In the latest instalment of his acclaimed series, Jay Hovdey recalls the career of Juddmonte’s courageous west-coast turf star much beloved by his legendary trainer, the late, great Bobby Frankel
His head grew heavy and for a moment rested in my lap. His thickly bandaged right leg was angled out from beneath him.
There was a cameraman at the stall door shooting for a feature segment, but there wasn’t really anything to say, and anyway his trainer had already said it best as he walked away from the stall back down the shed row to his office, shaking his head. “Isn’t that the saddest thing you’ve ever seen?”
Exbourne was being brave. Again. He could have surrendered to the pain of post-surgery and gone ahead and foundered, or colicked, or taken one deep breath and said: “Screw this. I’m outta here.”
No one would have blamed him, least of all his trainer, Bobby Frankel. But Exbourne wasn’t like that. To that point he had lived a life full of brilliant displays of athletic prowess mixed with gaps of recovery for illness and repairs. Through it all he behaved as if everything was meant to be, a Thoroughbred who had reached the kind of zen consciousness unattainable in most living creatures.
‘This guy, he’s special’
“I feel terrible when any of my horses gets hurt,” Frankel said during Exbourne’s ordeal “But this guy, he’s special. We put in a lot of time with him.
“There’s some guilt, too,” Frankel added. “With all the problems he had, you feel bad sometimes about going on with him at all. But then, we never would have found out just how great he was, would we?”
How great? Gary Stevens, who rode Exbourne in seven of his 11 US starts, calls him “the best turf miler I ever rode”. To put such a statement in context, Stevens won the Breeders’ Cup Mile with War Chant and Da Hoss, as well as BC Mile seconds Fastness, a course-record-holder, and Palace Music, sire of two-time Horse of the Year Cigar.
“Exbourne taught me a lot, and he made me a better jockey,” Stevens said recently. “He was a beautiful animal with a cool attitude who did things his own way. I liked to think he had a little bit of G. Stevens in him, too, like he was ‘the dude’. When I compare horses who were the best at doing certain things, I always think of him.”
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Exbourne’s story began at Holly Ridge Farm in Kentucky on March 7, 1986. His coat would eventually lean toward a savory dark brown trimmed by three white anklets and a perfectly centered star. The name comes from a village in the county of Devon, in southwest England.
His sire Explodent was among the quickest three-year-olds of 1972, with victories in the Swift and Bay Shore Stakes in New York. Many of his best foals came during the second half of his 20-year stallion career, including millionaires Mi Selecto and Exchange, and major grass stakes winners Explosive Red and Commitisize.
Exbourne was the fifth foal and first colt out of Social Lesson, a 1974 foal who managed only three wins from 36 starts while toiling primarily as a claimer. Her sire Forum had his best day winning the 1969 Garden State Stakes, at the time the second-richest race in North America, while her female family traced to Delta Queen, dam of turf star Advocator.
Classic placed in Europe
As a broodmare, Social Lesson found her true calling, eventually throwing eight winners from 11 foals. Undoubtedly, it was Exbourne’s older half-sister Top Socialite, who won the 1984 Cherry Hinton Stakes and placed in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, that caught the eye of British bloodstock agent George Blackwell. When Social Lesson’s yearling son of Explodent was offered at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky sale in August 1987, Blackwell signed the $140,000 ticket for Juddmonte.
Trained in England by Pulborough-based Guy Harwood, Exbourne won his maiden voyage in October 1988 at Lingfield and was then put away until the spring. He came out guns blazing to give Shaadi all he could handle in the Craven Stakes at Newmarket, which set him up for an even better effort in finishing second to Nashwan in the 2,000 Guineas.
After that, Exbourne disappeared from public view while the Harwood team grappled with a series of setbacks that were never bad enough to pull the plug. Eventually, it was decided by the Juddmonte brain trust that Exbourne should be sent to California, where they had been attempting to secure a foothold with such trainers as Ron McAnally, Eddie Gregson and Bobby Frankel.
At the time, Frankel was training Miserden, another Juddmonte project who finally came around to win the 1990 Cabrillo Handicap at Del Mar. By then Exbourne was training steadily, but he still was 60 days away from a race, and Frankel was not in a hurry. He was also an aging four-year-old with just three races to his name, raising few expectations beyond the slim hopes of recovering the spark of promise he displayed as a young three-year-old.
Exbourne was eligible for a race for ‘non-winners other than maiden or claiming’ and that’s exactly where he made his US debut at Santa Anita on Oct. 27, 1990. He won that race, finished second in his next at Hollywood Park, then won two more allowance events at Santa Anita. His sprints down the Santa Anita hillside turf course had revealed to Frankel and Stevens an ability to produce a powerful burst of finishing speed, but they weren’t certain how that talent should be deployed over more ground against better company.
To that end, Exbourne was sent up the coast to Golden Gate Fields for the G3 San Francisco Mile on March 23, 1991. So was Itsallgreektome, the reigning North American male grass champion, who was making his first start since winning the Hollywood Turf Cup the previous December. Both were shocked by the gelding Forty Niner Days, who led from the start to defeat Exbourne by a length and one-half over a course described as yielding from a Bay Area storm.
