On the Fourth of July in 1972, a chestnut son of Bold Ruler out of the Princequillo mare Somethingroyal made his debut. Starting from post two, he lost all chance at the start as Quebec in post four ducked into Stike The Line breaking from post three, slamming the chestnut into Big Burn who was on the rail in post one. The errant runner further crossed the path of his inside rivals forcing the colt to be checked back. The son of Bold Ruler would recover and finish a well earned fourth that day. The official race chart describe his run as “impeded after the start, lacked room between horses racing into the turn, ducked to the inside after through into the stretch and finished full of run along the rail.”
Twenty six years later on the Fourth of July in 2008, a bay son of Holy Bull out of the Dazzling Falls mare Perfect Moment named Perfect Bull would make his debut. Breaking from post eight, the colt lost all chance at the start as Big Win in post nine ducked in at the break slamming him into the path of the seven and six to his inside as Big Win further crossed in front of Perfect Bull forcing the colt to be checked. After getting his legs back under him, Perfect Bull chased after the leaders only to have another encounter with Big Win as that colt drifted out forcing the jockey to check Perfect Bull and duck to the inside. With all that trouble in his first race, Perfect Bull showed his desire to compete as he continued to pass rivals including his nemesis down the stretch, finishing fifth. The official race describes his run as “bumped by Big Win and forced into the path of Big Burger and Heads Up Penny at the start, made some progress to regain position in the lane while altering his course in the final furlong.”
For what its worth, the jockey was very pleased with the effort and expects Perfect Bull to win in his next start. The trainer echoed that sentiment and is already pointing the colt to the stakes race in August. Big talk for a horse finishing fifth, yet the results at the wire don’t always tell you what happened between there and the gate.
By the way, that chestnut son of Bold Ruler would go on to be known as ‘Big Red’. The history books would record his name as Secretariat.