Popularity
Not since Silky Sullivan in 1958 had any horse received as much pre-Kentucky Derby publicity as Arazi; no horse had been hailed as such a sure-fire winner. Newspaper reporters and television crews flocked to Louisville's Standiford Field to meet Arazi's plane. In interviews, jockey Steve Cauthen rated the colt in the same class as Affirmed, on whom he had won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1978. Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who had ridden Arazi in his Breeders' Cup win and won the 1989 Derby aboard Sunday Silence said, "Arazi can do more (than Sunday Silence)." He added, "This race is over."
In the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby, press coverage of Arazi was extensive, and the racing world speculated as to whether the horse would remain in the United States in an attempt to win the Triple Crown or be shipped back to Europe to try to become the first Kentucky Derby champion to ever win England's Epsom Derby. The New York Times called the colt "mythical and almost mystical," and TIME magazine stated, "Arazi is fast winning a reputation as the second coming of Secretariat". Joe Hirsch, the respected founder and first president of the National Turf Writers Association and a multi-award-winning columnist with the New Jersey-based Daily Racing Form was quoted by TIME as saying, "He is such an extraordinary animal that he makes other great horses look like hacks."
Read more about this topic: Arazi (horse)
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