Horse Racing: The Doctor Is the Best

HORSE RACING

The Doctor Is the Best

“Every thoroughbred champion wor thy of the name ought to prove him self carrying weight,” says Veteran Trainer Johnny Nerud. And by that measure there has never been a horse to equal Nerud’s own Dr. Fager. At New York’s Aqueduct race track last week, the four-year-old bay lugged 139 Ibs.

in the seven-furlong $57,000 Vosburgh Handicap, the highest weight ever as signed by the track’s handicapper in a regular stakes race. All the other horses carried 12 to 34 Ibs. less, but the Doc still turned the race into a scene from National Velvet. He broke swiftly out of the starting gate under Jockey Braulio Baeza, opened up a three-length lead in the stretch, then turned it on and charged home a full six lengths ahead of the place horse, Kissin’ George.

Dr. Pager’s time for the race: 1 min.

20 1/5 sec., a new track record and only 1/5 sec. off the world mark.

The victory was Dr. Pager’s 18th in 22 starts. It was also his last. After the race, Nerud, who owns 25% of the colt, announced that his champion would be retired to stud at Co-Owner William McKnight’s Tartan Farms in Ocala, Fla.

Millionaire at Four. Named for the Boston neurosurgeon who once saved Nerud’s life, Dr. Fager was beaten by only two horses in his three-year career. Successor nipped him two years ago in the Champagne Stakes. Damascus, Horse of the Year in 1967, beat him twice — with the aid of a “rabbit” (pacesetter) named Hedevar. In their two other matches, Hedevar was stabled, and Dr. Fager whipped Damascus handily. Dr. Pager’s other defeat was in last year’s Jersey Derby, which he won by 61 lengths only to be dis qualified because Jockey Manuel Ycaza permitted him to cut across the pack.

Aside from those races, the big bay has had it all his own way. He won his first four starts in 1966 as a two-year-old, swept six in one stretch in 1967. This year Dr. Fager has raced only in stakes events, romped to victory in such prestigious handicaps as Aqueduct’s $108,000 Suburban, Saratoga’s $53,500 Whitney and Chicago’s $100,000 Washington Park, in which he set a new world record of 1 min. 32 1/5 sec. for the mile.

Last week’s spectacular victory at Aqueduct made him a shoo-in for Horse of the Year honors, and a millionaire to boot.

His total earnings of $1,002,642 rank him ninth among the alltime moneywinners. Says Nerud: “Any horse that looks him in the eye is beaten. He has won at distance, he has sprinted and he has car ried weight. He’s the best.”