Golden Act - 1979 Triple Crown

1979 Triple Crown

Golden Act was ridden by future U.S. and Canadian Hall of Fame jockey, Sandy Hawley. In the Kentucky Derby, they were up against a strong field that was led by the overwhelming favorite, Spectacular Bid, and which included the second betting choice, Flying Paster, and the well regarded General Assembly. Sent off at 19:1 odds, Golden Act finished a solid third behind General Assembly and winner Spectacular Bid.

At Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland for the second leg of the Triple Crown, jockey Hawley brought Golden Act from the back of the field to finish in second place to Spectacular Bid in the Preakness Stakes. In New York's Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, Golden Act used another strong stretch drive to overtake Spectacular Bid and finish second to upset winner, Coastal.

Golden Act went on to win 1979's Secretariat Stakes and Lawrence Realization Stakes, and in November's prestigious Canadian International Stakes on turf at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada, he defeated an international field that included Trillion, a multiple stakes winner from France. At age four, Golden Act returned to racing, with his best results coming in two Grade I races, the 1980 Turf Classic Invitational Stakes where he finished second, and the Man o' War Stakes where he ran third.

Retired to stud duty, Golden Act sired a number of winners, notably Silver Circus, a winner of the Grade I Hollywood Derby, and the successful steeplechase runner, Almost Golden.

Golden Act died at the age of twenty-four on May 8, 2000 at Cardiff Stud Farm in Creston, California.