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After a very successful racing career came an equally great legacy, with the colt siring 102 stakes winners.
©Associated Press
May 8, 2002
Seattle Slew always had a sense of timing. Winner of the 1977 Triple Crown and sire of more than 100 stakes winners, the big black stallion died Tuesday, 25 years to the day after his win in the Kentucky Derby.
Seattle Slew was the only living Triple Crown winner. For the first time since Sir Barton won the Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 1919, there is no living Triple Crown winner.
A big, gangly yearling who turned into a muscular colt, Seattle Slew died in his stall at age 28. He was buried an hour later, beneath a statue in a courtyard at Hill 'n' Dale, a 319-acre farm near Lexington, Ky.
Slew, as he was affectionately known, was the only horse to win the Triple Crown while undefeated. His three-year racing career produced 14 wins in 17 races and earnings of $1,208,726.
"He was the most complete thoroughbred the industry has seen," owner Mickey Taylor said. "He just kept raising the bar with every record he broke."
Bought for a bargain-basement $17,500 by Taylor, a former lumberman from Washington, and former partner Jim Hill, Slew sired 102 stakes winners. They include 1984 Kentucky Derby winner Swale, A.P. Indy, Capote and Slew o' Gold.
Battling arthritis, Slew had two spinal fusion operations the past two years, the most recent in March. He was moved from Three Chimneys in Midway, Ky., his home for nearly 17 years, to the quieter Hill 'n' Dale on April 1. Taylor said the change was made because Slew was too close to the breeding shed and it caused him to become agitated when mares arrived.
"When he arrived on the farm, it was like seeing the Grand Canyon in person after just seeing it in pictures -- very awe-inspiring," Hill 'n' Dale owner John Sikura said.
Taylor and his wife, Karen, were constantly with Slew the past two years, moving from their Montana home to Lexington to be with him after the first operation.
"He had the greatest heart. He was a fighter to the end," Karen Taylor said.
On Saturday, Derby day at Churchill Downs, Karen Taylor and Jean Cruguet, Slew's jockey, presented a trophy after the first race -- the Seattle Slew Tribute.
"It was a privilege to be on a horse like that," Cruguet said Tuesday. "On the biggest days, he won the biggest races. He had a good life. He did everything a horse could do."
Seattle Slew won his first six races and had never trailed heading to the Derby on May 7, 1977. Slew smacked the gate and hit another horse at the start. Slew regained his stride and went on to win by 13/4 lengths. In the Preakness, he was briefly second early, but won by 11/2 lengths, then led the Belmont start-to-finish and won by four.
The colt ended his racing career in style at age 4, beating Affirmed in the '78 Marlboro Cup and winning his final race, the Stuyvesant Handicap at Aqueduct.