Timely Writer

Timely Writer (April 21, 1979 – October 9, 1982) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. The ''Boston Globe'' once described him as "the horse with the greatest potential—and the worst luck—whose very story was a fairytale of racing history."

Background

His bloodlines included Northern Dancer, Swaps, Tim Tam, Ribot, Tom Fool, and Count Fleet. He was purchased for $13,500 by Peter and Francis Martin, owners of a meat-packing plant in Boston, Massachusetts.

Racing career

As a two-year-old, Timely Writer began his career in 1981 as a claimer at Monmouth Park, winning by eight lengths and tying a track record. Ridden by Roger Danjean, the colt also won the Mayflower Stakes at Suffolk Downs,Grade I, as well as the prestigious Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Writer won the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, covering the 6 furlongs in 1 minute and 16.20 seconds, matching the time of 1973 Triple Crown legend Secretariat, and less than a second off the course record of set by another legend in 1977, Triple Crown winner Affirmed. Later in the year, under jockey Jeffrey Fell, Timely Writer won Belmont Park's prestigious Grade I Champagne Stakes, in which he overtook the 4-5 favorite, surging down the backstretch and winning by nearly five lengths. In a controversial decision at the end of the year, Timely Writer was passed over in favor of Deputy Minister for the 1981 Eclipse Award as champion two-year-old colt.

At the start of the 1982 three-year-old racing season, key wins in March and April in the Flamingo Stakes and Florida Derby established Timely Writer as the prohibitive favorite for the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. It had been announced after the Flaming Stakes that veterinarian Dr. William Reed had purchased 50% of the colt's breeding rights for $3 million dollars. A severe case of colic at Churchill Downs in Kentucky, which threatened his life, however, sidelined him ten days prior to the Kentucky Derby for the Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont. With only a 50% chance of living prior to surgery, Timely Writer survived it and went through a months long rehabilitation program. He made a dramatic and early return to horse racing in July 1982 at his home track of Suffolk Downs in East Boston, winning the Yankee Handicap, as well as a dominating return the following month in a win at Saratoga Race Course. Before retirement, Timely Writer was set to complete in the fall classics at Belmont Park where he was still considered a candidate for three-year-old horse of the year.

Timely Writer competed in the prestigious Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in October 1982 - exactly one year from the date he last raced there, winning the Champagne Stakes. He was running third with 1/2 mile left to the race and his career before retiring to stud, when jockey Jeffrey Fell began to urge the colt forward as they approached the far turn. Suddenly, the horse's left foreleg snapped, falling to the ground, where three other horses stumbled over him. With no possibility of repairing his leg, Timely Writer was humanely euthanized. Another colt, Johnny Dance, who had collided with the fallen horse, suffered the same fate.

Author Kimberly Gatto in her 2011 book "''Saratoga Race Course: The August place to Be''," best summed up the extent of Timely Writer's tremendous popularity across the county, both during and after his racing career, observing, "Timely Writer had an 'everyman' quality that reminded folks of Seabiscuit."

Honors

Timely Writer was buried in the grass infield at the head of the stretch at Belmont Park near the filly Ruffian, becoming only the second thoroughbred the New York Racing Association has granted such an honor.

Selected by the New England Turf Writers Association as the 1981 Horse of the Year and the Champion Two-Year-Old Colt.

Florida bred Horse-of-the Year (1981).

A tribute to Timely Writer is included in the book "''Beyond the Rainbow Bridge''", by Kimberly Gatto (2005, Half Halt Press) . Blood-Horse magazine also printed a twenty-five-year anniversary tribute article in its September 29, 2007, issue.

The New England Turf Writers Association enshrined Timely Writer in the N.E. Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2008 –25 years after he passed.

On March 12, 2011, Gulfstream Park honored the star colt belonging to Peter and Francis Martin with the Timely Writer Stakes Race, a grade I race for three-year-olds, which was won by Uncle Mo. www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/137556/uncle-mo-shines-spotlight-on-timely-writer

References

{{Reflist

Timely Writer's pedigree

The pedigree of Johnny Dance

1979 racehorse births
1982 racehorse deaths
Thoroughbred family 9-b
Racehorses bred in Florida
Racehorses trained in the United States
Horses who died from racing injuries