Aside from Mr. Nerud's story, there is of course the story of Dr. Fager. Melissa Hoppert, a NYT turf writer, this morning has tweeted the front page of the Sunday New York Times Sports Section, when it was Section 5 and there were eight columns. Horse racing was a big deal then, 1967, and there on the front page in a headline, story and pictures, are the results of TWO races run the day before.
Dr. Fager, so named because a neurosurgeon by that name operated on the trainer Johnny Nerud when he suffered a massive head injury in 1965 after being yanked off a stable pony by an unruly 2 year-old he was training. I was quite familiar with the story, but didn't know Nerud was thrown at Belmont in New York. [The obituary says Belmont, Queens, but Belmont is in Elmont, Nassau county] I always assumed it had something to do with Suffolk Downs, since a Boston surgeon was involved. Not the case apparently. The surgeon was great, and his namesake was great as well.
Anyone who was following racing of that era, the 60s, knows it was what Dave Liftin writes in the book 'Champions', Boom Times. Kelso, Fager and Damascus brought the crowds to the track. And not one of them won a Triple Crown.
As noted in the obituary, Dr. Fager was the only horse to win four titles in the same year. And it was the Handicap Horse of the Year that fully describes Dr. Fager's accomplishments on the track.
Handicap races are certainly not what they once were. And there are fewer of them. Someone recently Tweeted asking which of the races, Metropolitan Mile, Whitney, or some other race, were the best handicap races.
At this point, The Whitney is no longer a handicap conditioned race, and handicap races are generally when so named, hardly the handicap races there once were. When Fager and Damascus were the equine version of Ali and Frazier the constant handicapping talk amongst us was "up two pounds, down three...swing of five pounds...what do you think?"
I've pointed out to my friend instances in the past performance when someone is racing who just won a race, and in entering a handicap race is losing weight to a horse they beat. Weight is nearly meaningless these days. Enough of it can stop a train, but the racing secretaries are careful not to try and stop too many trains. There aren't really enough horses that meet each other at high competitive levels on a repeating basis to handicap any of them with more weight to carry.
I don't even think the Eclipse award is for the Best Handicap horse these days. It's best Older Horse, male and female. A huge difference.
Handicap races were not just confined to the big, $100,000 races of the day. There were Starter Handicap races that were a particular favorite race to bet on. They were generally the last race of a nine race card (the only Triple race on the card then), and featured good, hard knocking claiming horse who had multiple wins and could race under conditions that shielded them from being claimed. There are Starter Handicap races today, but none of them display the weight shits of another era.
I distinctly remember a mare, Career Lady, who consistently beat the boys in these Starter races. Well, the weight would go on, until I'm sure I remember she was once asked to carry 134 pounds against male rivals. She did. She lost. Weight can stop a train.
There are two charts hanging up in my home office, framed. There is a picture of Secretariat winning the Belmont and Turcotte looking at the clock. There is a young man, Johnny Nerud, holding the bridle of Dr. Fager outside what looks like one of Belmont's barns.
Johnny Nerud is quoted in his obituary as saying no other horse could look Dr Fager in the eye without wilting. Of the two charts, one is Secretariat's Belmont, the first Triple Crown in 25 years was a major accomplishment. But the times, the splits of that race are phenomenal. He scorched the clock.
The other chart is the Great Doctor's last race, the 1968 seven furlong Vosburgh, which I watched on television at home. The Good Doctor was chased by Kissin' George, thoroughly looked in the eye for the first half, (4 furlongs), just a head back, in scorching times of 22 1/5 and 43 4/5. Fager carried 139 pounds, including Braulio Baeza (The Sphinx). Kissin' George had 127. The other highweights in the handicap race were Jim J. at 125 pounds and R. Thomas at 122. There was a field of seven.
Fager ran through the 6 furlong split in 1:07 4/5, and completed the race in 1:20 1/5, a new track record, and one that would stand until broken by Artax in 1:20 in 1999, carrying 114 pounds. No one carries 139 pounds these days unless you are a hurdle horse.
Dr. Fager sired some other good horses, Dr. Patches for one, but as is typical, the great horses don't automatically create great copies. Secretariat's grandson, Risen Star won the Belmont, but none of the offspring of either horse are household names.
I never met Johnny Nerud. I think I spotted him once at Aqueduct, but I don't have the access the press has in meeting and writing about the people behind racing and behind the horses.
I never made any real money on Dr. Fager. When he ran, his odds were about the shortest you could get.
But I did get to see him. And that's been good enough.
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