Horse Racing: Forego, the American Thoroughbred racehorse
Sired by Forli out of Lady Golconda, Forego was foaled on the 30th of April in the year 1970. The thoroughbred racehorse was owned and bred by Mrs. Martha Farish Gerry’s Lazy F Ranch. The bay coloured racehorse was trained by four different trainers
over a span of a year. These four trainers included Sherrill W. Ward, Eddie Hayward and finally Frank Y. Whiteley Jr. and his son David A. Whiteley. In his athletic career, Forego was ridden by two main Hall of Fame jockeys, Bill Shoemaker and Heliodoro Gustines.
Forego started his athletic career at the age of three in the year 1973. He contended the Kentucky Derby, the first jewel of the Triple Crown, but unfortunately could not win the event. He finished the race behind the third place finisher Secretariat, in
a time of 1 minute and 59 2/5 seconds. The other two races contended and won by the champion in this racing season were the Roamer Handicap and the Discovery Handicap.
Out of the 57 races that the colt ran during his career, he managed to win 34 of these starts. Moreover, the Forego finished the events in the second place nine times, while he also has 7 third place finishes. Out of these victories, the gelding clinched
24 stakes events and 14 Grade I meets. At the time of his retirement, the thoroughbred had earned $ 1,938,957. Then Forego went on to participate in the races in which he gave brilliant performances and thus was also adorned with the Eclipse Award for Outstanding
Sprint Horse 1974. Forego also has the record of winning the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Male Horse for four years in a row (1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977). Yet again, he was once again voted for the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year for three consecutive
years (1974, 1975 and 1976).
The other major wins of this racing season include the Woodward Stakes, Brooklyn Handicap, the 2 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup. The racehorse carried more than 130 pounds in all the aforementioned races. He also went on to win the Gulfstream Handicap, Widener
Handicap and Carter Handicap. All these starts are considered to be the major wins of Forego’s athletic career.
The next racing season in the year 1975, Forego went on to win the Woodward Stakes, Brooklyn Handicap, Widener Handicap, Carter Handicap and the Suburban Handicap.
The most remarkable victory that has been recorded in Forego’s career was the one at the Belmont Park in the 1976 Marlboro Cup. The race was a memorable one in which Honest Pleasure and Forego were in fierce competition. That racing season, the other races
that were contended and won by the champion thoroughbred included the Brooklyn Handicap (1976), Metropolitan Handicap (1976) and the Nassau County Handicap (1976).
Also the American Horse of the Year 1976, Forego was then inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in the Saratoga Springs, New York in the year 1979. On the basis of Forego’s great performances throughout his athletic career, the racehorse
is ranked #8 in the list of the top 100 United States thoroughbred champions of the 20th century by the popular Blood Horse Magazine.
After his last race, the talented colt was retired and shipped to the Kentucky Horse Park in the year 1979. The horse continued to live at the Park until he died in the year 1997. Forego was 27 when he die due an injury in his left leg in a paddock accident
and thus he had to be euthanized.
Forego is has been one of the most celebrated racehorse in the American Horse Racing Industry. The Industry has named two races in the memory of the champion thoroughbred. Forego Stakes is run at Turfway Park, meanwhile Forego Handicap takes place at the
famous Saratoga Race Course, New York.
Tags: