The events of 50 years ago have been spent a lot of time in recent headlines, and with good reason. The 12 memorable months of 1968 were an emotionally draining roller-coaster ride of giddy highs and tragic lows. Thoroughbred racing had its share as well, led by the surgical precision of Dr. Fager, the persistence of classy Damascus, and the upheaval of a disqualified Kentucky Derby winner. Through the first seven months of the season, however, there was no more fascinating individual on the racing scene than the 3-year-old filly Dark Mirage. She was, by any stretch of the imagination, a fairy tale come to life, no taller than a countertop, light as a feather – “a phenomenon difficult to explain,” in the words of racing writer Charles Hatton. Bought for $6,000 by Lloyd Miller of Cincinnati and trained by Everett King, Dark Mirage won nine of 10 races in 1968, including eight straight stakes from six to 10 furlongs, culminating in a Delaware Oaks rendered a betless exhibition by her presence. Along the way she became the first filly to sweep what would become known as New York’s “Triple Tiara,” a quaint appellation referring to the Acorn, Mother Goose, and Coaching Club American Oaks, along with the Monmouth Oaks, La Trioenne, and Prioress. It is impossible to single out the best performance of Dark Mirage from so many, but certainly she gave her fans something to remember in the Mother Goose, a Belmont Park staple that will be run for the 62nd time this Saturday. The date was June 8, 1968, and if that rings a dim bell it should, especially for New Yorkers of a certain generation. It was the day of the funeral mass held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Robert F. Kennedy, the New York senator who was mortally wounded the previous Tuesday in Los Angeles while celebrating his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. The trustees of the New York Racing Association requested that the track should be closed in honor of the funeral. The request was denied by the New York State Racing Commission. Those who cling to historical footnotes might recall that four years earlier, Kennedy appeared at a political rally at Belmont Park during his successful Senate election campaign. By the time Dark Mirage and her five opponents went postward for the Mother Goose, at around 4:40 that afternoon, the train bearing the coffin of Sen. Kennedy was on its way to Washington, D.C., rolling slowly past thousands of mourners lining the tracks along the 240-mile route. He was buried that night, by candlelight in drizzling rain, at Arlington National Cemetery near his brother, President John F. Kennedy. By contrast, Dark Mirage made hasty work of the Mother Goose, winning by 10 lengths with a patented finishing kick that knocked the opposition off their feet. As usual, Manuel Ycaza was along for the ride. “She was no bigger than a big dog,” the Hall of Famer said this week from his home in Forest Hills, N.Y. “Angel Cordero rode her before me, and when I got the mount he told me, ‘You’re not gonna like this horse. She’s very uncomfortable to ride.’” This makes sense. Small horses are sometimes awkward mounts for jocks accustomed to scaling normal heights at half a ton or more. Dark Mirage stood barely 15 hands (five feet) at the withers and weighed in at what was commonly reported as 710 pounds. She could hide behind Justify for a week and no one would know where she went. Still, what there was, was choice. Hatton, in an extended appreciation, described Dark Mirage as “highly precisioned from stem to stern, and made like a watch.” Ycaza was quick to admire her fluid, efficient stride – much longer than it should have been – and he had no problem with her size. “I was already acquainted with horses her size,” he said. “Starting out in Panama, I used to ride half-blood and three-quarter-blood horses who were small like her. You just have to accommodate the shape of the withers, her neck, and go with her. “You could place her anywhere, up close, from behind,” Ycaza went on. “But wherever you were, when she got to the head of the stretch I couldn’t hold her any longer. She was an unbelievable filly.” That Dark Mirage should stand out in Ycaza’s personal gallery says a lot. In 1968 alone he won major races aboard champions Damascus, Top Knight, and Gamely, in addition to Dark Mirage. His work over the years aboard Quadrangle, Fort Marcy, Hill Rise, Lamb Chop, and Never Bend put him in demand from coast to coast. Ycaza also was notorious for riding right up to the edge, and incurred more than his share of suspension days. When asked if he had trouble with the stewards, he playfully replied, “No, not at all. The stewards had trouble with me.” Ycaza turned 80 this year and, when asked about his health, he offered the standard reply of all Hall of Famers who made it this far. “I can’t complain,” he said. “All the broken bones, they ache. But I’m still walking.” And still remembering horses like Dark Mirage. “When I first looked at her, it was a challenge,” Ycaza said. “Then when I started riding her it was a pleasure. Just thinking about her makes me happy.”