Look Back at Lure, Devil His Due Dead-Heating in Gotham

In conjunction with Tom Hall's Throwback Thursday features in BloodHorse Daily, BloodHorse.com each Thursday will present corresponding race stories from the pages of the magazine. 

This week is a recap of the 1992 Gotham Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack won in a dead-heat by Lure and Devil His Due. Written by Jenny Kellner, the story carried the headline, “The Battle Ended in a Draw," and the subhead, “The Gotham dead heat between Lure and Devil His Due left their trainers disheartened.” It appeared in the April 11, 1992 issue.

By Jenny Kellner

The hammer-and-tongs battle that was the 40th Gotham Stakes (G2) might have left New Yorkers breathless with its fierce intensity. However, its dead-heat conclusion also left a pair of trainers with the realization that a tie is still very much like kissing one’s sister.

Neither Shug McGaughey, trainer of Lure, nor Allen Jerkens, who saddled longshot Devil His Due, seemed enthusiastic over the possibility of going to Louisville to compete in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I).

The morning after the Gotham, McGaughey stood in the chilly morning air at Belmont Park an reiterated that his plans for Lure were “pretty much one race at a time.” Even his next start was undecided, either in the 11/16-mile Lexington Stakes (gr. II) at Keeneland on April 21 or the 11/8-mile Wood Memorial (gr. I) Stakes three days earlier.

Asked about the Derby, McGaughey shook his head.

“Not unless something were to happen in one of the prep raes,” he said.

He did note, however, that the May 16 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) was a possibility for the speedy Lure (Danzig—Endear, by Alydar), which won an allowance at Aqueduct last month in his 1992 debut.

As for Jerkens, the path for Devil His Due (Devil’s Bag—Plenty O’Toole, by Raise a Cup) was more clearly defined. Although the trainer said he would have preferred to run the colt around two turns in the What a Pleasure Stakes (gr. III) at Calder the previous week, the dead-heat victory in the Gotham left him with almost no choice but to go on to the Wood.

“And if he does well there, you have to go to the Derby, and that’s too much in such a short period of time,” mused Jerkens.

Lure, which set a track record at Belmont his first time out last year, had retired for the year with sore shins after finishing sixth in the Champagne Stakes (gr. I). He spent the winter at Payson Park. Off his strong return with an allowance race victory on March 15, he was made the overwhelming 3-5 choice in the field of eight for the mile Gotham.

Devil His Due, meanwhile, had made only four career starts since Jan. 18, all at Gulfstream Park. He broke his maiden on Feb. 9, prevailed by a nose in a six-furlong allowance race three weeks later, then hung while finishing fourth to D. J. Cat in the Swale Stakes (gr. III).

Within the space of seconds after the gates sprang open for the Gotham, it was clear that nothing was going to go quite as anticipated. Aided by the brisk tailwind off Jamaica Bay, Nines Wild and Step Out Front led the compact first flight through an opening quarter of :22 1/5 in a wild sprint out of the gate. Then Lure and Devil His Due emerged on top to begin their duel.

Scudding along like a pair of sailboards in front of the wind, Lure and Devil His Due flew through a half-mile in a sensational :43 4/5, much to the consternation of McGaughey, who said he saw the time flash on the board and thought, “That’s it.”

To the contrary, as the pair hit the quarter pole in 1:08 1/5 and turned for home, neither would give an inch in battling each other, or the elements. The same wind that had aided them down the backstretch now turned hostile, blowing them about as they drilled toward the finish line, Devil His Due determined on the outside, Lure grim along the rail.

Fighting and clawing for the lead, Lure ducked in toward the rail to surrender the lead in midstretch, only to battle back a few jumps from the wire. Just before the finish line, they appeared to brush once more, which prompted Lure’s jockey, Mike Smith, to claim foul.

The claim of foul was disallowed, and an examination of the photo revealed a dead heat, the first in the history of the Gotham. Lure, owned by Claiborne Farm, and Devil His Due, owned by Lion Crest Stable, split the winner’s purse of $250,000. The favorite returned $2.40, while Devil His Due paid $5.60 for a $2 win bet. Time for the race was 1:35 3/5.

Completing the order of finish were Best Decorated, four lengths back, then Nines Wild, Western Miner, Federal Funds, Al Sabin, and Step Out Front.

Lure was the third winner of the day saddled by McGaughey, who also took a seven-furlong allowance race with Ogden Mills Phipps’ Foreign Aid and unveiled a promising 3-year-old in Mill House’s Furiously, an impressive 10 1/2-length winner of the seven-furlong first race in 1:22 3/5. All three of his winners are by Danzig, and all all three were ridden by Smith.