By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Affirmed on the inside, Steve Cauthen up, wins the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown, ahead of Alydar, Jorge Velasquez up, in this June 10, 1978 photo. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Sooner or later, the hoofbeats of horse racing history will catch up with Steve Cauthen.

Possibly as soon as today another jockey will win the Triple Crown, ending Cauthen's 25-year reign as the last to achieve the sport's ultimate prize. For Cauthen, that would bring some peace and quiet during those years when a horse threatens the Triple Crown by winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes prior to the Belmont Stakes.

Ever since the 18-year-old "Wonder Kid" shocked horse racing in 1978 by riding Affirmed to three narrow wins ahead of rival Alydar in the Triple Crown races, Cauthen must field a deluge of media phone calls to his Verona, Ky., home every time a horse wins the first two legs, as Funny Cide has done this year.

Today, the gelding and jockey Jose Santos will race for just more than two minutes trying to join the ranks of horse racing legends that include Cauthen and Affirmed.

"As if I have control over it," said Cauthen, now a 43-year-old breeder at Dreamfields Farm in Verona. "It's a busy time of the year for me. People want to talk. They want to know the perspective of someone who has won it, how it feels."

Funny Cide's quest for the Triple Crown marks the ninth time since Affirmed in 1978 that a horse has won the first two legs entering the Belmont. None of the previous eight could complete the arduous task of finishing the trilogy at the Belmont, which is the longest of the three at 1 1/2 miles. Last year, War Emblem sprinted to wins in the Derby and the Preakness only to fade to eighth place in the Belmont. That provided more evidence to how difficult it is to win the Triple Crown and why it has been done just 11 times since 1919, when Sir Barton first accomplished the feat.

The current 25-year gap matches the longest stretch between Triple Crown winners. Secretariat won all three classics in 1973, the first horse to do so since Citation in 1948.

"I'd love to see this horse (Funny Cide) go out and beat these horses fair and square, convincingly," Cauthen said. "Just to prove that he's an exceptional horse. I believe he's got the best chance of the last three or four that tried to win the Triple Crown."

For the first time since he won it, Cauthen will attend the Belmont, just as he did the Derby and the Preakness, to help Visa, the corporate sponsor, celebrate the 25th anniversary of the last Triple Crown winner. Normally, Cauthen isn't one to make known his presence at such an event.

"I think people think I'm a jinx," Cauthen said. "I don't want to jinx them, so I keep my distance. I want them to win. I really do."

Like most horse racing fans, Cauthen is enamored by Funny Cide's owners' story of high school buddies, all working-class men in upstate New York, starting a horse stable for $25,000 and eventually purchasing a Triple Crown threat.

"The whole thing is as big of a fairy tale as me winning the Triple Crown at 18," Cauthen said. "It's a story that's exciting and great for racing."

He doesn't necessarily mind the attention he gets this time of the year, but as a horse racing fan, Cauthen is like anyone else who just wants to see another Triple Crown winner - finally.

He is different from the average fan, however, in that a younger brother, Doug, is president and chief executive officer of WinStar Farms in Versailles, Ky., where Funny Cide's sire, Distorted Humor, still stands. Because he is a gelding, Funny Cide cannot reproduce, but the stud fees of Distorted Humor stand to increase significantly if Funny Cide gets to the wire first today.

"It will be a huge thrill (for Santos)," should Funny Cide win today, Cauthen said. "Then after a few days, he'll come back to reality and start riding races again. But it does change the way people look at you. You know, there's a bunch of great jockeys. You have to get on the right horse at the right time, and everything has to go perfect."

If Funny Cide, or some other horse finally wins another Triple Crown, how great will people remember Cauthen's 1978 feat to be?

"That won't hurt Steve's legacy at all," said Mike Battaglia, Churchill Downs oddsmaker and NBC analyst. "It would take a heck of a youngster to knock out his record as the youngest ever to win the Triple Crown. His place in racing history is secure."

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E-mail ddow@enquirer.com