Zipse: Recalling Victory Gallop’s Stephen Foster triumph

Before Birdstone, there was Victory Gallop.

The best race of early summer, this year’s Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs promises to be another strong renewal. Saturday’s edition will be the 25th anniversary of Victory Gallop’s victory in perhaps the greatest performance in the race’s history.

With Northern Dancer, Mr. Prospector, Halo and Hoist the Flag all prominently in his bloodlines, the Canadian-bred was born to run, although it might not have looked that way when the bay colt made his debut at Delaware Park in the summer of 1997. Finishing fifth in that 5-furlong maiden race, it would remain the only poor race of his career.

As we soon learned, Victory Gallop needed that first race for trainer Mary Eppler. The son of the hickory runner Cryptoclearance also needed more distance. With a romping win 13 days later at Laurel Park, the career of a champion was off and running.

Two stakes victories at Colonial Park were followed by a late-running second-place finish in a sloppy edition of the Laurel Futurity to close out his juvenile season. A winner of three of five starts at 2, he was privately purchased and transferred to the barn of Elliot Walden.

Beginning his sophomore campaign in Arkansas, Victory Gallop won the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby to start his season. Still, he was somewhat ignored in the 1998 Kentucky Derby, being let go at odds of 14-1.

That proved to be a mistake as he flew down the Churchill Downs stretch under rider Alex Solis to finish second by a diminishing half-length to Real Quiet.

Off the performance, he was the Preakness favorite, but he lacked the same late punch at Pimlico and once again played second fiddle to the Derby winner.

With the racing community looking squarely at the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed 20 years earlier, Real Quiet did everything asked of him in the final leg. Opening a big lead as the Belmont Stakes field turned for home, he briefly looked home free.

There was only one problem for all those hoping to see the first Triple Crown champion in two decades, and his name was Victory Gallop.

Gaining serious momentum on the expansive far turn under Gary Stevens, the late-running colt motored down the lane and not even interference by Real Quiet could deny him a narrow win in the final strides of the Belmont Stakes.

Victory Gallop always will be remembered for spoiling the Triple Crown bid of Real Quiet with that thrilling late rally down the Belmont Park stretch, but he was much more than that.

Having finished first or second in all three legs of the series, he continued to run well in his final three races of his second season, but each time his strong stretch kick fell just a bit short in losing the Haskell, Travers and Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Real Quiet was a deserving champion, but no 3-year-old was as consistent from start to finish in 1998 as Victory Gallop.

His 4-year-old campaign began with an easy allowance win at Gulfstream Park in preparation for a trip overseas for the $5 million Dubai World Cup. The Prestonwood Farms runner ran well but could manage only third place in the rich race.

He had run well in each graded-stakes defeat since his Belmont win but just couldn’t quite get to the wire first. That would all change in the Stephen Foster.

In his first start since Dubai, and his third as an older horse, everything came together for the son of Cryptoclearance. Sent off as a 13-10 favorite in a field of seven, Victory Gallop demonstrated what he had become as a mature 4-year-old with a monster performance at Churchill Downs.

Reserved in last by rider Jerry Bailey, Victory Gallop began to unwind heading into the far turn. Like a shot, his impressive turn of foot carried him from last to first, and the race was decided.

Under hand urging, Victory Gallop hit the wire of the 1999 Stephen Foster an easy five-length winner. Final time for the 1 1/8-miles was a track record of 1:47.28, which still stands 25 years later.

Unfortunately, he would run only one more time after his career best performance. While defeating Behrens by a nose in a thrilling edition of the Whitney at Saratoga, Victory Gallop suffered a suspensory injury and was retired to stud.

Named the champion older male of 1998, Victory Gallop ended his career with a record of 17: 9-5-1 and earnings of just over $3.5 million. Bred in Canada, he was inducted into that country’s national Hall of Fame in 2010.

When last reported, Victory Gallop was thriving as Turkey’s all-time leading sire after being exported there in 2008.

On the 25th anniversary of his powerhouse win in the Stephen Foster, I remember Victory Gallop for a wonderful racing career. He should be remembered for much more than spoiling Real Quiet’s Triple Crown bid.