It's hard to believe that this July it will be 40 years since I witnessed one of the most bizarre races in my lifetime. The scene was Saratoga and the thoroughbreds wouldn't be coming to town for another month or so. It was a Saturday afternoon and the place was absolutely packed to the gills and for good reason. The feature would be The Battle of Saratoga for 3-year-old pacers and on display would be the unbeaten Niatross and his trainer-driver Clint Galbraith. In 1980, if you were a racing fan and wanted to see the best horses in action, you could either wait for them to show up at your local track or go find them on the map and make a road trip. Saratoga happened to be a very pleasant three-hour plus journey from metropolitan New York City and the hours in a car hardly seemed consequential given what we were coming to see. I had traveled further in 1980 to catch a glimpse of Niatross winning his sophomore debut at Vernon Downs, and pretty much like all of my friends at Sports Eye and beyond, knew this son of Albatross was different from the rest. As a regular at both Roosevelt and Yonkers Raceway, one major expectation of going to Saratoga was the thought that Niatross would be capable of breaking all sorts of records over a half-mile oval thought to be much faster than any at the time. Perhaps that was the build-up that brought out the crowd on that day in July, but to their dismay and mine, rain would arrive well before post time and leave the track in overly sloppy condition. Track management that afternoon knew why so many had come and they also knew it was essential to try to put the track back in some reasonable shape before allowing Niatross and his contemporaries to step over it. There was a lengthy delay in post time before The Battle of Saratoga and while I can’t remember exactly, it was well over an hour past scheduled post time when the actual race took place. At the outset, there was nothing different about The Battle of Saratoga from every other race Niatross competed in. The powerful colt would assume command and most others were content to follow as long as they could hoping to get a second or third-place check. With Niatross in control early, the fractions were slow enough to dash any chances of a track or world mark being set. Everyone in the stands realized they were just going to witness greatness and another victory on this afternoon. That Trenton Time made a move before the half wasn’t that hard to predict. He had been sitting third and in 1980 if you were third on the rail coming to the half you pulled and went first-over with no questions asked. It was only down the backstretch when Trenton Time and Niatross were on equal footing that it became apparent that even the best of horses could have a bad day. Off the final turn, Trenton Time had the lead and Niatross was struggling to hold on for minor spoils. The Saratoga stretch was as short then as it is today, but there was a hubrail and Niatross veered suddenly in mid-stretch and went over it, instantly forcing everyone’s eyes away from the winner and directly at the fallen champion. It was a weird scene that followed with most concerned about Niatross’ immediate condition and simultaneously bewildered at what might have happened to him in this particular race. From my perspective as someone that had witnessed enough races charting for the newspaper, there was something extremely clear that I felt might get lost in translation. Niatross was going to lose the Battle of Saratoga even if he had finished the race on his feet and not rolling into the infield. With essentially no videotape to rely on and the likelihood that this first loss could get spun out of control depending on the source, I recognized the importance of letting anyone and everyone know exactly what had happened at Saratoga from someone who witnessed it in person. So with my friends, we flew out of the parking lot at Saratoga and got back on the road as quickly as possible. The destination was East Rutherford, New Jersey where the Meadowlands would be in session that night and more than likely reporters that covered the sport might want to know exactly what happened. It of course was no surprise to me when I reached The Meadowlands that the story had already been twisted. Reporters had heard that Niattross fell over the hubrail and lost. They hadn’t heard he had lost and fell over the hubrail. The sentences seem almost exact but with a few words adjusted, the meaning was incredibly different. The late Hall of Famer Lou Guida had a large investment in Niatross and that incident at Saratoga knocked the horse off the unbeaten list. There was every reason to protect an investment while at the same time there appeared to be countless reasons why the horse had an off day. The track itself may have played a part. Perhaps the long delay had changed the warm-up-to-race timing and thrown Niatross off his usual game. Needless to say, our horses don’t always do what is expected, but Niatross was a great horse and he would bounce back from defeat. He would lose again in an odd way, making a break in the Meadowlands Pace eliminations, but would regain form and never lose another race the rest of his career. Some 40 years later, I have those memories as well as being trackside at The Red Mile when Niatross paced to a 1:49 1/5 mark in a time trial. It’s still near-impossible to define what that time meant, but that it was nearly three seconds faster than any horse had ever gone before should sum it up. It is impossible to speak of Niatross today without making reference to Somebeachsomewhere. While the latter was far more potent than the former in producing exceptional stakes winners that have gone on to become successful sires, it would be unfair to take their post-racing careers as a barometer to weigh the scales in favor of Somebeachsomewhere. Clearly the demands on horses in 1980 were not the same as they were in 2008 when you consider the speed of the races. At the same time, Niatross raced through full schedules at both 2 and 3 years of age, amassing 39 career starts to the 21 that Somebeachsomewhere put in. The travel demands were far greater for Niatross. It’s impossible to say what might have been had Somebeachsomewhere been sent to post 11 more times as a 3-year-old to match Niatross’ start count. Still when I look back on 2008, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect season than the one put in by Somebeachsomewhere. I say perfect because no matter what the record says, I believe he was unbeaten that year. Thanks to technology I was able to see all of Somebeachsomewhere’s racing career without adding many miles to the odometer and I still can’t decide if that was actually better or not. So let the debate linger.