Spectacular Bid: Racing's Horse of Steel (Thoroughbred Legends) [Hardcover]

Timothy T Capps (Author)

Book Description

Series: Thoroughbred Legends | Publication Date: June 6, 2001

Called the greatest horse ever to look through a bridle, Spectacular Bid achieved what few racehorses ever do--perfection--when he went undefeated in nine races at the age of four.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Capps has been involved in nearly every aspect of the Thoroughbred industry. He has served as a editor of The Thoroughbred Record; as an executive with Matchmaker, a company that sold stallion seasons and shares; and as a vice president at Pimlico and Laural Park in Maryland. He now heads the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and also is editor and publisher of MidAtlatic Thoroughbred.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 153 pages
• Publisher: Eclipse Press; 1 edition (June 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581500572
• ISBN-13: 978-1581500578
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,816,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, August 31, 2001

By 

Carol Myers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spectacular Bid: Racing's Horse of Steel (Thoroughbred Legends) (Hardcover)

Capps' tale of "the greatest horse to ever look through a bridle" provides the causal reader of horse yarns a page-turning look at the world throughbred breeding and racing. Each chapter draws the reader into the short but incredibly exciting career of an "almost" Triple Crown winner. Despite knowing the ultimate outcome of the Belmont Stakes of 1979 Capps takes the reader to the track and narrates the run of June 9 as if there may indeed be the possiblity that Spectacular Bid will prevail. Even the chapters dealing with races after that disappointment are compelling and give the reader the opportunity to further enjoy the experience of that horse's incredible accomplishments.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it highly.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, May 11, 2003

By 

Alan Simon (Northeastern Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spectacular Bid: Racing's Horse of Steel (Thoroughbred Legends) (Hardcover)

I already knew a lot of the Spectacular Bid story because he (Bid) is the sire of one of our horses, and we had done significant research into "Dad's" background, history, etc. I wound up getting this book as a premium for renewing our Blood Horse magazine subscription, and wasn't disappointed. The author does a very good job telling all sides of Spectacular Bid's story, including the loss at Belmont. But beyond that - and that's where most people's knowledge of Spectacular Bid ends - the author does a good job covering the many races that followed that solidified the horse's legacy as one of the all-time greats.

I would imagine that with the popularity of the book about Seabiscuit and the upcoming movie, interest in great horses from the past may be on the upswing. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about one of the true racing greats. Spectacular Bid is often overshadowed by Seattle Slew and Affirmed because of not winning the Triple Crown, but the writer does a good job of letting the reader know how good he really was.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good-bye Bid, June 29, 2003

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spectacular Bid: Racing's Horse of Steel (Thoroughbred Legends) (Hardcover)

The recent death of Spectacular Bid (06/09/2003) marks the end of a wondrous decade of Thoroughbred racing that featured the likes of Secretariat, Ruffian, Forego, Affirmed, Seattle Slew, and of course, the Bid himself. He outlasted all of his great compatriots from the 1970s and was, according to his trainer Buddy Delp, "the greatest horse ever to look through a bridle." You don't have to agree with Mr. Delp to enjoy this book since Bid was also ranked the tenth greatest American Thoroughbred of the Twentieth Century by "The Blood Horse" magazine. Out of his compatriots, only Secretariat (second), Forego (eighth), and Seattle Slew (ninth) were placed ahead of this great, gray race horse. And we could argue all day about whether Affirmed (twelfth) should have been placed ahead of him, too.

Author Timothy T. Capps has served as an executive with Matchmaker, a company that sold stallion seasons and shares, and his book reveals a bias (more so than others in this Thoroughbred Legends series) toward the breeding side of the Thoroughbred business. This emphasis is a bit peculiar in Spectacular Bid's case since this champion on the track was not considered a great success in the breeding shed. He started out strongly, siring twenty-eight stakes winners from his first four crops when his book included some of the nation's finest broodmares. Then his yearling prices and stud fee began their long decline. Bid offspring took a relatively long time to develop and that was the kiss of death as far as the commercial breeders were concerned. They were (and are) looking for brilliant two-year-olds and Classics contenders.

Spectacular Bid also covered sport mares his last several years. He closed out his career standing for $3,500 in New York and covered ten mares this year.

His glory days were on the track, and his racing career is my favorite part of this book. He won 26 out of 30 races and was a champion all three years that he raced. He was held in such high esteem by the betting public that he went off at 1-20 eight times during his career and 1-10 five times.

Bid was the greatest of the 'almost' Triple Crown winners, and Capps handles Delp's story about the safety pin on Belmont Day with great tact. A retired trainer once told me that nobody on the backside believed there really was a safety pin. They reckoned that if Bid had been properly trained up to the Belmont (a too-fast work on the Monday before the Belmont saw "a fatigued horse going back to the barn") and if he had gotten a decent ride during the race itself--well, we would have seen three Triple Crown winners in a row, instead of two.

This book pays fitting tribute to the great son of Bold Bidder and Spectacular, most especially in the author's chapter on Bid's brilliant undefeated, weight-carrying, recording-setting four-year-old season.

NOTE: The oldest living winner of a Triple Crown race is now Coastal (27), the colt who defeated Spectacular Bid in the Belmont.