In the very 1st race of the 1986 Breeders Cup at Santa Anita Park was the Juvenile…which is a race for 2 year olds that is kinda like a “debutant coming out party”….and in a race that featured Capote at 2 – 1 betting odds with Gulch at 3 – 1 and Demons Begone at 4 – 1….then there was a colt named Alysheba at 35 – 1….who actually placed Show (3rd) in this very 1st race of the 1986 Breeders Cup….and would go on one year later to race himself to the history books of horseracing..
Alysheba (March 3, 1984 – March 27, 2009) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won two legs of the Triple Crown in 1987….who was also a successful sire after having produced 11 stakes winners. A bay colt, Alysheba was sired by Alydar….who challenged Affirmed in all three Triple Crown races by coming in 2nd….while being out of the mare Bel Sheba, by Lt. Stevens. He was bred by Preston Madden at Hamburg Place Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and was sold as a yearling to Dorothy and Pam Scharbauer for $500,000.
Trained by Jack Van Berg, Alysheba had a modest two-year-old season in 1986 by winning only a maiden race….along with finishing 3rd in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, as seen in this video below….while this colt also lost the Hollywood Futurity in a photo finish. As a three-year-old, he underperformed in his preparatory races for the Kentucky Derby until it was discovered that he had an entrapped epiglottis. Surgery was successful, and he was entered in the Derby despite having only a maiden victory.
So, this video herewith gives the racing fan a great glimpse of a future super horse of the highest order….and so much more….as the NBC broadcast team led by Dick Enberg, Jay Randolph, Harvey Peck, Don Criqui, Chris McCarron, Tom Hammond and Sharon Smith ….with interrviews with actor John Forsythe, formerr San Diego Chargers owner Gene Klein and horse trainer D. Wayne Lucas….provide a wonderful view of a outstanding line-up of 9 races at the 1986 Breeders Cup.
