Hawkster

[Indian Charlie]

Despite his grade 1 win as a 2yo on dirt, Hawkster was a much tougher horse on turf. Also, once they figured out he needed to be let loose on the lead, he became a really top runner.

As for the track record, the turf was real fast those days.

I did see him break his maiden too. I think he won first time out on dirt in a very short race.

[RolloTomasi]

Hawkster is the only horse in history to run 5th in all 3 Triple Crown races. Mane Minister trumped him a couple of years later by running 3rd in all 3. Of course, Alydar is the standard.

Like many offspring of Silver Hawk, he was a completely different horse on turf. Basically a one-run closer on the main track, he was practically a run-off frontrunner on the turf.

Unfortunately, he was not BC nominated, else he would have been an interesting rival to Easy Goer in the '88 BC Juvenile coming off a runaway win in the Norfolk at Oak Tree. In '89, he was riding a 4-race win streak on the turf, including the Del Mar Derby, Secretariat, and Oak Tree Invitational, going into November. Considering the unheralded Caltech was favored, and first time turfer Prized ended up winning, Hawkster would have probably been a top choice in the Turf that year. Instead he went to the Japan Cup and ran a decent 5th.