‘Bury him, bury him, bury him!’
In his next start, over a firm surface in Santa Anita’s El Rincon Handicap, Exbourne was second again after tracking a brisk pace and giving way nearing the line to Pharisien, a French refugee ridden by Corey Nakatani. Stevens took the results to heart.
He recalled: “Bobby would say, ‘Bury him, bury him, bury him – and don’t let him see daylight until you have to. He’ll only be in front for one or two jumps.’
“That made riding him very nerve-racking,” Stevens added. “I literally lost sleep the night before I rode him. I would have to put myself in situation where I couldn’t win. But once he saw that splinter of daylight I would point him toward that hole and he would accelerate through it like no other horse I ever rode. I could be hopelessly beaten with 50 yards left and he would win by a neck.”
Frankel circled the Shoemaker Handicap at Hollywood Park for Exbourne’s next start. The one-mile turf event was named the previous year for riding great Bill Shoemaker, who had retired in 1990 to become a trainer after 42 years in the saddle as the winner of 11 American Classics, 15 national championships and 8,833 races. Stevens, along with many of his contemporaries, idolized the 95-pound Shoemaker and attempted to emulate his light touch and almost supernatural communication with his mounts.
On April 8, 1991, following a golf game and a couple of cocktails at a course east of Santa Anita, Shoemaker lost control of his SUV on the way home and rolled down a freeway embankment. The sports world learned later in the day that the legendary athlete had survived the crash but was rendered paraplegic. It was a gut punch to Shoemaker’s many friends, fans and extended racing family.
Six days later, as Shoemaker struggled through recovery from surgery to stabilize his damaged spine, Stevens rode Shoemaker’s Blushing Groom filly Fire The Groom to victory in the Santa Anita Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap. Then on April 28 came the Shoemaker Handicap itself, in which Stevens and Exbourne put on a powerful display – choreographed just as they had rehearsed – to defeat the solid stakes colt Super May by three-quarters of a length in 1:33.50 for the mile. The trophy was presented by Shoemaker’s wife, Cindy.
“That was an amazing race,” recalled Dan Ward, Frankel’s assistant at the time and now chief lieutenant to Jerry Hollendorfer. “Even at the sixteenth pole, you would say he had no place to go.”
The Shoemaker put Exbourne squarely on the map as a middle-distance turf horse to be taken seriously. His next test came in the G1 Hollywood Turf Handicap on Memorial Day, May 27, a mile-and-a-quarter event offering a $500,000 purse. The field included Itsallgreektome, back on top of his game, and 1989 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Prized, along with Missionary Ridge, whose future included a victory in the Pacific Classic.
‘Okay, we’ve got to win this race’
To ride Exbourne in the Hollywood Turf, Stevens gave up the mount on In Excess, an Irish import who had already made a West Coast impression with several stakes wins, set to run the same day in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.
“I remember standing with Gary watching Pat Valenzuela win the Met Mile on In Excess,” Dan Ward recalled. “He got his game face on and said, ‘Okay, now we’ve got to win this one.’”
After trailing at the back of the field to deep in the stretch, Stevens tipped Exbourne out from behind his rivals and lit the rockets. In a breathless few strides, Exbourne caught and passed Itsallgreektome to win by three-quarters of a length, with Prized lapped on in third.
The next chapter would be written in the American Handicap at Hollywood Park on the Fourth of July. Pharisien and Super May were involved, and so was Tight Spot, a son of His Majesty who had matured handsomely from his successful campaign at three. Exbourne would need to be at his best once again, and this time he would have to do it without Stevens. The rider was committed to In Excess on the same day in New York for the Suburban Handicap.
Replacement rider Chris McCarron was hardly a step down, but the race did run contrary to Exbourne’s evolving style. Mindful of the front-running Tight Spot, McCarron put his mount in a closely tracking third for much of the nine furlongs. In the final sprint, however, Exbourne did not come with his familiar burst and settled for second, beaten a length.
It was possible to conclude that Tight Spot was simply better, at least on the day, but not by much. There was no doubt they’d meet again to continue the argument. In the meantime, Frankel was convinced Exbourne was ready to travel and set his sights on the $500,000 Caesars International, a G2 handicap at Atlantic City.
For that kind of money in 1991, there were no easy spots. Forty Niner Days also made the cross-country trip to New Jersey. Double Booked was on a roll of four G3 victories. Chenin Blanc was in the mix for dangerous Bill Mott, and so was Allen Paulson’s Opening Verse, who was good enough later in the year to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
With McCarron back in the irons, Exbourne was placed comfortably off the pace of Double Booked. Forty Niner Days struck first, but Exbourne quickly launched his run as well, and it was that pair down to the finish of the mile and three-sixteenths before Exbourne won by a neck. The final time came within a finger snap of the course record.
Exbourne was now poised for a rematch against Tight Spot in the Arlington Million in Chicago. Then, in the wee hours of Aug. 24, eight days before the race, Frankel was awakened to learn his horse was on the way to a local clinic for surgery to relieve a sudden attack of colic.
