Forward Pass (USA)
March 28, 1965 – December 1, 1980
On-and-On (USA) x Princess Turia (USA), by Heliopolis (GB)
Family 9-c
March 28, 1965 – December 1, 1980
On-and-On (USA) x Princess Turia (USA), by Heliopolis (GB)
Family 9-c
Although Forward Pass was a high-class colt in his own right and won the 1968 Preakness Stakes on his own merits, he will be forever remembered as the beneficiary of the bizarre events surrounding the “Drug Store Derby” of that year, in which apparent winner Dancer's Image was disqualified after a positive test for the analgesic phenylbutazone (“Bute”). After the initial stewards' ruling, it took five years of wrangling in the courts before the decision was made final and Forward Pass was declared the official winner of the Kentucky Derby. By that time, Forward Pass was long since off to stud, where he was a great disappointment.
Race record
23 starts, 10 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, US$580,631
1967:
1968:
Honors
American co-champion 3-year-old male (1968)
Assessments
Rated at 114 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1967, 12 pounds below champion Vitriolic.
Rated at 129 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1968, 1 pound below the other divisional co-champion, Stage Door Johnny.
As an individual
A correct, well-balanced bay horse, Forward Pass stood 16.2 hands and had good substance. He was suffering from knee and ankle trouble during the latter part of his 3-year-old campaign and made only one more start after pulling up sore following the 1968 Travers Stakes. A free-running horse, he was sometimes rank or sulky in his races but was later described as a "gentleman" by groom Dan Rosenberg.
As a stallion
According to records kept by The Jockey Club, Forward Pass sired 96 winners (53.3%) and six stakes winners (3.3%) from 180 named foals. Jockey Club records may not be complete regarding the horse's Japanese-sired progeny.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Forward Pass was bred and owned by Calumet Farm. He was trained by Henry Forrest. He was exported to Japan in 1978, where he died of colic at Nishiyama Farm in 1980.
Pedigree notes
Forward Pass is inbred 5x4 to 1929 American champion sire Chicle. He is a half brother to 1975 Sanford Stakes (USA-G2) winner Turn to Turia (by Best Turn) and to Tim's Princess (by Tim Tam), dam of stakes winner Native Heritage (by Raise a Native).
Forward Pass's dam Princess Turia won the 1956 Kentucky Oaks and 1957 Delaware Handicap among other good races. She is a half sister to 1952 American champion 3-year-old filly and champion handicap female Real Delight (by Bull Lea), dam of stakes winners Plum Cake (by Ponder), No Fooling (by Tom Fool) and Spring Sunshine (by Nashua). Real Delight is the second dam of Grade 2 winners Sugar Plum Time and Dazzle Me Jolie, Grade 3 winners Raise a Cup and Lucky So 'n So, 1969 Sport Page Handicap winner Lonesome River, 1971 Juvenile Stakes winner and 1980/1981 South African champion sire Plum Bold and 1977 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Sweet Tooth. Through Sweet Tooth, Real Delight is the third dam of 1977 American champion 3-year-old filly Our Mims, the great runner and sire Alydar and 1980 Mother Goose Stakes (USA-G1) winner Sugar and Spice, and she is also the third dam of 1982 American champion 3-year-old filly Christmas Past, Grade 2 winner Eminency and Grade 3 winners Katonka and Pruneplum.
In addition, Princess Turia is a half sister to 1953 Kentucky Oaks winner Bubbley, second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Who Duzzit, and to the stakes-winning colts All Blue and Kentucky Pride, all by Bull Lea. She is also a half sister to Whirling Lark (by Whirlaway), dam of 1955 Gotham Stakes winner Go Lightly (by Faultless) and third dam of multiple Grade 1 winner El Senor, Grade 2 winner Carry the Banner and Grade 3 winners Jamila Kadir and Strawberry Wine.
Princess Turia's dam Blue Delight (by Blue Larkspur) won six stakes races including the 1940 Arlington Lassie Stakes and the 1942 Arlington Matron Handicap. She is a full sister to multiple stakes winner Lightspur and is out of juvenile stakes winner Chicleight (by Chicle). Chicleight, in turn, is a half sister to multiple stakes winners Siskin (by Épinard), Hygro (by Épinard) and Errard (by Challenger II) and is out of the Honeywood mare Ruddy Light, herself the winner of the 1923 Clipsetta Stakes.
Books and media
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: June 13, 2022
Race record
23 starts, 10 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, US$580,631
1967:
- Won Flash Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Saratoga)
- 3rd Sanford Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Saratoga)
1968:
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs; by disqualification of Dancer's Image)
- Won American Derby Stakes (USA, 9FD, Arlington Park)
- Won Florida Derby (USA, 9FD, Gulfstream Park)
- Won Blue Grass Stakes (USA, 9FD, Keeneland)
- Won Everglades Stakes (USA, 9FD, Hialeah)
- Won Hibiscus Stakes (USA, 7FD, Hialeah)
- 2nd Belmont Stakes (USA, 12FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Travers Stakes (USA, 10FD, Saratoga)
- Also finished 2nd in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, GP) but was disqualified and placed 4th
Honors
American co-champion 3-year-old male (1968)
Assessments
Rated at 114 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1967, 12 pounds below champion Vitriolic.
