Remembering Three Memorable Walkovers

Spectacular Bid's walkover in the Woodward Stakes is one of the better known cases of a walkover. (Photo by HorsePhotos)
In the early days of horse racing, the way a race was put together was the owners essentially wagered with each other over whose horse would win. Most races were, naturally, match races — two horses racing head to head, winner take all. The owners put up the money.
Racing evolved over time so that races could accommodate bigger fields, horses were handicapped with weight assignments, they competed at different distances, etc. One thing that remained for a long time was that the money was winner take all. This caused a lot of short fields and match races, and, occasionally, a walkover.
A walkover is a race with one entry. The horse is assured the purse, but still must finish the race. Since 1913, there have been 35 walkovers in American Thoroughbred horseracing, including eight of Eclipse’s 18 victories. A few of the walkovers were even pretty high profile. Three of them stand out.
1948 Pimlico Special
When Citation entered the Pimilico Special in 1948, he was coming off of 12 straight victories and had won 24 of his 26 career starts.
Despite the fact that no other owner wanted to match their horse against Citation that October, Pimlico still sold out the seats in the grandstand for the event. Citation gave them a show, getting saddled in the paddock and holding a post parade before the enthusiastic crowd.
Citation’s owner, Warren Wright, donated the $10,000 purse to the Damon Runyon Memorial Cancer Fund.
CITATION WITH EDDIE ARCARO UP

Photo by Horsephotos
1980 Woodward Stakes
Spectacular Bid just missed becoming the fourth Triple Crown winner in a row in 1979 when he ran third in the Belmont Stakes. His 4-year-old season was nothing short of spectacular, though.
In 1980, Spectacular Bid won all eight of his starts heading in to the Woodward Stakes, and had set records at four different racetracks. Despite some excitement that he would run a match race in the Woodward at Belmont against an up-and-comer named Winter’s Tale, it wasn’t to be. Winter’s Tale didn’t enter because of an injury, leaving Spectacular Bid as the sole entrant in what would be the first walkover in 31 years.
Though nobody knew at the time, the race would be Spectacular Bid’s last. He was retired after sustaining an injury while preparing to run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
THE BID’S WALKOVER

1997 Bayakoa Handicap
D Wayne Lukas’s star filly Sharp Cat was the only horse of the eight nominated for the 1997 Bayakoa at Hollywood Park who had officially been entered as of the week of the race. That put the stakes in danger of being canceled, which would have been bad for the Bayakoa.
LUKAS WAS INVOLVED IN THE FIRST EVER WALKOVER IN CALIFORNIA

Photo by Horsephotos
Canceling a graded stakes race can jeopardize its graded status. So Hollywood Park must have convinced trainer Ron McAnally to enter a pair of his nominated fillies. The Friday before the race he entered Toda Una Dama and Alzora, only to scratch them on the morning of the race on Dec. 7. Officially, McAnally said he was worried that the muddy track could injure the horses and he’d rather wait for a nicer day.
It made no difference to Lukas and Sharp Cat. The horse trotted around the track in what was essentially a $60,000 workout, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.35. It was the first walkover since Spectacular Bid’s Woodward and the first ever in the state of California.