Doc’s Debut and the Birth of a Dynasty

 

It was 60 years ago this Wednesday, July 15, that a seemingly inconsequential 5 1/2-furlong maiden race for 2-year-olds run at Aqueduct Racetrack would prove to be not only the birth of a legend, but also in many ways the birth of the Florida breeding industry as a major power in Thoroughbred racing.

Yes, the Sport of Kings had already seen Florida-breds Needles in 1956 and Carry Back in 1961 win the Kentucky Derby and Roman Brother named Horse of the Year in 1965. But from this maiden race would come the Sunshine State’s first all-time great superstar and the first Florida-bred to be elected to the Hall of Fame. His name was Dr. Fager.

In 1966, William McKnight’s Tartan Farm in Ocala, Florida and its trainer and minority-owner John Nerud were at a crossroads. McKnight, on Nerud’s recommendation, had spent millions of dollars attempting to build a powerful racing and breeding operation. After several years, they were in need of a special horse to put them on the map and build their reputation as a major force in the industry.

Nerud had burst into the national spotlight in 1957 as the trainer of Gallant Man, who in addition to winning many of the nation’s top races, ran the fastest Belmont Stakes in history in a track-record 2:26 3/5 for the 1 1/2 miles. That same year, Nerud learned that McKnight, chairman of the board and major stockholder of Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3-M), was looking for someone to help him build a Thoroughbred empire, as he had done with 3-M, the inventors of Scotch Tape.

Nerud had convinced McKnight, whose worth was estimated between 300 and 500 million dollars, that he needed to set up a factory-like operation, beginning with a breeding farm, then building a broodmare band and breeding their own horses. McKnight had only a few cheap horses in training at the time and he told Nerud he needed more action, to which Nerud responded by convincing him to give him additional money in order to claim and purchase more horses, including potential stallions.

McKnight hired Nerud as his trainer, president, and general manager in 1957, and that same year, members of McKnight’s staff decided to buy him a filly for his 70th birthday. They were able to find one for only $6,500. Named Aspidistra, she was so slow, In 14 career starts, her only two victrories, both at six furlongs at Fair Grounds, were run in a pedestrian 1:14 3/5 and 1:14 4/5. She wound up in claiming races, but there were no takers, so she became one of Tartan Farm’s early broodmares.

Nerud bred her to little known sires Esmero and First Cabin with little results, although her First Cabin colt, named A. Deck, won a small stakes, the Ponce de Leon Stakes, becoming the first stakes winner bred by Tartan Farm. Nerud then moved up in class and bred Aspidistra to the pride of Florida, Needles, and she produced a colt named Chinatowner, who won the Canadian Turf Handicap.

By 1962, it was time for Nerud to start thinking big, and he convinced McKnight to pay an outrageous $750,000 for the brilliant sprinter Intentionally, one of the fastest horses in the country. Around the same time he decided to take a chance and buy a share in the stallion Rough’n Tumble, despite the horse being hampered by a plastic foot, which made it difficult for him to breed. But Nerud, loved everything about the horse and began buying up additional seasons in him from anyone willing to sell theirs.

After breeding Aspidistra to Intentionally, she was bred to Rough’n Tumble the following year. In 1964, Aspidistra gave birth to her Rough’n Tumble colt, who Nerud named Dr. Fager, after the Boston neurosurgeon Charles Fager who saved his life when Nerud suffered a severe brain injury after being thrown by his pony. One of his cheaper horses had run off and Nerud decided to go after the horse. After catching up to him, he reached over to grab him when his pony suddenly lurched, throwing Nerud head over heels, landing on his head. Nerud shrugged it off, not realizing he had suffered a life-threatening blood clot on his brain that would require two surgeries. While recuperating, he handed his doctor a note, requesting permission to name a horse after him, and just told him to sign it. Little did Dr. Charles Fager know that when he hurriedly signed his name to that insignificant note he was also immortalizing it.

