There are horses who become footnotes in racing history due to their ties to notorious or tragic events.
Upset is an aptly named trivia answer for handing Man o’ War his only loss under controversial circumstances, while Onion is a punch line for his stunning Whitney win over Secretariat. Bayakoa’s second Breeders’ Cup Distaff win is not lingered upon due to the tragedy playing out in the background. Same goes for Bernardini’s Preakness Stakes, and Forward Pass is almost an afterthought amid the multi-year saga of Dancer’s Image’s medication violation in the 1968 Kentucky Derby, a mystery to this day.
Perhaps the brightest of the dark stars is Foolish Pleasure, forever linked to the immortal filly Ruffian, who sustained fatal injuries in their match race at Belmont Park. But Foolish Pleasure shone in his own right as a two-time Eclipse Award champion and Hall of Famer who won an eventful Kentucky Derby 50 years ago this week.
Foolish Pleasure, a Florida-bred son of What a Pleasure, was described as a temperamental horse who often took multiple repetitions to master a skill. However, trainer LeRoy Jolley took John Greer’s colt in hand, and in 1974, he won all seven starts as a juvenile. His wins included the Sapling Stakes, a division of the Hopeful Stakes, and the Champagne Stakes – all three Grade 1 races – as he secured his first divisional title.
Foolish Pleasure added another Grade 1 the following winter in the Flamingo Stakes. However, he suffered his first loss when third in the Florida Derby behind Prince Thou Art. Afterward, it was discovered that he had torn the frogs, the shock-absorbing part of the hoof, in both front feet. On a compressed schedule, Jolley prepared the colt for the Grade 1 Wood Memorial, and he ran down the pacesetting Bombay Duck.
Foolish Pleasure had safely earned his way into the 1975 Kentucky Derby, which was to be the first limited to 20 entrants, with earnings to determine field preference in the event of an overflow. This system was instituted after the centennial Derby, the year prior, was a roughly run affair with 23 starters. But as it turned out, the new system didn’t need to be tested, as “only” 15 horses lined up, still requiring the use of an auxiliary starting gate before a crowd of 113,324, with a purse of $262,100 on the line. Foolish Pleasure was favored, with the Darby Dan Farm entry of Prince Thou Art and Sylvan Place the second choice.
Regular jockey Jacinto Vasquez, riding his second Derby but first in more than a decade, took hold of Foolish Pleasure early, not hurrying him along as the pace developed. Bombay Duck again showed the way early, sprinting through a sharp opening quarter in 22 seconds flat and the half in 45 2/5 seconds. He was several lengths clear of Santa Anita Derby winner Avatar down the backstretch when, according to his jockey Ronald Aristone, someone in the infield threw a Frisbee over his head.
“He shied at it,” Aristone told Sports Illustrated. “Then I saw a guy cock back. He threw a beer can at me and hit the horse on the hipbone. Bombay Duck tried to bolt to the outside fence and threw in the towel.”
With Bombay Duck distracted, Avatar and Diabolo inherited the lead positions and began a sustained battle around the turn. Meanwhile, Foolish Pleasure was making up ground inside while not being seriously asked. As they turned for home, Vasquez lined his mount up for a run outside the top pair.
“I hit him five or six times around the quarter pole, and then I said to him, ‘Let’s go from here and see what we can do,’ and he responded very well,” Vasquez told the New York Times.
Foolish Pleasure drew up alongside Avatar and Diabolo as that pair bumped several times near the eighth pole. As Foolish Pleasure put his head in front, legendary announcer Chic Anderson called the wrong horse.
“Prince Thou Art, on the outside, has the lead a head,” Anderson called, prompting Vasquez to look over his shoulder, thinking the other colt must be threatening on the outside. But no one was close to the top three. Anderson changed his final call just before the wire, as Foolish Pleasure crossed 1 3/4 lengths in front, finishing the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.
Behind him, Avatar was second by 2 1/2 lengths. Diabolo pulled up bleeding from a cut on his left foreleg, but a stewards’ inquiry into the bumping mishap concluded that the incident had failed to alter the results, and the order stood. After Diabolo came Master Derby, Media, Prince Thou Art, Promised City, Bold Chapeau, Sylvan Place, Fashion Sale, Round Stake, Gatch, Honey Mark, Rushing Man, and the unfortunate Bombay Duck.
Two weeks later, Master Derby won the Preakness and three weeks after that Avatar took the Belmont, with Foolish Pleasure second in both races. An idea was floated by racing executives to match the winners of the three separate Triple Crown races in a special event, but it was felt by many that the best 3-year-old in the country was the undefeated filly Ruffian. A four-horse race was thus proposed, but Avatar and Master Derby’s connections demurred for various reasons, leaving Foolish Pleasure and Ruffian to their fateful match that July. Vasquez, who was the regular rider of both horses, chose Ruffian, and never did regain the mount on Foolish Pleasure, who was eventually voted the Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old male of 1975.
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Foolish Pleasure returned as an older horse the following year to notch additional Grade 1 wins in the Donn Handicap and Arlington Golden Invitational. He also scored a memorable triumph over Hall of Famer and three-time Horse of the Year Forego in the Grade 1 Suburban Handicap, although he was getting nine pounds from the great gelding. The colt retired at the end of that year with a record of 26-16-4-3 and earnings of more than $1.2 million.
Foolish Pleasure began stallion duty at Greentree Stud in Kentucky, had stints at Mint Lane Farm and Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, moved out to California and, finally, headed to his final home, Horseshoe Ranch in Wyoming. He was a successful sire on multiple surfaces, with his top runners including French 1000 Guineas winner and champion Baiser Vole, Canadian champion Bayfield, Santa Anita Derby winner Marfa, and Grade/Group 1 winners Filago, Kiri’s Clown, Prayers’n Promises, Sun Master, and Vin de France.
Foolish Pleasure died in 1994 and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.
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