Watershed racehorse
Exbourne recovered – again. His reputation as a veterinary miracle was beginning to rival his racing accomplishments, and Frankel was given full credit by Khalid Abdullah, the master of Juddmonte. As a result, Exbourne turned out to be nothing less than a watershed racehorse for an entire era of American racing.
“To get that horse to the races, and win a Grade 1 race, that was really important,” Dan Ward said. “Bobby always thought if we could get him right and do well, more would follow.”
Bobby was right. After Exbourne, the Juddmonte pipeline opened wide and spilled generously upon the Frankel stable. Ranging coast to coast, the Frankel/Juddmonte banner was flaunted by the likes of Empire Maker, Sightseek, Skimming, Flute, Aptitude, Intercontinental, Jolypha, Tates Creek, Beat Hollow, Chester House, Ventura, Honest Lady and Tinners Way. Even in the wake of Frankel’s death in 2009, Juddmonte’s US fortunes have been carried on by a number of trainers, through such stars as Arrogate, Mandaloun, Flintshire and Close Hatches.
By April 1992, Exbourne, now six, was ready to take another crack at the one-mile El Rincon Handicap. Stevens was back aboard for a happy reunion that resulted in victory by a head over Del Mar Derby winner Repriced, who enjoyed a 9lb weight advantage.
After the El Rincon score, Frankel aimed Exbourne for a defense of his title in the Hollywood Turf Handicap, again on Memorial Day, May 25. But on the Thursday before the race, while working on the dirt at Santa Anita, Exbourne sustained major damage to the ligaments of his right fore ankle. A team of veterinary surgeons had to fuse the cannon bone and ankle with a plate attached to the front of the leg with wires and screws, effectively replacing the ruined support system. As Exbourne was emerging from surgery, his Juddmonte stablemate, the former Epsom Derby winner Quest For Fame, won the Turf Handicap.
Exbourne’s recovery was fraught with complications. That night he thrashed violently, scraping his face on the stall wall as he fought the rigid cast on his leg. The cast was replaced the following day with heavy bandaging. Tranquilizers helped, and painkillers were required. But the drugs also slowed his gut; signs of colic arose. Finally, he became somewhat stabilized but still far from out of the woods.
Exbourne lingered at Santa Anita for the rest of 1992 and into '93. Garrett O’Rourke, general manager of Juddmonte USA, was just beginning his career with the Kentucky farm at the time and regularly in touch with Frankel.
“Bobby said to me, ‘You’ve got to take him home. This horse doesn’t want to die,’” O’Rourke recalled recently. “Honestly, in my mind I thought he’d be here three weeks and we’d have to put him down.”
Exbourne fooled them again. By the breeding season of 1994, Exbourne was deemed sound enough to give stud duty a whirl. He had 32 named foals of 1995 and 24 more in 1996. The best of them included Auction House, winner of the G2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster and later a pair of small stakes out west for Frankel, and Extended Applause, who finished a good second to champion Silverbulletday in the 1998 Alcibiades Stakes and placed both the Adirondack and Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga.
“We knew we were never going to make any money breeding him,” O’Rourke said. “But when he was feeling good and got in there with a mare, it was like giving him a reward for being so tough.
‘You’ve got a loose horse out there!’
“We built a round pen for him out behind his stall in the stallion barn,” O’Rourke went on. “We’d open the door, he’d take three steps, graze a bit, take another three steps, and so on. It would take him about 30 minutes to go the 30 yards to the pen. At first we’d lead him, but then we’d just let him make his own way, because he wasn’t going anywhere. You’d laugh at the number of people coming in who’d run up and tell us, ‘You’ve got a loose horse out there!’ That’s okay, we’d say. It’s Exbourne.”
Over time, Exbourne began to founder in his left fore, and by late 1995 the laminitis was beginning to get the upper hand. Exbourne managed to serve one more small book of mares in 1996 that produced 19 named foals, but soon it became apparent the end was near. The ministrations of his vet, Dr. Robert Hunt of the Hagyard Clinic, and Juddmonte’s doting farm crew were pushing against the inevitable.
“You just got to admire this horse so much,” O’Rourke said. “There was no quit in him. Right to the very end, when he was skin and bones, something inside me kept wanting to give him a chance. But there comes a time you need to make the decision for them. That’s on us.”
Exbourne was euthanized on July 13, 1996. Eight years later, as Frankel was interviewed at Saratoga by reporter Susan Kayne for a video series with famous trainers, she posed the question: “Is there a horse that stands out as being the most special to you?”
At the time, Ghostzapper was emerging as the star of Frankel’s stable, Empire Maker had won the Belmont Stakes, Medaglia d’Oro had won the Travers, and Flute had taken an Alabama Stakes that reduced her trainer to tears. In the video, Frankel glances away, and you can almost see the bittersweet memories alight behind his eyes.
“There’s a horse called Exbourne,” Frankel says. Then he tells her the story.
“The horse graveyard at Juddmonte is right beside our office,” O’Rourke said. “The day Exbourne was buried, someone came along and placed flowers on his grave, and they’ve done so every year since then. We’ve never caught them doing it, so we still don’t know who it is after all these years. All we know is there will be flowers there again on the day.”
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