By the winter of 1966, Nerud needed to start producing to silence his critics in the upper level of the 3-M corporation, who tried to convince McKnight that his trainer and partner in Tartan Farms was suffering from brain cancer, the result of his injury. As Nerud would later say, “Like out of nowhere, here came this great big red ball of fire emerging from the horizon like the sunrise. Just like that, I was miraculously cured.”

On a Friday afternoon in July of 1966, that red ball of fire would be seen for the first time by the 27,140 fans in attendance at Aqueduct Racetrack

Dr. Fager, the horse named after an unsuspecting brain surgeon, had grown into a powerhouse of a 2-year-old colt, who although kind-hearted in the barn and so timid he disliked being yelled at, was extremely competitive on the racetrack. Nerud was convinced he had something in the Rough’n Tumble colt, but not quite sure what. He felt strongly enough to show the colt off earlier in the year at Hialeah. Nerud spotted his old friend Willard Proctor, one of the deans of Southern California trainers, who was in Florida at the time.

“Willard, come on over here, I want to show you a good horse,” he said. “Nerud had Dr. Fager brought out and showed him off like a newly discovered work of art. “Well, he is an impressive horse,” the taciturn Proctor said. Nerud informed him he was an unraced 2-year-old who was talented and remarkably intelligent for a young horse.

But as he had discovered earlier, maybe a bit too intelligent. After arriving at Hialeah that winter, the colt had developed a rather unusual and scary habit. Nerud’s barn was located near the entrance to the paddock and the youngster every afternoon would lie down in his stall and stick his head under the webbing until it was well out in the shedrow. When he got up, he was so strong he would rip the webbing right out of the wall. On other occasions he would simply crawl under it. Once free he woulds dash out of the barn and head to the paddock where he would frolic about for a while until someone came and got him. After a while, he was cured of that habit with a gentle whack over the nose from behind by assistant trainer Joe Dimitrijevic. Once on the racetrack, however, no one ever was able to tell Dr. Fager what to do.

What Nerud loved about him was that he was a willing student who did whatever he was asked. As his training regimen increased, so did Nerud’s confidence. He never believed in working horses fast and always remembered the advice he was given by trainer Ben Jones. “Now, son, listen to me,” Jones said to the young trainer. “You ain’t got enough sense to train these horses, so I’m gonna tell you what to do. You keep ’em fat, work ’em a half-mile, and they’ll win in spite of you.”

Nerud heeded Jones’ advice and became a source of frustration for the clockers and bettors. Whenever Daily Racing Form clocker Frenchy Schwartz would be asked his opinion of one of Nerud’s horses, he would reply, “How the hell would I know? That half-mile sonofobitch, you don’t know anything about him.” Soon, Nerud became known in New York as that “half-mile sonofabitch.”

So, in 1966, when Nerud brought the Tartan Stable horses up to New York from Florida, no one knew anything about his big powerful 2-year-old colt named Dr. Fager or his other top prospect Minnesota Mac, who he had named after William McKnight. All Nerud knew was that he had never been around a horse who did things as effortlessly as Dr. Fager. “Whether we put him behind horses or sent him to the lead, he would come down the stretch laughing, with his ears pricked,” Nerud said. And he did it with165-pound exercise rider Jose Marrero in the saddle.

Because of Nerud’s no-speed policy in workouts, Dr. Fager was not exactly hot news around the backstretch. Working every five days, he breezed an easy half-mile in :49 from the gate on June 29. Then, with his debut getting closer, he came back on July 4 and breezed a leisurely five furlongs in 1:03. On July 9, Nerud sent him a half-mile from the gate and the colt got a bit more serious, going in :48 2/5. All that was left was a typical three-eighths blowout over the Belmont training track in :37 the day before the race.

Finally, on July 15, it was time for Dr. Fager’s much-anticipated debut. Nerud admitted he “didn’t know what the hell to expect from him.” Never caring too much who rode his horses, he gave the mount to apprentice rider David Hidalgo, who was under contract to Nerud and had been Dr. Fager’s exercise rider back at Tartan Farm, as well as Nerud’s main exercise rider at the racetrack. He felt Hidalgo was more familiar with the colt than anyone, and that was important when you’re dealing with a young inexperienced horse. Also, Nerud felt the rider was not that important in the colt’s debut. “Hell, anybody could ride him in his first start,” he said. “I just wanted to give the horse a race. I didn’t care if he was first, second, or third, as long as he showed me what I was hoping to see.”

