Affirmed: Four-Year-Old Season

 After spending the winter in California, Affirmed returned to the track for his final season. He had a new jockey: Laffit Pincay, Jr. He began his season with an almost effortless ten length victory in the Charles H. Strub Stakes. Next he won the Santa Anita Handicap with 128 pounds on his back, running the mile and one quarter in the record time of 1:58 3/5, as well as defeating the son of champion racehorse Exclusive Native by four and a half lengths.

 That May, he went to Hollywood Park for the California Stakes. Many worried about the burdensome weight of 130 pounds that he was required to carry, but it didn't affect his performance; he won by five lengths.

 Because of his victory, he was then required to carry 132 pounds in the Hollywood Gold Cup. In that race, he met the Italian champion Sirlad, who forced Affirmed to run at a tremendous pace considering his burden. Affirmed managed to hold the lead long enough to win by three-quarters of a length and to run the race in 1:58 2/5, missing the American record for that distance by only 1/5 of a second.

 Affirmed rested for two months following his victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup before going to New York to win two more races. However, trainer Laz Barrera kept him out of the Marlboro Cup since he was assigned 133 pounds, while the young champion Spectacular Bid was assigned only 126 pounds. He did race in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, though. Each horse was weighted according to its age.

Affirmed won the Jockey Club Gold Cup after battle
for first place with several different horses, including
Spectacular Bid.(credit)

 The race was incredible! All throughout, many horses moved forward to challenged him for first place, including Coastal, the 1979 Belmont Stakes winner, and Spectacular Bid, who challenged him four times. Affirmed won in the end, but Spectacular Bid was far from disgraced. Few horses can repeatedly challenge the leader like he did and not come close to last.

 Affirmed retired after that. He had earned a grand total of $2,393,818 in his lifetime, was made the world's Current Leading Money Winner until Spectacular Bid took his place in June 1980, and once more earned Horse of the Year honors. This time, no one questioned whether he deserved the title or not; he had proved himself many times that year.

 He first served as a stud horse in Spendthrift Farm, the Calumet, and finally Jonabell, where he passed away in January 2001.

 Some racing fans believe he failed as a stud horse since he never duplicated himself at stud. Despite those beliefs, he actually sired several noteworthy horses, including Peteski, winner of the Canadian Triple Crown; Charley Barley, the successful Canadian turf racer who earned $922,943; Bint Pasha, who became France's 1987 Champion Three-Year-Old Filly; Tibullo, who was successfully enjoyed his career in Italy; Easy to Copy, who won in Ireland; Trusted Partner, winner of Irish One Thousand Guineas; Buy the Firm, a good handicap mare; and the mare Flawlessly, who won the Eclipse Reward twice and earned over $2,000,000 while under the racing colors of Harbor View Farm, the same as her sire.

Affirmed: Three-Year-Old Season

 Despite an unusually long rest due to uncharacteristically rainy weather in South Carolina, Affirmed began his three-year-old season with a victory at Santa Anita, followed by a win in the San Felipe Handicap.

 After that, he defeated Balzac by eight lengths in the Santa Anita Derby. There was then only one race to win before he traveled back east: the Hollywood Derby. However, with little competition since Alydar was racing in the east coast, Affirmed began to develop bad habits. Whenever he was in the lead, he would mess around and waste time. This worried trainer Laz Barrera since the same thing had cost Affirmed the Champagne Stakes the year before. In spite of Barrera's worries, the Hollywood Derby proved no problem, and Affirmed, though slightly bored, managed to win by two lengths. After that, he went east and defeated Alydar in three classics.

Affirmed won the Kentucky Derby, with Alydar second and
Believe It third. Credit

 Then came the Kentucky Derby. Sensitive Prince took an early lead, setting a fast pace while Affirmed lingered in third place. Just as the pack entered the backstretch, Believe It took the lead, followed by Affirmed, who quickly replaced him. Alydar gave it his all, but only managed to beat Believe It for second place money. The roses belonged to Affirmed by one and a half lengths.

 In the Preakness, Alydar was more on top of things. When Affirmed took the lead at the half mile mark, Alydar followed close behind, waiting for the right moment to make his move. As soon as the two entered the homestretch, they fought hard until Affirmed won by a neck. Believe placed third for the second time.

Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes by a head in the closest
Belmont victory since 1962, when Jaipur barely defeated
Admiral's Voyage. 

 Only one more race remained, and only one horse stood between Affirmed and the Triple Crown: Alydar. Affirmed took the early lead, followed Alydar, who opted not to wait to make his move fairly late in the race like the two previous times. This time, with more than half a mile left, he began to battle his rival, doing everything in his power to steal the final Triple Crown jewel from Affirmed. Yet it was all in vain. After a long and hard-fought battle, Affirmed won by his head in the closest Belmont Stakes since 1962, when Jaipur barely defeated Admiral's Voyage.

 After a long and well-deserved rest, Affirmed once more won a race. In the Jim Dandy Stakes, he came from behind to beat Sensitive Prince, despite the slick track, carrying his winning streak to eight. However, he was unable to continue his streak to nine, as his fans had hoped. Although he came first in the Travers Stakes, he was disqualified for bumping Alydar.

 Next, he raced Seattle Slew, the previous Triple Crown winner, in the Marlboro Cup. To his fans surprise, he hardly gave Slew a challenge. Later, after a vet inspection, his owner, jockey, and trainer found that a throat infection had been the cause of his poor performance.

 In the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the two met for the second time. Affirmed failed to win once his saddle slipped after battling with Seattle Slew for an early lead. Seattle Slew, though, also failed. He was in poor condition considering the length of the two mile race, so Exceller won by a nose, becoming the first horse to defeated two Triple Crown winners, let alone in one race.

 Despite the fact that Affirmed had lost three times in a row: once because of poor health, another time due to to disqualification, and another due to tack failure, he was voted horse of the year. Lots of arguments followed that decision. Some people were outrage, thinking that Seattle Slew should have had the honors since he had defeated Affirmed---twice. Others believed that Affirmed had fair excuses for his failures. Nevertheless, Affirmed was 1978's Horse of the Year, and no argument could change that.