Medina Spirit's neck victory in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park set the 3-year-old colt on a classic-seeking odyssey that could possibly make a stop in that all-important winner's circle at Churchill Downs come the First Saturday in May.
Thirty-five years earlier another colt used an earlier incarnation of the Lewis, the Santa Catalina Stakes, to launch a winning Kentucky Derby (G1) journey of his own. Little could anyone imagine, at that time, the moment his life and, more importantly, his death would have on the sport of racing.
From the instance his mating was planned, Ferdinand was destined to be a good one. A chestnut son of England's last Triple Crown winner Nijinsky II and the Double Jay mare Banja Luka, Ferdinand was given every opportunity by his breeder/owners. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Keck turned him over to the experienced hands of seasoned horseman Charlie Whittingham, who patiently gave his charge all-important developmental time.
Ferdinand debuted in September of his juvenile year. He broke his maiden in a one-mile maiden special weight in November. Obviously impressed with his young charge's ability, Whittingham tackled grade 1 company in Ferdinand's next start, the Hollywood Futurity, in which he (along with jockey Bill Shoemaker) finished a green third behind Snow Chief and began a steady diet of stakes competition (24 to be exact) that would last for three more years.
The 1986 Santa Catalina marked Ferdinand's first stakes victory. Facing seven other hopeful sophomores, Ferdinand employed his usual come-from-behind style to earn a half-length win.
It wasn't as if the dam broke for Ferdinand and stakes wins gushed forth. He came to Kentucky off a second in the San Rafael (G2) and a third behind Snow Chief in the Santa Anita Derby (G1). As a result, he left the Derby starting gate at 17-1 to Snow Chief's favoritism. Yet it was Ferdinand who ran like the 2-1 favorite, coming from last in the field of 16 to cross the finish 2 1/4 lengths to the good.
Ferdinand lost the Preakness Stakes (G1) to Snow Chief and the Belmont Stakes (G1) to Danzig Connection on a rain-soaked sloppy track.
Whittingham gave Ferdinand some R&R, returning him to take the Malibu Stakes (G2) on Santa Anita's traditional Boxing Day card that opens the winter meet. Snow Chief earned championship 3-year-old male honors for the year.
At 4 Ferdinand knocked on the grade 1 door seven times from January to June, but no one was home until the June 28 Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap in which he and Judge Angelucci crowded through at the same time to finish 1-2, with Judge Angelucci in a dead heat for second with Tasso. Ferdinand won two additional stakes and tackled sophomore upstart Alysheba in a barnburner of a race, the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Ferdinand's nose crossed the wire first and brought him a Horse of the Year title along with champion older male.
Following a lackluster 1988 season, Ferdinand retired to his birthplace, Claiborne Farm.
In 1994 Ferdinand was sold to Japan where he died sometime in 2002. The facts of his death are shrouded in the customs of a distant land and euphemistic language. A disappointment at stud, he was "disposed of" probably in a slaughterhouse—a far cry away from the roaring crowd and a sun-drenched stretch of Churchill Downs where he gained fame and glory.
Had that been the end-all of his life, it would have been in vain. But from the ashes of his death rose, Phoenix-like, an awareness of the plight of Thoroughbred racehorses, which took root and gave heft to the growing momentum behind Thoroughbred aftercare for retired racehorses.
