out in equal parts, and each interdependent on the other. The bigger the field, the more these factors came into play. Besides his own ability, Risen Star had something else in his favor. He would now have the services of one of the country's premiere jockeys, Eddie Delahoussaye, a Cajun, who had moved his tack to the Southern California circuit. If anybody could get Risen Star to the wire first, it was Eddie.

A few Good Boys

Among the horses competing in the 114^th Run for the Roses on May 7, 1988, were Eclipse Champion Two-Year-Old Male Forty Niner; Brian's Time, Florida Derby winner; Proper Reality, Arkansas Derby winner; Granacus, Blue Grass Stakes winner; and Private Terms, undefeated in seven races, and coming into the big race with a win in the Wood Memorial. 

And then there was the girl.

Winning Colors

The big gray/roan filly Winning Colors, sired by Caro out of the Bold Hour mare All Rainbows, was owned by former San Diego Chargers boss Eugene Klein and bred at Echo Valley Horse Farm in Kentucky. Winning Colors, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, who had yet to win a Derby after twelve losing attempts, was a front runner who had dominated her division on the West Coast. Lightly raced at age two, she won when first asked on August 13, 1987 in a seven furlong maiden special weight at Saratoga by two and a half lengths. She moved to California, but didn't resume racing until late December when she annexed a six furlong allowance at Santa Anita by three and a half lengths under jockey Gary Stevens.

Winning Colors would be asked a lot and she would do a lot, earning herself a year-end divisional championship. She began a sophomore campaign that would be nothing short of electrifying, monumental, and ultimately coming to its seasonal climax later in the fall, in a race she lost. On January 20, in restricted company, Winning Colors won Santa Anita's one mile La Centinela by more than six lengths. In her first Grade 1 contest, she dropped a decision to future Kentucky Oaks winner Goodbye Halo by only a neck. Winning Colors bounced back beautifully in her next start, taking the 1 1/16 mile Santa Anita Oaks by eight lengths. She was now put to an even stiffer test against the boys in the Santa Anita Derby, where she made a mockery of the race. Before anyone knew what happened, Winning Colors had crossed the finish seven and a half lengths in front of her nearest competitor, Lively One. She would now be pointed for the loftiest of heights and meet the best of the best three-year-old males in Louisville Kentucky.

Derby Big Three

When they flung open the gates at Churchill Downs, the race was virtually over. Winning Colors got her easy lead, and set fractions of :23, :46 4/5, 1:11 2/5, and a mile in 1:36. She then began to tire as Forty Niner came flying late, but the filly succeeded in keeping him safe by a diminishing neck in the time of 2:02 1/5, to become only the third female in history to win the race, after Regret in 1915 and Genuine Risk in 1980. Forty Niner had gone with Winning Colors early but Pat Day dropped him back to conserve his fuel, a move that might have cost him the race; but Forty Niner proved he could finish strong at the classic distance. As for Risen Star, he had been stationed down in post one, with no opportunity to be in contention. He dropped well behind in the early stages, before being forced to go around horses in the far turn, where he had to advance extremely wide. Despite all the obstacles, he rallied exceptionally well to finish third. Private Terms, his win streak snapped, finished a disappointing ninth. He would make another run at Pimlico and have his speed honed in the interim. But the day belonged to the front running filly, who got her trip and made the most of it.

Confrontation

Several of the Derby horses would meet again in two weeks in Baltimore and Winning Colors would try and become the first female to win two legs of the Triple Crown. The complexion of the contest would be much different than at Churchill Downs. Forty Niner would go with Winning Colors right away and stay on her. It was possibly the determing factor in the outcome and with their struggle against each other, neither horse had any chance to win.

Woody Stephens and Lukas had a rivalry which was not exactly good natured. Lukas, a former quarter horse trainer, finally won his Derby and it was a female who gave it to him.  Stephens had already won the Derby twice, sending out Cannonade in 1974, as part of a record 23-horse field, and again ten years later with Swale, who took on nineteen others. Stephens also created a remarkable legacy by winning five consecutive Belmont Stakes races, beginning in 1982 with Conquistador Cielo, through Danzig Connection in 1986.

The Preakness Stakes, on May 21, was in one respect unfortunate because an outstanding colt, who was good enough to win the race himself, faltered badly due to the strategy involved in trying to get him to defeat the Derby winner. The contest turned into a contentious affair, and afterward the duel created at least as much notoriety as the winning horse had done.

The week of the race, the Pimlico track was muddy, but Risen Star worked three furlongs in :36 4/5. Roussel was concerned about the weather and there was speculation that Risen Star would not even run. The trainer had filled out a scratch card and didn't decide until as late as possible to enter his colt.

Nine horses lined up for the 113^th edition of racing's second Triple Crown jewel, and the big three in the Derby were right next to each other with Risen Star in post three, Forty Niner in post four, and Winning Colors in five. At the break Winning Colors and Forty Niner were both gunned to the lead. The contest became an intense, exhausting duel between the pair, with Winning Colors constantly being bumped in the backstretch and carried wide. The colt's connections denied any ill intent with the apparent purpose to merely get Forty Niner out on the track where the surface conditions were better. They also felt they needed to stay close to the filly to have a chance. Risen Star stalked the leaders along the rail, and after six furlongs in 1:11 1/5, the duel had taken its toll, and the son of Secretariat took a commanding lead. Eddie steered him out on the track, where the colt strongly bounded to the wire for a 1 ¼ length win in 1:56 1/5. Brian's Time was next followed by Winning Colors, who finished admirably another 1 ¼ lengths back. Forty Niner had the worst of it however, and faded to seventh, beaten by more than fourteen lengths. The son of Mr. Prospector would bypass the Belmont Stakes, and be freshened for races later in the summer and fall. Forty Niner would go on to win four of his next five starts, capturing the Haskell Invitational, Travers Stakes, and NYRA Mile, while losing by only a neck to eventual Horse of the Year Alysheba in the Woodward Stakes. Forty Niner concluded his career with a fifth place effort in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Despite his failure to win a Triple Crown race, Forty Niner had always been a fine racer and a champion, who flirted with greatness.

