Welcome back to Horse Madness II, the quest for racing’s greatest Cinderella. Ironically, the bracket of upsets has been dominated by chalk, with all favorites advancing to the Elite 8. Some great matchups ahead, ripe with opportunities for upsets, so stayed tuned…
Today’s matchup features one of the most celebrated “Upsets” of all time and a Triple Crown spoiler and shocker at Belmont. The story of Upset’s victory over the immortal Man o’ War has evolved overtime to be mentioned as one of sports’ greatest upsets. A tall task for Sarava in this matchup, but he already defied odds once. Here’s the tale of the tape:
Upset
An obvious inclusion in this bracket, Upset famously is the one horse to beat champion racehorse and stallion Man o’ War. Although not the real source of the term, Upset, owned by the legendary Saratoga Whitney family, embodied the common meaning of his name in 1919. In the Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, the already proven 2yo colt Man o’ War was beat less than a length by Upset; a horse he beat in their next six meetings. Carrying 15 lbs less than Man o’ War, Upset was dismissed by the betting public. In a line-up start, Man o’ War is said to have not been facing forward for the start, and spotted Upset 8 lengths. With Man o’ War well off the pace, Upset rated just off the pace set by second choice Golden Broom, and took the lead in the stretch, never looking back. Man o’ War passed all nearly every horse in the field, as the trip notes read “responding gamely to punishment”, to come within a length of Upset. But it was Upset who made the wire first, in stakes record time that stood for 25 years. A classic racing Cinderella, Upset helped to establish Saratoga Race Course as the Graveyard of Favorites. Man o’ War never lost another race and is still considered one of, if not the best race horse of all time. He also went on to be named champion sire in North America, siring Triple Crown Winner War Admiral.
Link to Race Chart from DRF (See Number 2 in article)
Sarava
Sarava was a $250,000 yearling, a son of inaugural Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Wild Again and out of a Deputy Minister mare. He began his racing career in England, but flamed out there and returned stateside to break his maiden in November 2001. He then came in second in three consecutive outings before finding the winners’ circle again at Pimlico in the Sir Barton Stakes. The connections took that win and jumped right into the deep end of the pool, entering the Belmont Stakes against War Emblem, who was threatening to be the first Triple Crown winner in 23 years. War Emblem did not particularly scare anyone away, however, as 11 horses made the gate, including Medaglia d’Oro and Perfect Drift. Of those horses, Sarava actually was not the longest shot on the board – Artax Too was 71/1 – but those two were by far the outsiders as far as the betting public was concerned. The rest of the field was between 3/2 (War Emblem) and 25/1. But weird things happen over a mile and a half – especially when the heavy favorite stumbles badly at the start. The call of the race was also quintessential Durkin, building to the last quarter mile (War Emblem is toiling!) and culminating with a surprised exclamation of Sarava! at the line, even though Sarava took over from Medaglia d’Oro with a furlong to go, and ground him down to the finish. Incidentally, Artax Too ran to his 71/1 odds, coming in dead last. Sarava did not run again as a three year old, and ran just once at four, coming in 6th in an optional claiming contest. He had a decently long campaign as a five year old, but it was clear that his best day was that warm day in June 2002 in Jamaica, Queens – he would never win again.