Because of Dr. Fager’s unspectacular works, he certainly didn’t catch the eyes of the bettors, who sent him off at odds on just under 11-1, breaking from post 8 in the 11-horse field. Nerud’s instructions to Hidalgo were simple: “Now this horse probably isn’t fit, so don’t beat him up; just give him a chance.” Hidalgo had been on him before, but had never been asked to set him down, so he had no idea he was anything special at that point. Neither did the bettors. With the colt having a series of slow works and a five-pound bug boy aboard, there was nothing to indicate he was a serious contender.

Nerud went up to his box, which he shared with a high-roller whom he knew simply as Ziggy, who was there with his girfriend. “So, is your horse gonna win?” Ziggy asked him. All Nerud said was, “I ain’t bettin’ on him.” He was nervous enough. He knew this could be the horse to silence his attackers in the McKnight organization. He had been there nine years building up the operation from the ground, and with the first crops of Rough’n Tumble and Intentionally now racing age it was time for that big horse to come along that would launch Tartan Stable to the heights McKnight and Nerud had envisioned.

As Nerud said, “My whole future was riding on this horse. I just wanted him to run well first time out and show me the things he showed me in the mornings. I knew he was a good horse, but you’re scared to death you’ve built your hopes up too high, and if you’re wrong you take an awful fall.”

Ziggy’s grlfriend saw those juicy 11-1 odds and couldn’t resist. She told Ziggy she wanted to bet $20 to win on Dr. Fager. “Forget it,” he said. “I’ll book it.” Nerud told him not to book any bets on this horse. “Hell, you ain’t bettin’ him, so I’m bookin’ it,” he said.

Dr. Fager couldn’t wait to let loose for the first time and shot out of the gate, with Hidalgo quickly grabbing a hold of him to get him to settle. Although he was closer to the back of the pack than the front through an opening quarter in :22 4/5, he was only three lengths off the lead. Hidalgo, as he put it, was “standing up on him like a water skier just to keep him from running over top of horses.”

Nearing the quarter pole, Hidalgo ranged up alongside Walter Blum on Richroband. “I’m yelling ‘Whoa’ on my horse and I look over and Blum is driving on his horse.” Hidalgo recalled. “As I’m yelling ‘Whoa,’ I’m blowing by Blum. I couldn’t believe it.”

Dr. Fager drew off in the stretch and won under a hold. “It was all I could do to get him to only win by seven lengths,” Hidalgo said. The time of 1:05 for the 5 1/2 furlongs was solid over an extremely dead racetrack.

Up in the box, Ziggy, stunned by the performance, turned to Nerud and said, “You told me you weren’t bettin’ on him. Why didn’t you bet this horse?” A relieved Nerud replied, “Look, Ziggy, I own a quarter of this horse and if he’s as good as I think he is, a hundred thousand one way or the other isn’t gonna be that important.”

When Hidalgo got back, the first thing he said was, “Mr. Nerud, I’ve been working for you for 3 1/2 years and I’ve never asked for a mount. Just let me ride this horse until I get beat.”

After moving up to Saratoga, Nerud had Hidalgo give Dr. Fager a good solid work to prepare him for a six-furlong allowance race. As they walked together from the Oklahoma training track to the main track, Nerud, sitting on his pony, told Hidalgo just how he wanted him to work the colt, “You’re gonna be up against winners this time,” he said, “so have him running when you get to the pole and set him down for five-eighths of a mile.” 

“Well, I lit up to that pole,” Hidalgo said. “And when I turned for home I could see John jump over the rail waving his arms at me. I’m standing straight up on the horse, but once you turn him loose there’s no way you can shut him down. I thought I was gonna run right over John. When I went by, I could see him throw his hat, and I just yelled to him, ‘Too late, boss.'”

