Cauthen hoping for end to Triple Crown drought

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For three weeks, the phone calls never stopped.

Japan. France. Australia. From all over the globe they came, often at odd hours, often to the surprise of a reserved 18-year-old kid from northern Kentucky who never imagined living life in the spotlight.

Steve Cauthen spent six glorious and gut-churning weeks in the spring of 1978 becoming maybe the most famous athlete on the planet while guiding Affirmed to the Triple Crown, edging the great Alydar in three epic races that culminated in a breathtaking duel in the Belmont, the defining moment in racing’s greatest rivalry.

It’s the kind of air no other jockey has been able to breathe in the last 30 years, leaving Cauthen with a title he never thought he’d have for three decades: “last jockey to win the Triple Crown.”

It’s a moniker Cauthen thinks he may finally get to give up. Big Brown and jockey Kent Desormeaux will enter the starting gate at the Belmont on June 7 with the chance to become the 12th horse – and first since Affirmed – to win the Triple Crown.

Cauthen thinks the strapping bay colt, who has so easily dominated the field in his five career starts, has what it takes to snap the longest Triple Crown drought since Sir Barton became the first horse to take all three races in 1919.

“I would never root against anybody else winning the Triple Crown and I wouldn’t want anybody rooting against me,” Cauthen said. “The horse really looks like he’s got some extraordinary talent.”