Hovdey: Nerud’s fingerprints all over American Pharoah

It was the day after the Belmont Stakes, and the ripples from American Pharoah’s Triple Crown triumph were still spreading across the waters of the game. Far from the celebratory residue at Belmont Park, I found myself in the office of a stately home tucked away in a wooded corner of Long Island, near the town of Glen Cove.

American Pharoah vibes filled the room. On one wall there hung a portrait of Fappiano, the sire of Unbridled, the sire of Empire Maker, the sire of Pioneerof the Nile, the sire of American Pharoah. On another wall hung a portrait of Dr. Fager, the sire of Killaloe, the dam of Fappiano. On a third wall, next to a window giving out to an expanse of manicured lawn and garden, hung a photograph of Gallant Man in the winner’s circle after the 1957 Belmont Stakes. Only five horses have run the mile and a half Belmont as fast or faster than American Pharoah, and one of them was Gallant Man.

The connective tissue among those images – as well as to the freshly minted Triple Crown winner – was sitting behind his office desk, hands folded, and neat as a pin in a blue and white striped shirt, open vest, and dark slacks.

John Nerud is 102. He does not mind a brief pause for those who want to go, “Oh, my,” seeing as he is also amazed he’s made it this far, although there are concessions. His knees have all but given out, his eyes are failing, and if you want to be heard clearly you need to space your words. But, as Nerud insists, “I still know my name.”

And a whole lot more.

Spending an hour with Nerud on a mild spring afternoon, on the day after the Triple Crown was won for the first time in 37 years, was like falling head first into history. For starters, he has been alive for all 12 Triple Crown winners, although he can hardly be held accountable for any memories of Sir Barton in 1919, since he was only 6 and living on his family’s Nebraska farm.

In 1941, Nerud was a jock’s agent, representing future Hall of Famer Ted Atkinson. He also married Charlotte Fitzgerald of Boston, which he calls the smartest thing he ever did in his life and rendering Whirlaway’s Triple Crown sweep no better than the second best thing to happen that year.

Nerud was in the Navy aboard a transport ship in the Pacific when Count Fleet won the 1943 Triple Crown. By 1946, Assault’s Triple Crown season, he was back in the States as stable agent for Herb Woolf’s Woolford Farm. In 1948 – the year of Citation – Nerud became Woolf’s head trainer. He was 35.

“Ben Jones had won the Derby for Woolf years before and wanted Woolf to do good,” Nerud said, referring to the legendary Calumet trainer. “The day after I got the job he rode down to me and says, ‘Now son, you don’t have enough sense to train these horses, so I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You keep ’em fat and happy, you work ’em half a mile, and you’ll win in spite of yourself.”

Nerud’s first and most memorable brush with the Triple Crown came in 1957 when Gallant Man famously lost the Kentucky Derby by a nose because his jockey, Bill Shoemaker, stood too early in the irons. Nerud took his medicine, passed the Preakness, and pointed for the Belmont by way of winning the Peter Pan.

Bold Ruler, fresh from winning the Preakness, was flashing as the Belmont favorite as Nerud entered the walking ring and was confronted by Ralph Lowe, Gallant Man’s owner, his Texas pal Robert Kleberg, and Kleberg’s trainer, Max Hirsch. Hirsch was no fan of Nerud’s.

“He looks too damn fat to run,” Max growled.

“Well, it’s too late to train him any more,” Nerud replied. “We might as well go watch him.”

Gallant Man won by eight lengths in 2:26 3/5, setting a stakes, track, and American record that stood until Secretariat’s 2:24, in 1973.

American Pharoah is only the latest in a herd of champions tracing back to the corner of the breeding world nurtured by John Nerud, primarily through his work with Tartan Farm of Florida. His masterpiece was Dr. Fager, 1968 Horse of the Year, but the list is long. Any lingering doubts about his memory are erased as he traces the top line of American Pharoah to a mare he bred named Magic, a daughter of Buckpasser and half sister to Dr. Fager who was foaled in 1969.

“That’s a pretty good start, ain’t it,” Nerud said. “She was a big mare with a foot you couldn’t handle, so she never ran. I bred her to In Reality and got a mare that was smaller, but she couldn’t quite run three-quarters of a mile.”

Her name was Charedi, a foal of 1976.

“To put some distance in her I sent her up to that old horse of Bull Hancock’s,” Nerud said. “Nobody would breed to him, but he was a champion by a sire who was a broodmare sire. You remember him?”

Sure, right after I looked it up.

“Le Fabuleux. Right,” Nerud confirmed.

The result was Gana Facil, a foal of 1981 who won 6 of 19 starts. In the meantime, Nerud had bred Met Mile winner Fappiano, who was out of a Dr. Fager mare. But back to Gana Facil.

“She had a lot of distance in her, so she needed her salt and pepper back,” Nerud said. “So I bred her to Fappiano. And that’s how I got Unbridled. I spent 10 years breeding him.”

Racing for Frances Genter, a loyal Nerud client, Unbridled won a Kentucky Derby and a Breeders’ Cup Classic, then continued the lineage that led to American Pharoah.

“I’m kind of proud to have had a little something to do with him,” Nerud said. “I really like that horse.”

In parting Nerud was asked, only half seriously, if he thought he’d ever see another Triple Crown winner. He laughed.

“There’s not many people 102, and even fewer 103,” Nerud said. “I’m just glad I was around to see this one.”