"On the morning of the 1979 Belmont Stakes, the third jewel in horseracings Triple Crown, Spectacular Bid stepped on a safety pin in his stall, piercing his foot. He had won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in impressive fashion but finished third in the Belmont most likely due to his injury, losing his chance to become the eleventh thoroughbred to take the Triple Crown. However, that did not stop him from becoming one of horseracings greatest competitors. The battleship grey colt won 26 of 30 races during his career and was voted the tenth greatest Thoroughbred of the twentieth century according to Blood-Horse magazine. In Spectacular Bid: The Last Superhorse of the Twentieth Century, author Peter Lee not only charts the life of a horse who, in spite of his less than stellar pedigree, became one of racings immortals, but he also discusses the personalities and private lives of the people connected to the horse. Bought for only $37,000 during the fall Keeneland sales in 1977 by Harry, Teresa, and Tom Meyerhoff, the spotted colt by Bold Bidder and out of Spectacular became Spectacular Bid. "Heres your next champion," Meyerhoff said to trainer Bud Delp after the purchase. While Bid was born and raised in Kentucky, his owners, his trainer, and his jockey, Ron Franklin, were all from Maryland and considered "outsiders.

" The Meyerhoffs were often shunned from social events due to their lack of connections in the Thoroughbred industry. Delp, Bids gregarious trainer, later known as one of Maryland racings "Big Four," was brash, cocky, and distrustful of the Kentucky establishment. Franklin, a 19 year-old jockey from Dundalk, Maryland, had been riding horses for only three years. Fame, coupled with criticism of the way he rode, hit him hard-he became involved with drugs, lost the mount on Bid, and eventually had his jockeys license revoked. Lee examines the legacy of Spectacular Bid, ensuring his seminal contributions to Thoroughbred racing are not lost in the passage of time. Interviews with key players in Bids story along with contemporary newspaper accounts of the horses exploits, help Lee detail not only an exciting racing career of a memorable horse, but also gives readers a glimpse into the honest and not-so-glamorous lives of his owners, trainers, and jockeys"-- Provided by publisher.