Forward Pass (horse)
Encyclopedia
Forward Pass was an American
Thoroughbred
Champion
racehorse
who is the only horse in the history of the Kentucky Derby
to have been declared the winner as the result of a disqualification.
Owned and bred by Calumet Farm
, the colt was trained
by Henry Forrest
. Racing at age three, he won several graded stakes race
s including three very important U.S. Triple Crown
prep races: the Everglades Stakes
, the Florida Derby
and the Blue Grass Stakes
. The betting
favorite going into the 1968 Kentucky Derby, Forward Pass finished second but winner Dancer's Image
was disqualified to last place after traces of phenylbutazone
were discovered in the mandatory post-race urinalysis
. As a result, Forward Pass was declared the winner. The controversy over the first (and still the only) disqualification of a Derby winner filled the sporting news of every media outlet in North America
and was the cover story for Sports Illustrated
magazine who referred to it as the sports story of the year. It was revealed that Dancer's Image had been plagued by sore ankles and on the Sunday prior to the Kentucky Derby his handlers had a veterinarian
give the horse a phenylbutazone
tablet, a pain killer commonly used to relieve inflammation of the joints which was legal at many race tracks in the United States but not at Churchill Downs
. However, it was still a legitimate practice as the medication would dissipate from the horse's system during the six days before the Derby. When the horse's post-Derby urinalysis revealed the phenylbutazone, his shocked owner and handlers believed someone else may have been motivated to give the colt another dose of the drug and they filed an appeal of the disqualification. The Kentucky State Racing Commission examined the matter and ordered distribution of the purse with first money to Forward Pass. Their decision was upheld in April 1972, by Kentucky's highest court in Kentucky State Racing Commission v. Fuller, 481 S.W.2d 298 (Ky, 1972). In a subsequent decision, the Commission ordered that Forward Pass be considered the winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby and that his owners were to receive the Derby's gold cup.
Any doubt about the ability of Forward Pass ended with his six length victory in the much anticipated rematch with Dancer's Image in the Preakness Stakes
. As the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown approached, the Derby controversy raged on. A victory by Forward Pass in the Belmont Stakes
would make him the first Triple Crown winner in twenty years and many fans, experts, and racing commentators felt he would be an illegitimate champion. In the Belmont, Forward Pass finished second by 1½ lengths to Greentree Stable's
colt, Stage Door Johnny
, a horse who had not raced in the Derby or the Preakness but who had been specifically bred and conditioned for racing at longer distances.
Despite his outstanding performances in 1968, only one of three polls voted Forward Pass Champion 3-Yr-Old Male
honors. The other two organizations voted for Stage Door Johnny. Retired at the end of the 1968 racing season to Calumet Farm, Forward Pass was sent to stand at stud at a breeding farm in Japan
. He died there in 1980.
Even today, controversy and speculation still surrounds the 1968 Kentucky Derby and The New York Times
http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa060303a.htm calls the ruling the "most controversial decision in all of Triple Crown racing." The use of phenylbutazone was subsequently approved by Churchill Downs in recognition of medical research that showed it does not enhance a horse's performance.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
Champion
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
who is the only horse in the history of the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
to have been declared the winner as the result of a disqualification.
Owned and bred by Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...
, the colt was trained
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
by Henry Forrest
Henry Forrest
Henry Forrest was an American Hall of Fame trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who twice won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes....
. Racing at age three, he won several graded stakes race
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
s including three very important U.S. Triple Crown
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...
prep races: the Everglades Stakes
Everglades Stakes
The Everglades Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Hialeah Park in Hialeah, Florida. For three-year-old horses, the 1 1/8 mile race was run on dirt until 1994 when it was converted to a race on turf...
, the Florida Derby
Florida Derby
The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt...
and the Blue Grass Stakes
Blue Grass Stakes
The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, currently sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is an American Grade 1 horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in mid April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky....
. The betting
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
favorite going into the 1968 Kentucky Derby, Forward Pass finished second but winner Dancer's Image
Dancer's Image
Dancer's Image was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the only winner in the history of the Kentucky Derby to have been disqualified. Owned and bred by businessman Peter Fuller, the son of former Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller, the colt was trained by Lou Cavalaris, Jr...
was disqualified to last place after traces of phenylbutazone
Phenylbutazone
Phenylbutazone, often referred to as bute, is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for the short-term treatment of pain and fever in animals. In the United States, it is no longer approved for human use.-In humans:...
were discovered in the mandatory post-race urinalysis
Urinalysis
A urinalysis , also known as Routine and Microscopy , is an array of tests performed on urine, and one of the most common methods of medical diagnosis...
. As a result, Forward Pass was declared the winner. The controversy over the first (and still the only) disqualification of a Derby winner filled the sporting news of every media outlet in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and was the cover story for Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
magazine who referred to it as the sports story of the year. It was revealed that Dancer's Image had been plagued by sore ankles and on the Sunday prior to the Kentucky Derby his handlers had a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
give the horse a phenylbutazone
Phenylbutazone
Phenylbutazone, often referred to as bute, is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for the short-term treatment of pain and fever in animals. In the United States, it is no longer approved for human use.-In humans:...
tablet, a pain killer commonly used to relieve inflammation of the joints which was legal at many race tracks in the United States but not at Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...
. However, it was still a legitimate practice as the medication would dissipate from the horse's system during the six days before the Derby. When the horse's post-Derby urinalysis revealed the phenylbutazone, his shocked owner and handlers believed someone else may have been motivated to give the colt another dose of the drug and they filed an appeal of the disqualification. The Kentucky State Racing Commission examined the matter and ordered distribution of the purse with first money to Forward Pass. Their decision was upheld in April 1972, by Kentucky's highest court in Kentucky State Racing Commission v. Fuller, 481 S.W.2d 298 (Ky, 1972). In a subsequent decision, the Commission ordered that Forward Pass be considered the winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby and that his owners were to receive the Derby's gold cup.
Any doubt about the ability of Forward Pass ended with his six length victory in the much anticipated rematch with Dancer's Image in the Preakness Stakes
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
. As the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown approached, the Derby controversy raged on. A victory by Forward Pass in the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
would make him the first Triple Crown winner in twenty years and many fans, experts, and racing commentators felt he would be an illegitimate champion. In the Belmont, Forward Pass finished second by 1½ lengths to Greentree Stable's
Greentree Stable
Greentree Stable, in Red Bank, New Jersey, was a major American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm established in 1914 by Payne Whitney of the Whitney family of New York City. Payne Whitney operated a horse farm and stable at Saratoga Springs, New York with his brother Harry Payne...
colt, Stage Door Johnny
Stage Door Johnny
Stage Door Johnny was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his win in the third leg of the 1968 U.S. Triple Crown series, the Belmont Stakes. -Bred for racing a distance:...
, a horse who had not raced in the Derby or the Preakness but who had been specifically bred and conditioned for racing at longer distances.
Despite his outstanding performances in 1968, only one of three polls voted Forward Pass Champion 3-Yr-Old Male
Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Male Horse
The American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971....
honors. The other two organizations voted for Stage Door Johnny. Retired at the end of the 1968 racing season to Calumet Farm, Forward Pass was sent to stand at stud at a breeding farm in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He died there in 1980.
Even today, controversy and speculation still surrounds the 1968 Kentucky Derby and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa060303a.htm calls the ruling the "most controversial decision in all of Triple Crown racing." The use of phenylbutazone was subsequently approved by Churchill Downs in recognition of medical research that showed it does not enhance a horse's performance.