Triple Crown Tales: A Horse Named Sue

Long before Olympic gold-medalist Bruce Jenner transformed into Caitlyn Jenner, for a brief period of time in the late-summer of 1976, future undefeated Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew was mistakenly identified on the Daily Racing Form work-tab as Seattle Sue.

As Seattle Slew trained up to his first start, his exercise rider, Mike Kennedy, who worked as a mutual clerk in the afternoon, understood that he was sitting on the preverbal good thing. Kennedy's main goal was to never let his horse run for real in front of the clockers, to keep his betting odds up.

"Mike was a fine exercise rider. But I could never put him on a (first-time starter) who needed to train (forwardly) because he was always looking to cash a bet," said Billy Turner, who brilliantly haltered Seattle Slew.

In August of 1976 at Saratoga Race Course, Turner was ready to hoist a real rider into the saddle prior to Seattle Slew's anticipated first start. Turner's original intention was to give the mount to jockey Eddie Maple. However, that didn't go exactly as planned.

"I told Eddie (Maple) to meet me right after the morning break (renovation)," said Turner. "But his agent came by and told me that he was working (an important 2-year-old) for (trainer) Syl Veitch. Besides Maple, I was riding Jean Cruguet a lot. He was standing right there. So instead of waiting, I told Jean to get on the horse."

At the barn, Mike Kennedy practically begged Cruguet not to hit the gas pedal on the horse. But he wasn't sure if the message had gotten through, or if the jockey quite believed him.

"I told Jean that this horse could really run. That I wanted him to go three-quarters (of a mile) well in hand," said Turner, who accompanied Cruguet to the track aboard his pony. "I was jogging my pony back the wrong way (to the wire), figuring I could beat them back there. I had a clock on them (as the horse broke). He was flying. At the quarter pole, Jean turned his stick over. I'm sure he had no idea of how fast he was going."

Kennedy cringed at the sight of it. He feared that all the months he had hidden his super-horse had been wasted. He was sure that his secret had finally been exposed in the Spa's glimmering morning light.

"I screamed 'Pull him up!' as they passed me," said Turner. "Still, they had galloped out in one-ten (and change). That was about as fast as they were running (in actual races) up there."

Up in the press box, the clockers had taken noticed of the workout on the track below. They dispatched Sentell "Sonny" Taylor, who recently celebrated his 50th year of working for NYRA and is currently a placing judge, to find out the name of that bullet-like horse.

"I remember that we hadn't received the (foal) papers yet, and that the horse came onto the track without a work-order (informing the clockers of his name and the distance he was to train)," said Taylor, who approached Cruguet aboard the horse as the pair exited the racetrack. "I asked him and he told me that the horse's name was 'Seattle Sue.'"

"Jean's a (native) Frenchman. He was difficult to understand back then. He's even difficult to understand now," said Turner.

Seattle Slew's fastest workout prior to his first race was instead credited to Seattle Sue. By the time the horse had been properly identified on the work tab, he had begun to work much slower.

Seattle Slew never started that summer at Saratoga. He'd banged a hock kicking inside his stall, while being feisty and feeling good. So his debut was delayed until the racing scene shifted back to Belmont Park.

On September 20th, 1976, Seattle Slew entered the starting gate in a 6-furlong maiden special weight at Belmont. He opened up on the tote-board at 5-2. It was a lot of action considering, that at the time, Billy Turner was a lower-profile trainer.

Mike Kennedy was behind the betting windows. His friends alongside of him in the mutual bay began questioning him about why his horse was taking so much money. Kennedy asserts that he was so unnerved by the attention and the low odds that he never bet a dime on Seattle Slew, despite coming to work with stuffed pockets that day.

"When you have a horse who is that good, believe me, the clockers don't miss him," said Turner, concerning the odds.

Seattle Slew won for fun that afternoon beneath Jean Cruguet. He posted an easy 5-length score in 1:10 1/5, returning $7.20 to win.

"Later on (that year) Maple's wife had him fire his agent," said Billy Turner, who conditioned the colt to become 2-year-old champion male and then 3-year-old Horse of the Year.

As for Seattle Slew's short-lived but seemingly well-timed misidentification as Seattle Sue, "Well, we didn't get the papers on that horse until right before he was entered (to race). But I suppose that some of those other clockers were interested in cashing a bet," said Taylor, with a rather wry smile that the past 39 years have not diminished.