Alysheba

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Alysheba


caption =
sire = Alydar
grandsire = Raise a Native
dam = Bel Sheba
damsire = Lt. Stevens
sex = Stallion
foaled = March 3, 1984
country = United States flagicon|USA
colour = Bay
breeder = Preston W. Madden
owner = Dorothy & Pamela Scharbauer
trainer = Jack Van Berg
record = 26: 11-8-2
earnings = $6,679,242
race = Kentucky Derby (1987)
Preakness Stakes (1987)
Super Derby (1987)
Santa Anita Handicap (1988)
Woodward Stakes (1988)
Breeders' Cup Classic (1988)
awards= U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1987)
U.S. Champion Older Male Horse (1988)
United States Horse of the Year (1988)
honours = United States Racing Hall of Fame (1993)
#42 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
Alysheba Court in Napa, California
Alysheba Way in Lexington, Kentucky
Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs
updated= May 30, 2008

Alysheba (foaled March 3 1984) was an American thoroughbred race horse.

A bay colt, Alysheba was sired by Alydar out of the dam, Bel Sheba. Trained by Jack Van Berg, in 1986 Alysheba had a good but less than spectacular two-year-old season, winning only a maiden race but eventually finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and losing the Hollywood Futurity in a photo finish. As a three year old, he underperformed in his preparation races before the Kentucky Derby until it was discovered that he had an entrapped epiglottis. Surgery was successful, and he was entered in the Derby despite having only a maiden victory, albeit with several placings in major stakes.

In the Derby, he was nearly knocked to the ground along with jockey Chris McCarron at the top of the stretch by Bet Twice, who would become a major rival. He was able to recover and won the Derby in slow time, 2:03 4/5 for 1 1/4 miles. He then came back with another win in the Preakness Stakes, and attempted to become American racing's 12th Triple Crown winner in the Belmont Stakes.

In the Belmont, Alysheba was required to race without the medication Lasix, which was prohibited at the time in New York racing. He ran a dull race, finishing fourth as Bet Twice won by 14 lengths. He next went to Monmouth Park for the Haskell Invitational, where he met Bet Twice as well as Lost Code, a top-class speed horse who had won several Derbies run at minor racetracks. The three horses finished right together at the wire, with Bet Twice winning in a driving finish. Later in the year, he lost to Java Gold on an off track in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, then won the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, his final preparation race for the Breeders' Cup Classic, at the time the world's richest horse race.

In the Breeders' Cup Classic, he met 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand in the first meeting of Kentucky Derby winners since Affirmed met Spectacular Bid in the 1979 Jockey Club Gold Cup. The race lived up to expectations, with Ferdinand, ridden by 56 year old Willie Shoemaker, beating Alysheba in a photo finish. Alysheba lost the Horse of the Year vote to Ferdinand but was named 1987's Champion Three Year Old.

As a four year old in 1988, Alysheba won the Charles H. Strub Stakes over Candi's Gold, and then, turned the tables on his nemesis Ferdinand with wins in the Santa Anita Handicap and then, in another photo finish, the San Bernardino Handicap with each horse carrying 127 pounds.

Alysheba then suffered a loss to his old foes Bet Twice and Lost Code in the Pimlico Special, which was revived for the first time in three decades in 1988. He suffered another loss to Cutlass Reality, who upset both Alysheba and Ferdinand in the Derby winners' final meeting in the Hollywood Gold Cup. Alysheba then defeated Bet Twice in the Philip K. Islelin Handicap at Monmouth, and beat a tremendous field including 1988 Travers 1-2 finishers Forty Niner and Seeking the Gold, eventual Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Waquoit, and Florida Derby winner Brian's Time in the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park, running the 1 1/4 miles in a then track record time of 1:59 2/5.

Alysheba closed out his career on a dark, rainy evening at Churchill Downs, winning the Breeders' Cup Classic over Seeking the Gold, Waquoit, Forty Niner, and Cutlass Reality, and securing Horse of the Year and champion older horse honors.

Of his 26 career races, the horse finished with a 11-8-2 record and earnings of $6,679,242, a U.S. racing record at the time.

In 1993, Alysheba was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Alysheba was ranked #42.

Alysheba stood at stud at Lane's End Farm in Woodford County, Kentucky until 1999 when he was sold to a breeding operation in Saudi Arabia. Alysheba sired eleven stakes winners of which his best was 1994 Canadian Horse of the Year Alywow. [http://www.tbheritage.com/HistoricDams/EngFoundationMares/Family20/Family20.html] Other offspring of note was multiple stakes winner, Desert Waves. Upon the death of Genuine Risk in August 2008, Alysheba became the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner.

External links

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/alysheba Alysheba's pedigree]
* [http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2006/derby_history/derby_charts/years/1987.html Alysheba's Kentucky Derby]
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0112907.html Preakness winners]