Kentucky Derby Lucky Loser: Slew o’ Gold (1983)

Sep 15, 2026 Jennifer S. Kelly

Slew o'Gold wins the Jockey Club Gold Cup. (Photo by Coglianese Photo)

History remembers the winners of the Kentucky Derby, but the sport of horse racing belongs to those whose greatness outshines a single afternoon in May. In 1983, a strapping bay colt named Slew o' Gold crossed the finish line at Churchill Downs in a disappointing fourth place. To the casual observer, he was just another beaten favorite on racing’s biggest stage. But while winner Sunny's Halo took the roses, Slew o' Gold took the long road to immortality. The son of Seattle Slew would go on to challenge older horses, sweep elite New York stakes, and earn a place in the Hall of Fame—proving that while he lost the Derby, racing gained one of its most dominant modern champions.

Royal Roots

Alluvial may never have stood in the winner’s circle, but she certainly knew how to produce horses who did. Coastal, her colt by Majestic Prince, won the 1979 Belmont Stakes, the same one where Spectacular Bid finished third and did not cinch the third Triple Crown in as many years. Four years later, she produced a half-brother to her classic winner, a colt by Seattle Slew, a stallion that had passed many a test on the racetrack but was untested as a sire. That colt was Slew o’ Gold.

When Seattle Slew retired to stud in 1978, his owners, Karen and Mickey Taylor and Dr. James and Susan Hill, made a deal with Claiborne Farm’s Seth Hancock to help their new stallion get the best mares. The ownership group had retained 20 shares in Seattle Slew, who stood at Spendthrift Farm, and the foal-sharing arrangement with Claiborne allowed them to breed two mares to the son of Bold Reasoning each year. If the mares produced two colts, then the Taylors and Hills had their choice of foal. If the mares produced two fillies, then Hancock had first choice. If the mares produced a colt and a filly, then Seattle Slew’s owners kept the colt. In 1980, Alluvial, a daughter of the Hall of Famer Buckpasser, and the other mare Desert Law both produced colts; the Taylors and Hills selected Alluvial’s plain bay colt, while Desert Law’s foal went to Hancock, who later sold the colt at the Keeneland July Select Sale for $650,000.

They named him Slew o’ Gold and raced him in the colors of Equusequity Stable, the partnership that the Taylors and Hills had formed to breed and race their own stable of foals by their big horse. The sixteen partners, headed by the Taylors and Hills, who managed Slew o’ Gold’s racing career, were treated to quite a ride with Alluvial’s colt.

Trainer Sidney Watters, Jr., had worked with Hoist the Flag, who had been a favorite for the 1971 Kentucky Derby until an injury ended his career early that season, and steeplechase champions Amber Diver and Shadow Brook, before Slew o’ Gold joined his barn. The future Hall of Famer deferred the colt’s debut until mid-October 1982, when he sent the Seattle Slew juvenile out in a 6 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Aqueduct. Sent off as the favorite, Slew o’ Gold held off Countertrade by a neck. He followed that up with a one-mile allowance win before trying the Remsen Stakes, where he was coupled with stablemate Slewpy, but neither showed anything notable, finishing midpack in the field of 11.

That was the end of Slew o’ Gold’s juvenile season, hinting at his potential with two wins in three starts, and setting the stage for his own try at the Triple Crown classics that his sire had dominated.

Steady Start

Watters opted for the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs to open the colt’s sophomore season, but he was sluggish coming out of the gate and could do no better than third, beaten 4 1/2 lengths by the winning Saverton. Two weeks later, Slew o’ Gold returned in the Tampa Bay Derby, taking another shot at the Triple Crown trail. This time, he encountered traffic on both turns and was unable to catch Morganmorganmorgan in the stretch, finishing second by three lengths.

The team behind Slew o’ Gold brought him back up north to Aqueduct for his final preparations for the 109th Kentucky Derby. First, he won a nine-furlong allowance race, getting him back on the winning track, and then he tried the Wood Memorial, the same race his sire won before his 1977 Derby win. He competed in the second division of this traditional New York prep, with Eddie Maple his pilot for this prep race. Maple had him sixth of seven on the backstretch and then moved him up through the field on the far turn before taking the lead over Parfaitement in the stretch to win by a neck.

That led to a date with destiny in the 1983 Kentucky Derby, where Angel Cordero, Jr., would be his pilot. In the 20-horse field, the son of Seattle Slew drew the rail, which could have been problematic if not for his rider. Cordero was able to find running room early in seventh and then find the right lane to mount his bid in the stretch to finish fourth behind Sunny’s Halo.

