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Best Pal
Arguably the best handicap runner of 1992, Best Pal was never honored with a national championship but won the hearts of thousands of fans, particularly in his native California. Bred by John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm, he raced in the Mabees’ maroon and gold silks for seven seasons, winning graded races every season he raced and retiring as one of the leading California-bred runners of all time. A son of the 1977 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) winner *Habitony -- a useful but not outstanding sire -- and the King Pellinore mare Ubetshedid, who finished unplaced in her only start, Best Pal was gelded before entering training. Although the rather nondescript bay youngster did have a feisty streak -- to his dying day, he carried a small, crescent-shaped scar on his forehead as a souvenir of a battle with the interior of his stall as an unraced two-year-old -- he was not known for being particularly mean, and the primary reason he was gelded was simply because the Mabees routinely gelded most of their colts unless they were of outstanding pedigree and conformation. Best Pal was neither particularly handsome nor outstandingly blue-blooded, and his dam’s two previous runners had been nothing special. The Mabees may perhaps have regretted their decision after Best Pal began training. Not only did he prove exceptionally intelligent and professional, but he was outworking older stablemates by the time he was sent for his first race. He delivered on that promise during his juvenile season, during which he became the leader of the West Coast-based juveniles with wins in the Balboa Stakes (gr. III), Del Mar Futurity (gr. II) and Norfolk Stakes (gr. I). Sent east to Belmont Park for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I), he ran a dismal race behind winner Fly So Free, signaling a dislike for the deeper eastern tracks that would remain with him for life, but rebounded to win the Hollywood Futurity (gr. I). Despite the fact that he had won more races (six) and more graded stakes (four) than Fly So Free (whose two graded victories were in the Juvenile and in the grade I Champagne Stakes), the lopsided defeat in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile cost Best Pal the national juvenile championship. However, he was named California’s champion state-bred two-year-old male and state-bred Horse of the Year in voting conducted by the California Thoroughbred Breeders‘ Association (CTBA). Best Pal got off to a slow start as a three-year-old, running third in the San Rafael Stakes (gr. II) and second to the Strawberry Road (Aus) gelding Dinard in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I). He next ran a good second to Strike the Gold in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and then ran off the board in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), clearly not caring for the Pimlico surface. Two more seconds followed, in the Silver Screen (gr. III) and Citation (gr. II) handicaps, before Best Pal finally broke his losing streak with a victory in the Swaps Stakes (gr. II). He then stunned good older horses in the inaugural $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar before finishing his season with another upset loss, this to Charmonnier in the restricted California Cup Classic Stakes. Still, he was crowned California’s champion state-bred three-year-old male, and he also repeated as California’s Horse of the Year. Best Pal didn’t need an official championship to tell him he was good; he knew it. While generally a businesslike horse on the racetrack, his juvenile antics were not his only episode of being a handful around the barn. The saying attributed to one of Man o’ War’s handlers of “Ask him nicely, and he might do what you ask; push him, and it’s all off” definitely applied to Best Pal, who preferred not to be bothered when in his stall. Grooms had to move carefully in getting his legs bandaged and his coat brushed, and failure to respect the horse’s whims resulted in bites or kicks. As assistant trainer Marty Jones (son of Best Pal’s second trainer, Gary Jones) said, “He had such an attitude.” Best Pal opened his four-year-old season with four successive wins in the San Fernando Stakes (gr. II), Charles H. Strub Stakes (gr. I), Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I), and Oaklawn Handicap (gr. I), stamping himself as the best older horse in training. His next start, however, was in the Pimlico Special (gr. I), in which he once again demonstrated a distaste for the Pimlico surface and ran unplaced behind winner Strike the Gold. Quarter cracks sent him to the sidelines for the rest of the season, and the championship in the older male division went to Pleasant Tap, who had scored victories in the Suburban Handicap (gr. I) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) before running second to Horse of the Year A.P. Indy (the champion three-year-old male) in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I). Once again, Best Pal settled for state-bred honors, earning the title of California-bred champion older male and his third consecutive crown as California’s Horse of the Year. Best Pal was never again able to consistently maintain the form that he had demonstrated in the early part of 1992, but he had his moments at ages five through seven, winning the 1993 Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I), the 1994 Native Diver Handicap (gr. III), and the 1995 San Antonio Handicap (gr. II). He continued to draw fans to California racetracks and became the subject of a children’s book by James Val, titled Best Pal: A True Story. He also received tons of fan mail, much of it from children, and one particularly devoted fan even had a vanity license plate made up with the legend BES PAL. Arguably the most popular Cal-bred since Native Diver, Best Pal finally retired after a brief campaign at age eight with eighteen wins, eleven seconds, and four thirds from forty-seven starts. Despite never having won a Breeders’ Cup race or a special bonus, he had earned $5,668,245, enough to rank him as the leading Cal-bred money winner of all time. His retirement was given special note by the CTBA, which published a twenty-page supplement detailing his career and some of the personal memories held by the people surrounding him. The Mabees took steps to ensure Best Pal’s future by setting up a living trust to pay for his care, and for the next two and one-half years, Best Pal led the quiet life of a retiree, serving as a lead pony for the young horses at Golden Eagle Farm. But he was not forgotten. He was annually honored at Del Mar racetrack, where he led the post parade for the Pacific Classic (now a grade I race) in 1996 through 1998, and he continued to receive bags of mail and visits from fans bearing his favorite treats -- peppermints and carrots. His unexpected death from an apparent heart attack on November 24, 1998 shocked both the racing media and ordinary racegoers, and over three hundred people attended a special memorial service at Golden Eagle Farm the following March. Appropriately, a headstone of California rock from the fields where he was born and raised adorns his final resting place next to the grave of his sire *Habitony. The gravesite was later expanded to include a plaque in honor of Best Pal’s dam Ubetshedid, who was humanely destroyed due to declining health in September 2003. Best Pal is still remembered fondly at Del Mar, where the race in which he won his first graded victory, the Balboa Stakes, was renamed in his honor in 1996. His name was also given to a popular pub just by the paddock area, which to this day maintains a veritable shrine of Best Pal memorabilia. It is a fitting tribute to a horse that touched the heart of the Golden State. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
