1989 Belmont Stakes - Easy Goer : Full ABC Broadcast

Easy Goer finally lived up to his spectacular promise of early spring yesterday when he roared past Sunday Silence on the turn for home and won the 121st Belmont Stakes by eight lengths. In doing so, he prevented Sunday Silence from becoming racing's 12th Triple Crown winner. Earlier this year, Easy Goer looked like the next Secretariat, a colt of limitless potential who might set new standards of excellence. Then, after second-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, Easy Goer seemed likelier to emulate his father, Alydar, who in 1978 became the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races, losing each leg of the Triple Crown to Affirmed. But yesterday, there was talk of Secretariat again. Easy Goer's winning Belmont time of 2:26.01 under Pat Day over a fast but not unusually quick track was the second-fastest Belmont ever, behind only Secretariat's 1973 world-record clocking of 2:24. Easy Goer's performance ranks as one of the most impressive in the history of the sport. $1 Million Bonus Sunday Silence actually earned more in defeat than the winner's purse of $413,520, getting a $1 million Triple Crown bonus for the best overall record in the three races. But he would have earned $2.5 million more, and a certain place in the sport's Hall of Fame, with a victory. Instead, he might be considered only the second-best 3-year-old of this year unless he can beat Easy Goer again. Easy Goer, a chestnut-colored son of Alydar and Relaxing, bred and owned by Ogden Phipps and trained by Shug McGaughey, paid $5.20 for $2 to win as the second choice in the betting. The exacta with Sunday Silence paid $8 and the trifecta combining the first two finishers and Le Voyageur returned $152. Sunday Silence, who led for only a stride or two between calls on the stretch turn, was the 9-10 favorite of the crowd of 64,959, the largest at Belmont since Affirmed became racing's last Triple Crown winner in 1978. Le Voyageur, a Seattle Slew-Davona Dale colt who was sent here from France five days ago, led for a mile and hung in well to be third at odds of 29-1, just a length behind the beaten favorite. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/11/spo...