Meyerhoff of Hawksworth Farm, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The colt was sent into training with Grover G. "Bud" Delp, who remained his trainer throughout his career. Racing record 1978: two-year-old season Spectacular Bid began his racing career on June 30, 1978, at Pimlico Race Course, where he came within of a second of the track record for furlongs. Three weeks later at his next start at Pimlico, an allowance race, he equalled the track record of 1:04.2. He notched stakes victories in the Grade III World's Playground Stakes, the Grade I Champagne Stakes, the Young America Stakes, the Grade I Laurel Futurity (in which he set a track record, a rarity for a two-year-old in a route race, running 1 miles in 1:41.6), and the Heritage Stakes. He also finished second in the Dover Stakes and had his only out-of-the-money finish in the Tyro Stakes. Spectacular Bid's regular jockey was the teenager Ronnie Franklin. By the end of his first year of racing, Spectacular Bid had won seven races in nine starts, set one track record and tied another, won US$384,484 and been unanimously voted the Eclipse champion two-year-old colt for the year. 1979: three-year-old season Preparing for the Triple Crown Spectacular Bid's second year of racing began where his first left off, as he reeled off five wins in rapid succession: the Hutcheson Stakes, the Fountain of Youth, the Florida Derby (all at Gulfstream Park), the Flamingo Stakes (at Hialeah), and the Blue Grass Stakes (at Keeneland Race Course). After the Florida Derby, which Spectacular Bid won by 4½ lengths despite meeting trouble in running, Delp reprimanded Franklin in public over his ride: "You idiot! You nearly killed that horse!". Franklin defended himself by claiming that the other riders had colluded to stop Spectacular Bid obtaining a clear run. Triple Crown attempt Spectacular Bid's attempt at the Triple Crown began with the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in May 1979. The crowd of 125,000 made him the 3/5 favorite, with California champion Flying Paster the bettors' second choice. Spectacular Bid seemed nervous before the start, but Delp was so confident of victory that as the horse paraded in front of the fans, he called, "Go bet! Go bet!" Spectacular Bid was restrained by Franklin in the early stages before moving up on the outside to take the lead on the far turn. He drew clear in the