Derby VS Twin Spires - '71-to-'80

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Foolish Pleasure was a super talented horse through the TC races ( he was second, to Master Derby and Avatar respectively ) in both the Preakness and Belmont. He never returned to that form, even losing to Stonewalk at 1:9 at Aqueduct late in the year, when he returned in the Governor later that year on Labor Day. It's pretty amazing, considering his early accomplishments, that any horse ( in this case the tremendous Wajima ) was able to wrestle 3YO of the Year from him.

His win over Forego, and Lord Rebeau, in the 1976 Suburban is worth looking up on Youtube. It was a great three horse battle, but Foolish Pleasure greatly benefited from being the lone speed, and Forego was forced to join the battle on the backstretch. There is a great photo of that finish on the wall outside our studio on the main floor of the Aqueduct Clubhouse.

Foolish Pleasure's Rodney Dangerfield act is further confirmed by the call from his Derby win, when Chic Anderson mistakenly called Prince Thou Art ( the Darby Dan runner that, as of then, was the only horse to defeat him ) the winner until deep stretch.

I just watched that race.

Foolish Pleasure and Honest Pleasure look like precocious machines to me coming out of the Derby ... it just didn't get better there-after.