The house of racing upsets was at its demon best today. The heavily favored Furiously ran fourth in one race and the heavily favored Devil His Due ran third in the next, the 66th Whitney Handicap, which was won by the unranked Brunswick, scrambling the standings for year-end honors all over again.
Allen Jerkens, the master of the racing upset, the trainer who beat the great Secretariat in the Whitney exactly 20 years ago with a horse named Onion, considered the fate dealt to his star colt Devil His Due on the same Saratoga track, and said with regret: "He just wasn't good enough today. He gave it a shot. He had no problems. Brunswick was just the better today."
Jerkens had reason to be disappointed. Devil His Due had won four stakes races in his last six starts, he held the lead in the American Championship Racing Series and he seemed to be the leading candidate for Horse of the Year. Yet he was beaten by a horse who had never won a stakes race and who was no better than the third choice to win this one.
But it was Brunswick who rode the tide of upsets at the 126-year-old Saratoga Race Course, and he did it with command. He shadowed Jacksonport for half a mile, then took the lead and withstood the customary late challenge from West By West. Devil His Due simply could not catch them. At the finish, Brunswick had three and a half lengths on West by West, who in turn had three-quarters of a length on Devil His Due, the 3-5 favorite.
Tony Margotta Jr., who trains Brunswick for Jerry Denker, a computer parts executive from New Jersey, paid tribute later to the history that haunts favorites at Saratoga.
"I was talking to my father last night," he said, "talking about the race 20 years ago when Mr. Jerkens sent out Onion to beat Secretariat. He was the giant killer, and now we beat Devil his Due. If I can do one-tenth of what that man has done in racing, I'll be happy."
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