Charismatic: 1999 Triple Crown Bid in Memorial

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My sincerest condolences to the connections and fans of 1999 Horse of the Year, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, Charismatic. 1996 - 2017. Lettuce memorialize a great horse via recanting his quite memorable 1999 Triple Crown bid.

KENTUCKY DERBY

Outta the gate as a 31-1 long-shot under the late Mr. Chris Antley on the first Saturday of May in the 125th Run for the Roses -- Charismatic raced along with the mid-pack for the first three-quarters of a mile, then started closing rapidly, the gap on the leaders. The chestnut colt then rallied from five wide to take the lead over the field of 18 other horses in the final furlong -- winning by a neck over the hard-charging Menifee. The time for the steeped-in-history 1 1⁄4 miles was a slow 2:03.29. Cat Thief, a fellow D. Wayne Lukas trainee, finished third. 

PREAKNESS STAKES

Despite his Derby win, Charismatic was not the 124th Preakness favorite, posting instead 8-1 odds on the May 15th afternoon. Menifee was the 5-2 favorite. Though the odds differed some from the land of Mint Juleps, the win/place results differed less therein Black-Eyed Susan-drenched Pimlico. Charismatic prevailed by 1 1/2 lengths in a time of 1:55.20 for the  1 3⁄16 mile distance. Badge pulled show. 

BELMONT STAKES

Charismatic and Menifee in 1999 were being compared to Affirmed and Alydar in 1978. Three weeks after the Preakness came the 131st running of the Belmont Stakes on June 5. Charismatic was now and finally, the race favorite, bet heavily to complete the first Triple Crown victory in 21 years. Menifee was parimutuely the second pick at 7-2. Our seeming Champion took to the lead in the final furlong... however, broke down suddenly and lost the lead to eventual winner Lemon Drop Kid with a mere 1/8 mile to go, ultimately finishing third behind second-place Vision and Verse.

Immediately after the nigh tragic finish, Antley dismounted Charismatic. The quick-witted jock cradled the colt’s busted leg in his arms until emergency workers arrived on the sorry scene. There is no doubt this was a life-saving measure. The footage of a tearful Antley holding Charismatic was selected by racing fans as the 1999 National Thoroughbred Racing Association Moment of the Year.

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