Most people, even avid racing fans, have forgotten him. He's the horse Laffit Pincay called "the fastest horse I ever rode, the fastest horse I ever saw." From a man who won the Eclipe award for outstanding jockey four times and was seven times the US leading jockey this is high praise.
The horse? A bay lightning bolt named Chinook Pass. Named after a mountain pass of 5430 feet he made a highway through the sprinter division on the track.
Chinook is 30 years old this month and the bay gelding set speed records at several places, winning an Eclipse for sprinter in the early 1980s (not a misprint there!) before retiring after an injury incurred when he won the Longacres Mile. After some healing time Chinook took on a second career - that of a dressage horse and Thoroughbred ambassador.
http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa081700b.htm?p=1 is a site that shows Chinook at 21 and now at 30 in the video clip he is perhaps an outstanding example of what the Thoroughbred can be. As the Derby horses head to Kentucky it's easy to get swept up in the excitement and forget those horses from the past still out there who made our hearts pound.
Chinook is a bay son of Native Born out of a *Turn-to mare, a grandson on top of Native Dancer. After sizzling 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.3 in the Potrero Grande Handicap at Santa Anita Pincay said "This horse is fast but he does it easy...he's just unreal." The horse initially overlooked as ordinary in a field of foals that included Washington standout Belle of Ranier, Chinook didn't ring any bells until he was gelded. At the track he marked 21 times on the board from 25 starts, with 16 wins that included the Washington Stallion Stakes at 2 and setting a new world record for 5 furlongs at 4 years of 5 furlongs in :55.1 as well as equalling the track record for the distance at Santa Anita with a :56 flat mark.
He was Washginton Horse of the Year in 1983, Washington champion sprinter and Eclipse Award sprinter that same year as well as Washington champion handicap horse. In 1982 he was Washington champion sprinter, champion three year old and Horse of the Year.
He appeared in parades and shows long after his racing retirement. He even attended a fundraiser at the Red Lion Hotel grand ballroom in 1996 for the Boy Scouts as well as visiting high schools. Thanks to the efforts of Jill Hallin Chinook has not been forgotten and for his fans far and wide there is a precious clip of the champion at now 30. Our good horses are gone far too soon...it is a treat to see him hail and hearty as his 30th approaches. .
Well done Chinook Pass. May we all - human and horse alike - have such a legacy.
Keywords: champion sprinter, Chinook Pass, dressage, Eclipse award, horse of the year, Longacres racetrack, Native Born, Native Dancer, parade, show horse