Risen Star's win had been due to his own good performance, aided by a clean trip; and he had clearly been the beneficiary of a speed duel. He now had another performance ahead, one which would define him.

Defining Moment

On June 11, the 120^th running of the 1 ½ mile Belmont Stakes drew a small field of six horses, with Cefis on the inside, Granacus in post two, Winning Colors in three, Kingpost in four, Risen Star in five, and Brian's Time in six. The day before, Risen Star had worked three furlongs in a blazing :33 3/5. Roussel wasn't happy about it and concerned that it might have taken too much out of his colt. But a twelve furlong race in cavernous Belmont Park would be the horse's defining moment.

When the field was sent off, Winning Colors took the early lead, but she was in deep water after six brisk furlongs in 1:11 4/5, as Risen Star ranged up alongside her. He subsequently began to exhibit the power that evoked memories of his sire, taking the lead and easily moving further and further away, as Winning Colors began to fade. At the wire Risen Star was 14 ¾ lengths ahead of Kingpost, with Brian's Time another two lengths back in third. His time of 2:26 2/5, was the second fastest clocking ever run, and his performance had brought him  closer than any horse to emulating his father. After Secretariat's run in 1973, only Easy Goer and A.P. Indy have since sped faster than Risen Star, and only Secretariat, Count Fleet, and Man o’War created wider winning margins. Winning Colors finished last more than forty-one lengths behind, but her courage was evident, and her luster in no way diminished. After three grueling races, it was vividly clear what was inside of her, and it was the heart of a champion.

Aftermath

There was ongoing speculation about Risen Star's future, whether he would race again, if he was sound, or perhaps be retired to stud. The early plans were for the colt to run in the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in early fall, possibly the Jockey Club Gold Cup and ultimately the Breeders' Cup Classic. A four-year-old campaign in California was also considered.

At some point Risen Star had injured the suspensory ligament in his right foreleg. Recovery time precluded plans for summer/fall racing. In early summer, a deal was forged with Walmac International who bought a sizeable interest in the colt worth several million dollars, but which also closed the door on further racing beyond the current year. In late July, Risen Star was retired. He was later voted the Eclipse three-year-old male champion for 1988, a testament to both his own excellence and also his immortal sire.

In his relatively brief career, Risen Star never finished out of the money, recording 11 starts, 8 firsts, 2 seconds, 1 third and $2,029,845 in earnings. As a stallion at Walmac, his best progeny were Pimlico Special winner, Belmont Stakes placed, and millionaire Star Standard, and daughter Risen Raven, a German champion. Among Risen Star's many other offspring were Torch, a black-type winning filly, and the gelding Star Campaigner, a third place finisher in the American Derby.

Most Endearing

In later years, Risen Star suffered from bouts of colic and on March 13, 1998, this sweet horse died during colic surgery at age thirteen, and ten years to the day he’d won the Louisiana Derby. His death left the racing community grief stricken especially in New Orleans where perhaps his biggest fan club was a Catholic order of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor. Roussel had pledged to the order part of the colt's earnings.

If Risen Star did not establish himself as a truly great racehorse, it was only because he didn't have enough time to do so. Until his retirement, he was on his way to the highest pantheon and no doubt had he raced longer, would have been considered among the greats. But this blogger is understandably bias to a horse more endearing to him than any other over the past thirty years. There was only one Risen Star. He now runs alongside his father somewhere beyond the clouds. And a photograph of the big, dark bay, grazing in his paddock, sits affectionately on the writer's desk.

Resources

Daily Racing Form, Champions: The Lives, Times, and Past Performances of America's Greatest Thoroughbreds (New York: Daily Racing Form Press, 2005).

Steven Crist, “An Upset Won't Be Much of a Surprise,” The New York Times, May 21, 1988.

Dave Anderson, "Belmont Plot: Stevens vs. Stephens," The New York Times, May 22, 1988.

Steven Crist, "The Big Race Draws a Small Field of 6," The New York Times, June 10, 1988.

Steven Crist, "Risen Star Sizzles in Final Workout," The New York Times, June 11, 1988.

Steven Crist, "Risen Star Runs Away With the Belmont," The New York Times, June 12, 1988.

Paul Moran (Newsday), “Risen Star owners enter horse deal,” The Prescott Courier, June 26, 1988.

Associated Press, “Risen Star Enters Retirement,” The Harlan Daily Enterprise, July 25, 1988.

Thoroughbred Times Co., Inc., The Original Thoroughbred Times Racing Almanac 2009 (Lexington, KY: Thoroughbred Times Books, 2008).

Pedigreequery.com. http://www.pedigreequery.com/

Equineline.com. http://www.equineline.com/

Copyright 2011, 2012, 2013 by John Califano