Unsuccessful under the Twin Spires, Watters decided to skip the Preakness for the 12-furlong Belmont Stakes, which, according to the trainer, was more his distance. He prepped for the final Triple Crown classic with a turn in the nine-furlong Peter Pan Stakes; with Cordero again in the saddle, the son of Alluvial set a stakes record of 1:46 2/5 in his 12-length romp. On June 11, nearly two weeks later, he faced Preakness winner Deputed Testamony and Caveat, third in the Kentucky Derby, at Belmont Park. Cordero had Slew o’ Gold close to the leader Au Point throughout the first mile and then made his move on the sweeping far turn, as Caveat with Laffit Pincay, Jr., was also moving. Inside the last quarter of a mile, Caveat’s momentum carried him past the son of Seattle Slew to win by 3 1/2 lengths.

Slew o’ Gold followed up that second in the Belmont with a sixth in the Haskell and then a second behind Play Fellow in the Travers before a start in the Woodward Stakes, where he faced older horses for the first time, including Bates Motel, the favorite from California. Cordero had the Seattle Slew colt on the lead in the stretch and repelled Bates Motel’s final onslaught to win the Woodward by a nose.

The pair met again in the Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park three weeks later, September 24, but while Bates Motel and Slew o’ Gold were battling through the stretch, Highland Blade snuck through to their inside and was able to get a neck in the front at the wire. As Russ Harris wrote in the New York Daily News, “the upset, engineered by trainer David Whitely, who gained fame six years ago when Coastal torpedoed Spectacular Bid in the Belmont Stakes, threw the Horse of the Year picture into total chaos,” a comment that harkened back to Slew o’ Gold’s classic-winning half-brother.

Watters tapped the Jockey Club Gold Cup as his charge’s final start of his sophomore season, where he would face Highland Blade, Play Fellow, and the great John Henry over the 12 furlongs. Cordero held Slew o’ Gold midpack until the head of the stretch, when he moved him to the front and won by an easy three lengths. It was enough to earn Slew o’ Gold an Eclipse Award for Champion Three-Year-Old Colt for 1983.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSNfXN1RpZI

Evolving Excellence

After two seasons in Sidney Watters’ barn, the partners behind Equusequity decided to shift Slew o’ Gold to a new barn after an incident where the four-year-old colt escaped his hot walker and was covered in lacerations when he was finally corralled. They chose John Hertler, a young trainer who had not yet had a Grade 1 stakes winner, to take over the son of Seattle Slew’s preparations for the new season.

First up was the Hurry Off allowance, a one-mile test that he passed with ease, winning by 7 1/2 lengths. Then Hertler had him ready for the nine-furlong Whitney at Saratoga, where he faced only two rivals after two others scratched out of the race late. Slew o’ Gold had no trouble collecting his second win of 1984 by 1 3/4 lengths. He then returned to Belmont Park for the same trio of races he had tried the year before, seeking his second win in the Woodward and the Jockey Club Gold Cup and improving on his second-place finish in the Marlboro Cup.

In a muddy Woodward, Slew o’ Gold managed to eke out a win over a former claimer who was a tough competitor late. Despite his trouble taking hold of the track, the four-year-old refused to be beaten and responded to Cordero’s urging to win by a half-length. Then, in the Marlboro Cup two weeks later, Slew o’ Gold battled a foot ailment to beat Carr de Naskra, collecting his second of the three Fall Championship Series, which carried a $1 million bonus. Three weeks later, on October 20, the son of Seattle Slew put the cherry on top with his commanding 9 ¾ length win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. After missing the $1 million bonus by a neck the year before, the four-year-old successfully completed the trio of races and added that cool million to his career winnings.

That race also made him eligible for the first Breeders’ Cup Classic, which was to be run at Hollywood Park on November 10, 1984. There, he would face a field that would include 1984 Preakness winner Gate Dancer; Precisionist, a multiple graded-stakes winner in California; seasoned handicapper Wild Again; and familiar foes Desert Wine and Track Barron. In the final race of his career, Slew o’ Gold challenged the leader Wild Again in the stretch and then was joined by Gate Dancer later, the trio bumping each other as they battled down the stretch. At the wire, Wild Again was a head in front of Gate Dancer, who was another head ahead of Slew o’ Gold. But an inquiry into all of that contact resulted in the disqualification of Gate Dancer to third, which elevated Slew o’ Gold to second in his final start. His winning four-year-old season led him to a second Eclipse Award, this time for Champion Older Male.

He entered stud at Three Chimney Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, and was soon joined by his sire, who moved there from his original post at Spendthrift Farm. Slew o’ Gold started off strong as a sire, getting stakes winners like Awe Inspiring and Thirty-Six Red, but was not able to maintain that influence over time. He passed away at Three Chimneys in 2007, five years after his sire’s death in 2002. Slew o’ Gold was one of two champions from Seattle Slew’s first crop of foals, and alongside Landaluce, the son of Alluvial presaged the outsized influence that the 10th Triple Crown winner would have on the modern Thoroughbred.