Hovdey: Justify another who burned too brightly

Stuff to be depressed about on this fine summer’s day:

◗ The impending death of the New York Daily News.

◗ Another movie littered with “songs” by ABBA.

Stuff that shouldn’t trouble anyone at all:

◗ The retirement of a racehorse after only six starts.

And yet it does, for purely selfish reasons, since most of us are in the sport to watch horses race, not breed. Justify looked just fine to me this morning. The plus-size chestnut was posing reluctantly for a couple of visitors at Bob Baffert’s Del Mar barn, threatening to take a bite out of someone if they lingered too long near his hay. The scratches on his nose had healed nicely, leaving unmarred his vertical panorama of a blaze, and the complaining left front ankle appeared as shapely as the other three.

There was a time when winning the Triple Crown, while an exemplary achievement, was essentially considered a major stepping-stone on the road to everlasting greatness. With the exception of Count Fleet, who was damaged goods after winning the Belmont (his 21st start), the ultimate evaluation of every Triple Crown winner benefited from further campaigns. And they delivered.

And yet, holding Justify to the standard of past Triple Crown winners is a futile exercise. Those other handsome dozen came in all shapes and sizes, with records ranging from Whirlaway’s 60 starts and 32 wins to the 9 for 11 of American Pharoah. Better Justify should be compared to the cluster of Thoroughbred comets who left an indelible trail after flashing briefly across racing’s firmament.

Commando, foal of 1898, was considered the best American racehorse at the dawn of the 20th century. He raced only nine times, winning seven (including the Belmont Stakes) and finishing second twice. In his last start, on July 4 of his 3-year-old season, Commando went lame running second in the Lawrence Realization and was retired.

“As a race horse, we never knew how good he was, as nothing could extend him,” said James Rowe Sr., Commando’s trainer.

:: Clocker Reports: Get in-depth workout analysis for Del Mar & Saratoga

Hoist the Flag, from the crop of 1968, seemed destined for some kind of greatness. The only blemish on his record was a disqualification from winning the Champagne Stakes, otherwise his record would have been a perfect 6 for 6. And as a grandson of both Ribot and War Admiral, there appeared to be no limit to how far he would carry his speed. But Hoist the Flag fractured an ankle working for the 1971 Gotham, and that was that.

“The first time I ever got on Hoist the Flag, I told everyone I knew that I was going to win the Kentucky Derby with this horse,” said his jockey, Jean Cruguet. “The only reason I didn’t say ‘the Triple Crown’ was because I was so new in this county I didn’t even know what the Triple Crown was.”

Then there was Devil’s Bag, a foal of 1981, ridiculously fast at 2 and everyone’s choice as 1984 dawned. Then a baffling first loss in the Flamingo Stakes was followed by a dull Derby Trial victory and retirement on the eve of a Triple Crown he was supposed to take by the throat. He lost just the one time in nine starts.

“Only 15 weeks ago, Devil’s Bag looked like the most important race horse to have come along since Secretariat a decade ago,” wrote Steven Crist in The New York Times. “His most exciting days seemed to be ahead of him, but it turned out they were all behind him.”

American Pharoah’s one-and-done against older horses in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic was admirable icing on his Triple Crown, but it proved nothing beyond his ability to stand training for an eight-month campaign. Still, compared to his successor in the Baffert barn, American Pharoah lingered like Kelso.

In modern times, because of the agonizing stretch of 37 years between Affirmed and American Pharoah, the Triple Crown has taken on a life of its own, divorced from the languid pacing of the seasonal sport. The compression of the three races is so totally divorced from the realities of typical Thoroughbred handling that the achievement of winning all three now requires no further validation.

At the same time, the practice of retiring 3-year-old entire males like Justify with highly marketable breeding is hardly a revolutionary concept, although there used to be considerably more exceptions to the rule. The 1990s were replete with top 3-year-olds who stuck around for more – Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Unbridled, Skip Away, and even the unfortunate Holy Bull – while more recently they have gone the way of Bernardini, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Street Sense, and Hard Spun, retired to stud at 3 either sound or with a minor manageable injury that needed nothing but time.

To his everlasting credit, Justify delivered on every inch of his promise as a young Thoroughbred of classic potential. And for those who believe the Triple Crown has become too easy to win after it was too hard, stick around. Horses like Justify are unexpected luxuries that defy the odds and set their own standards.

Jill Baffert, the trainer’s wife, may have said it best in reflecting on their heady American Pharoah-Justify parlay.

“I know they’re both a horse of a lifetime,” she said, aware of the contradictory note. “I just hope we haven’t run out of our ‘horse of a lifetime’ lives.”