Rated at 129 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1968, 1 pound below the other divisional co-champion, Stage Door Johnny.
As an individual
A correct, well-balanced bay horse, Forward Pass stood 16.2 hands and had good substance. He was suffering from knee and ankle trouble during the latter part of his 3-year-old campaign and made only one more start after pulling up sore following the 1968 Travers Stakes. A free-running horse, he was sometimes rank or sulky in his races but was later described as a "gentleman" by groom Dan Rosenberg.
As a stallion
According to records kept by The Jockey Club, Forward Pass sired 96 winners (53.3%) and six stakes winners (3.3%) from 180 named foals. Jockey Club records may not be complete regarding the horse's Japanese-sired progeny.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Forward Pass was bred and owned by Calumet Farm. He was trained by Henry Forrest. He was exported to Japan in 1978, where he died of colic at Nishiyama Farm in 1980.
Pedigree notes
Forward Pass is inbred 5x4 to 1929 American champion sire Chicle. He is a half brother to 1975 Sanford Stakes (USA-G2) winner Turn to Turia (by Best Turn) and to Tim's Princess (by Tim Tam), dam of stakes winner Native Heritage (by Raise a Native).
Forward Pass's dam Princess Turia won the 1956 Kentucky Oaks and 1957 Delaware Handicap among other good races. She is a half sister to 1952 American champion 3-year-old filly and champion handicap female Real Delight (by Bull Lea), dam of stakes winners Plum Cake (by Ponder), No Fooling (by Tom Fool) and Spring Sunshine (by Nashua). Real Delight is the second dam of Grade 2 winners Sugar Plum Time and Dazzle Me Jolie, Grade 3 winners Raise a Cup and Lucky So 'n So, 1969 Sport Page Handicap winner Lonesome River, 1971 Juvenile Stakes winner and 1980/1981 South African champion sire Plum Bold and 1977 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Sweet Tooth. Through Sweet Tooth, Real Delight is the third dam of 1977 American champion 3-year-old filly Our Mims, the great runner and sire Alydar and 1980 Mother Goose Stakes (USA-G1) winner Sugar and Spice, and she is also the third dam of 1982 American champion 3-year-old filly Christmas Past, Grade 2 winner Eminency and Grade 3 winners Katonka and Pruneplum.
In addition, Princess Turia is a half sister to 1953 Kentucky Oaks winner Bubbley, second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Who Duzzit, and to the stakes-winning colts All Blue and Kentucky Pride, all by Bull Lea. She is also a half sister to Whirling Lark (by Whirlaway), dam of 1955 Gotham Stakes winner Go Lightly (by Faultless) and third dam of multiple Grade 1 winner El Senor, Grade 2 winner Carry the Banner and Grade 3 winners Jamila Kadir and Strawberry Wine.
Princess Turia's dam Blue Delight (by Blue Larkspur) won six stakes races including the 1940 Arlington Lassie Stakes and the 1942 Arlington Matron Handicap. She is a full sister to multiple stakes winner Lightspur and is out of juvenile stakes winner Chicleight (by Chicle). Chicleight, in turn, is a half sister to multiple stakes winners Siskin (by Épinard), Hygro (by Épinard) and Errard (by Challenger II) and is out of the Honeywood mare Ruddy Light, herself the winner of the 1923 Clipsetta Stakes.
Books and media
- "A Touch of Derby in the Orient," which followed up on the Japanese stud careers of Dancer's Image, Forward Pass and Sunday Silence, is the ninth chapter in Jim Bolus' Kentucky Derby Stories (1993, Pelican Publishing Company).
- Forward Pass is profiled in Chapter 9 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- Forward Pass is the first Kentucky Derby winner to have won the race via disqualification. Since then, there have been two other Derby disqualifications of apparent winners: 2019 victor Country House inherited the win after first-place finisher Maximum Security was disqualified for a foul against another horse, and 2021 first-place finisher Medina Spirit was disqualified due to a drug positive for the corticosteroid bethmethasone.
- Forward Pass is the only winner of an American Triple Crown race to have been produced from a Kentucky Oaks winner.
- Forward Pass was the eighth and last homebred Kentucky Derby for Calumet Farm, which also bred and raced Whirlaway (1941), Pensive (1944), Citation (1948), Ponder (1949), Hill Gail (1952), Iron Liege (1957) and Tim Tam (1958). Calumet also bred 1991 Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold and 2022 winner Rich Strike, but these colts raced for other owners.
- Forward Pass was the seventh Preakness Stakes winner bred and owned by Calumet Farm, which also bred and raced Whirlaway (1941), Pensive (1944), Faultless (1947), Citation (1948), Fabius (1956) and Tim Tam (1958). Calumet Farm (by then under different ownership) also raced 2013 winner Oxbow.
- Ismael Valenzuela was twice lucky to pick up the Derby win aboard Forward Pass. Aside from the disqualification of Dancer's Image, Valenzuela was also the beneficiary of an untimely case of food poisoning for Don Brumfield, who had been riding Forward Pass regularly but had to miss the Blue Grass Stakes because of his illness. Valenzuela won the race with the colt and retained the mount thereafter.
- In American and Canadian football, a forward pass is a play advancing the ball by throwing it from a player behind the line of scrimmage to a player further downfield.
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: June 13, 2022