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1977 Triple Crown Winner Seattle Slew

by Ross Everett on November 11, 2009

Seattle Slew, horse racing’s lone remaining living Triple Crown winner, passed away on May 7, 2002 at the age of 28. Already ranked among the all time greats by virtue of this accomplishment alone, Slew is even more notable as the only Triple Crown winner to go undefeated as a three year hold. He came from humble beginnings, bought at public auction–the only Triple Crown winner to be bought in this manner. After retiring to stud in’78 he remained a very profitable horse based on a stud fee of $300,000. His offspring earned over $76 million dollars at the race track and include over 100 stakes race winners including’84 Kentucky Derby champion Swale.

The Seattle Slew tale started very modestly at a public auction in Lexington, Kentucky. The Keeneland Summer Yearling sale wasn’t supposed to be the marketplace of champions, and the thought that this particular horse would ever amount to anything other than a farmhand was downright laughable. Slew looked clumsy, due primarily to a right forefoot that splayed outward and resulting in a shuffling gait at a trot. He also wasn’t a majestic beast like his predecessor by a few years, Secretariat. Slew was borderline hideous. So ungainly a creature was he that he was given the less than inspiring nickname “Baby Huey” by the Keeneland staff. He was bought by two couples (Karen and Mickey Taylor and Jim and Sally Hill) for $17,500. What wasn’t apparent at the yearling sale was the intangibles that make up a championship thoroughbred–poise under pressure, like of competition, toughness, heart and desire. The Taylor’s and Hill’s had stumbled onto an equine Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan who’s competitive fire quickly became apparent to the trainers that worked with him and the jockeys that rode him. His first race came at Belmont in’76, and the three races he entered–and won–as a 2 year ancient gave a hint of what was to come.

As a three year ancient, he quickly gained notice by winning his three Derby prep races, including the prestigious Wood Memorial. In the Derby, Slew got off to a terrible start as he stumbled from the gate much like War Emblem did in the 2002 Belmont. Unlike 2002’s Triple Crown contender, but, Slew was able to recover from that miscue and basically force his way through a pack of other horses to position himself at the front of the field at the quarter mile pole. He went on to win the Derby by a length and 3 quarters. Another tough victory in the Preakness set up his Triple Crown winning run at the Belmont, which he won by 4 lengths.

Slew continued to campaign as a four year ancient, but in the days before the Breeder’s Cup there weren’t many opportunities for an older horse. He retired to stud in’78, where he sired champions such as the aforementioned Swale and’92 Belmont Champ AP Indy. Slew stood at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky from’85 until early 2002 when he was went to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Lexington, KY following a spinal operation.

Slew may not have earned the appreciation he deserved in his prime, coming so closely on the heels of the charismatic’73 Triple Crown winner Secretariat–arguably the greatest thoroughbred race horse in history. The jockeys that rode him, but, understood fully what a special animal they were dealing with. Jockey Angel Cordero gave Seattle Slew this lofty praise: “If I had a chance to take any horse in the world, if someone said your life is depending on riding one horse to win, I would take (Slew). I rode 44,000 horses, but he was special, he was different. He was muscled, like a wrestler. He ran different than any other horse. It was like he came from another planet.”

After his death in 2002, Slew was buried at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Lexington, Kentucky under a statue in his image.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.