This year, the Kentucky Derby (G1) falls on May 3, just as it did half a century ago when a scrappy band of 3-year-olds convened at Churchill Downs for the 101st running of the 1 1/4-mile classic. They were battle tested and fearless, boasting records that held no mysteries, not a flimsy résumé among them. They began their campaigns early, and none of them blinked, stamping the 1975 season with an indelible imprint.
Foolish Pleasure, by What a Pleasure, was the 2-year-old champion of 1974, perfect in seven starts, six of them in stakes. Future Hall of Famer LeRoy Jolley trained him for John L. Greer of Knoxville, Tenn., whose fortune came primarily from his Kern Bakery empire. Or, as Red Smith put it in the New York Times, Greer "got most of his bread from bread."
Avatar, a homebred son of Graustark, was a half brother to Unconscious, fifth in the 1971 Derby as the favorite. The Irish expat Tommy Doyle, who'd already trained champion Typecast, handled Avatar for Arthur Seeligson Jr., of San Antonio, Texas, who did well in oil and ranching.
Master Derby, a son of 1970 Derby winner Dust Commander, was trained by W.E. "Smiley" Adams for his breeder, Verna Lehmann, widow of big game hunter and construction magnate Robert Lehmann, who died in January of 1974 at 52.
Diabolo, by Damascus out of a mare who ran 64 times, was owned by Frank McMahon, already famous for Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Majestic Prince. Fellow Canadian Sid Martin trained Diabolo, who tipped his class at 2 by winning the Del Mar Futurity (G2).
They were two chestnuts, a classic bay, and a near-black stallion. Here is how their 1975 timelines intertwined:
February
Foolish Pleasure begins his season by winning a seven-furlong non-wagering exhibition at Hialeah Park. Diabolo finishes fifth in the seven-furlong San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita Park.
March
Foolish Pleasure kicks off the month by winning the Flamingo Stakes (G1) at Hialeah, his ninth score without a defeat. Out West, Diabolo comes right back to win the San Jacinto Stakes (G2), while Avatar wins the Bradbury Stakes. In New Orleans, Master Derby, who made a dozen starts as a 2-year-old, joins the party by taking the Louisiana Derby (G2). A wild month comes to a climax on the 29th when Darby Dan's Prince Thou Art upsets Foolish Pleasure in the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park three hours before Avatar holds off longshot Rock of Ages to win the Santa Anita Derby (G1). Diabolo runs third.
April
It turns out Foolish Pleasure shed the frogs of both front feet at Gulfstream. Undaunted, he overcomes post 15 on the 19th of the month to win the Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack. That same day, Diabolo gets blinkers and runs wild to set a 1 1/8-mile track record in the California Derby (G2) at Golden Gate Fields. Avatar, on a roll, heads East to run in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on the 24th but can do no better than fourth on a sloppy track to Master Derby.
May
The stage is set for the Kentucky Derby, and form holds true. Foolish Pleasure closes down the center of the track to beat Avatar, who is turned sideways at a key moment when Diabolo staggers left from Laffit Pincay's whip. Announcer Chic Anderson makes headlines for confusing Prince Thou Art with Foolish Pleasure, which had Jacinto Vasquez looking over his shoulder on the real winner.
Master Derby, who was in the thick of things late before fading to fourth in the Derby, does everything right in the Preakness two weeks later to defeat Foolish Pleasure by a length and Diabolo by two. Avatar finishes fifth. The winner pays a Preakness record $48.80 on a $2 bet.
June
The Big Four are present and accounted for in New York June 7 for the 107th Belmont Stakes, and it is Avatar's turn to shine after beating a relentless Foolish Pleasure by a neck. Master Derby is third, Diabolo finishes fourth, and all of them deserve the thanks of a grateful racing nation for a Triple Crown to remember.
Four days later, also at Belmont, Wajima returned to the races for Steve DiMauro by winning an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs. The $600,000 son of Bold Ruler missed the Triple Crown while recovering from an inflamed splint bone. Ten days later he won another allowance race at one mile, followed by so-so seconds in the Saranac Stakes (G2) and Dwyer Handicap (G2), both as the heavy favorite.
Championship Campaign
Voters then, as now, labored under the idea that championships were won—or lost—in the autumn of the year. Wajima did not win a stakes race until the minor Marylander Handicap in mid-July. He followed that with a hard-fought score in the Monmouth Invitational Handicap (G1) over the turf specialist Intrepid Hero, with Foolish Pleasure, Avatar, Master Derby, and Diabolo nowhere in sight.
Wajima won an embarrassingly weak, five-horse Travers Stakes (G1) by 10 lengths, then met Foolish Pleasure for the first time in the Governor Stakes (G1) Sept. 1 at Belmont Park. The weight allowances gave the Derby winner 125 pounds and his challenger 115, which meant Braulio Baeza probably skipped breakfast and still managed to get Wajima home by a head over a valiant Foolish Pleasure. Ancient Title, under 130, and Forego, under 134, finished third and fourth. I know. The numbers are hard to imagine.
Wajima's final seduction of Eclipse Award voters came in the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap (G1) when he got 10 pounds from Forego and beat him a head. Foolish Pleasure and Avatar were in the race, but their seasons had taken a toll. Both were considered for the subsequent $350,000 National Thoroughbred Championship during the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita, though neither colt made the race.
Apparently the vote between Wajima and Foolish Pleasure was close, which only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes. This reporter has given up trying to anticipate the outcome of any issue before a voting constituency of more than three—as long as the other two are my sullen cat and my flighty Chihuahua mix. The idea that Kona Gold, the preeminent North American sprinter of the early oughts, was denied entry into the Hall of Fame once again this week is a mystery on the level of the cave paintings of Lascaux. Go figure.
If someone described a colt who reigned as a 2-year-old champion and followed that with a 3-year-old season featuring grade 1 victories in the Kentucky Derby, Wood Memorial, and Flamingo Stakes, close seconds in the grade 1 Preakness and Belmont Stakes, and a narrow loss while giving an arch rival 10 pounds in another grade 1 event, but was snubbed for a second championship ring, the response would be, "Say what?!"
To this day, I've wondered if voters shied away from Foolish Pleasure because he reminded them, in vivid color, of the heartbreaking July afternoon at Belmont Park when he was the lone survivor of his match race with Ruffian.
To their credit, Avatar, Master Derby, and Foolish Pleasure all went on to win major stakes at age 4. And while Ruffian was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1976, her memory still painfully fresh, Foolish Pleasure was not honored with a place on the wall in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., until 1995, one year after his death on a ranch in Wyoming and 20 years after winning the Kentucky Derby. It wasn't too little, but it was certainly too late.
