1978 Racehorse Deaths

Chapters: Buckpasser. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 25. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Buckpasser was a champion bay thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1963. Bred and owned by Ogden Phipps, New York racing official Dr. Manual Gilman said of him, "Generally, every horse has about a hundred faults of conformation. I would defy anybody to pick a flaw in Buckpasser." Renowned horse painter Richard Stone Reeves said, "Buckpasser was the most perfectly proportioned Thoroughbred I have ever seen." Only two horses, Secretariat and Affirmed, have since been "in a class with Buckpasser." The son of the legendary handicap champion Tom Fool, he was foaled at Claiborne Farms in Paris, Kentucky with a pedigree that could hardly miss...if pedigrees ran races. Out of the stakes-winning mare Busanda, his sire was 1953 Handicap Triple Crown winner and Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year winner Tom Fool. Busanda represented the female family of the Blue Hen broodmare La Troienne (FR). It also represented the 1929 Belmont Stakes winner and Horse of the Year Blue Larkspur, not to mention the great Man o' War. But perhaps the most influential aspect of his pedigree was the inclusion of Equipoise. Equipoise was four generations back, yet many of the qualities of this two-time Horse of the Year were Buckpasser's, which unfortunately included foot trouble. The only "flaw" in Buckpasser was his attitude toward racing. He would race, and he certainly did race when a horse passed him, but once on the lead, he would slow down...as if just doing enough was enough. Because of this, he provided many a fright for his trainer, not to mention the bettors. It almost seemed part of his manners, seldom to defeat a rival so badly it might break his or her heart. Buckpasser had two trainers, both since elected to the...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=476010