The morning of the allowance race, Hidalgo went over to several of the jump riders, with whom he would often kid around, and said, “I’m riding a horse today, and if this sonofabitch gets beat, you guys can whup my ass one at a time.”

Sent off as the the 4-5 favorite in the field of eight, Dr. Fager broke well and Hidlalgo kept him in second to try to teach him to relax and get used to having dirt kicked in his face. When he eased him out at the head of the stretch, the Doc quickly opened a length lead. Hidalgo wondered what would happen if he hit him once. “I reached back to hit him and he opened up by six before I had a chance to get my hand back on the rein,” he said.

But what he also did was duck sideways, shying from the crop. Dr. Fager throughout his career hated being hit and the rare times he was, he would throw his tail straight up in defiance. He cruised home eased up by eight lengths in 1:10 2/5, which was four-fifths off the track record. But he was still upset about being hit and after the wire it took another half-mile before the outsider could pull him up.

Nerud was up in the box with one of his patrons, Harry S. Nichols, and when Dr. Fager pulled his antic in the stretch, Nerud “almost had a heart attack.” He was so “shook up” he had Nichols take his pulse after the race.

For Hidalgo, that was the last time he would ever ride Dr. Fager. When Nerud entered the colt in the World’s Playground Stakes at Atlantic City, he informed Hidalgo that Manny Ycaza would be riding him. As Nerud put it, “Hidalgo realized this was a good horse and he decided he was gonna help me train him. I thought he worked him too damn fast.”

Dr. Fager won the World’s Playground by 12 lengths and then won the seven-furlong Cowdin Stakes under Bill Shoemaker, defeating his fellow student at Tartan Farm In Reality and Wheatley Stable’s stretch-running Successor. But he came out of the race with his knee banged up trying to go for a hole, and Nerud admitted he never should have run him in the one-mile Champagne Stakes. He also regretted keeping Shoemaker on him. Although one of the great riders, Shoemaker didn’t fit Dr. Fager. He simply wasn’t strong enough to handle such a powerful free-running horse.

In the Champagne, Shoemaker wasn’t able to hold Dr. Fager who tore through brutal fractions of :44 4/5 and 1:09 2/5. He opened a three-length lead at the eighth pole, but he began drifting out in the stretch and got nailed on the wire, losing by a neck to Successor, costing him the 2-year-old championship.

In his profiles in that year’s American Racing Manual, the great Daily Racing Form columnist Charles Hatton wrote of Dr. Fager, “It is seldom one sees a 2-year-old of his height and scope who has the coordination to accelerate as he did.” He added, “Betimes, Dr. Fager proved an astonishing performer, exciting the fans and leaving his rivals breathless.”

But Hatton had seen only the tip of the iceberg. Over the next two years, especially in 1968, it would be the entire racing world that Dr. Fager left breathless. He became a living legend who broke track and world records under staggering weights at all distances and over all types of surfaces, and became the only horse ever to win four championships in a single year – Champion Handicap Horse, Champion Sprinter, Champion Grass Horse, and Horse of the Year. To this day, he is still regarded by many as the fastest horse of all time.

Tartan went on to become one of the most powerful racing and breeding establishments in the country, whose impact is still being felt through Dr. Fager’s grandson Fappiano and his two-time sprint champion half-sister Ta Wee, among numerous other influences. Nerud would become one of the sport’s true geniuses as an owner, trainer, and breeder, and the first head of marketing for the Breeder’s Cup, helping to build it into one of the world’s great sporting events. He owned and bred the second Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Cozzene, who became the only stallion to sire the winners of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Albabet Soup) and Breeders’ Cup Turf (Tikkanen). Nerud also discovered and mentored future Hall of Fame trainers D. Wayne Lukas, Carl Nafzger, and Scotty Schulfofer, and was still breeding horses at the time of his death at age 102.

And in many ways it all began in a maiden race on a July afternoon when John Nerud unleashed a “great big red ball of fire” that still shines brightly 60 years later.