Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Real Quiet (March 7, 1995 – September 27, 2010) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was nicknamed "The Fish" by his trainer, due to his narrow frame.
He was bred by Eduardo Gaviria, a Colombian proprietor of two stud farms: one near Bogotá in Colombia and another, Little Hill Farm, in Ocala, Florida where Real Quiet was foaled. Gaviria purchased mare Really Blue at the 1990 Keeneland November sale for $37,000, in foal to Spend A Buck. Gaviria decided to breed Really Blue with Quiet American. The result was Real Quiet. However, the colt's crooked knees prompted Gaviria to sell Real Quiet at a yearling auction to Michael E. Pegram for only $17,000.
Two year-old season
Trained by Bob Baffert, racing as a two year-old in 1997, Real Quiet started out slow, needing seven races before getting his first win. He won his first race in a maiden special weight at Hollywood Park at eight and a half furlongs winning by 3 lengths. Later that Spring he finished third in $250,000 Indian Nations Futurity Cup at Santa Fe and the third in the $200,000 grade three Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs losing to Cape Town. He finished the year with a big score in the one million dollar Hollywood Futurity at 8.5 furlongs defeating Artax and Nationalore. He finished his two year-old season with a record of 2-0-5 in nine starts with annual earnings of $381,122.
Three year-old season
Although still lightly regarded in a year with many quality three-year-olds competing, in 1998 he was ridden to victory by jockey Kent Desormeaux in the Kentucky Derby. His Beyer Speed Figure recorded in the Hollywood Futurity proved to be the highest Beyer rating of any two-year-old horse that went on to win the Kentucky Derby. He then won the Preakness Stakes by a convincing margin. The weeks leading up to the Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg of the coveted Triple Crown, were full of excited speculation on Real Quiet's chances, but he lost his bid for racing immortality when Victory Gallop beat him by a nose in the final stride of the race.
No horse had come closer to taking the Triple Crown since Affirmed's victory in 1978 and, as of the 2011 Triple Crown, this remains true. Kent Desormeaux was criticized for his jockeying in the Belmont Stakes. Many believed he moved out too fast at the start, causing Real Quiet to tire in the final strides of the longer-than-average Belmont course. For his performances in 1998, Real Quiet won the Eclipse Award for best three-year-old colt.
Four year-old season
As a four-year-old, Real Quiet won the grade one Pimlico Special and the grade one Hollywood Gold Cup. In the $600,000 grade one Special, Real Quiet was the second choice to Free House, who had won both grade one starts coming into the race that year including the Santa Anita Handicap. They dueled down the home-stretch, with Gary Stevens driving Real Quiet forward and Chris McCarron trying to hold his thin lead aboard Free House. In the final strides, Real Quiet poked his nose in front to win one of the closest Special Handicaps ever. I was afraid that Free House would get out front and steal it, Baffert said. It looked as though Free House didn't want to give it up. But we were just lucky to get by him. Real Quiet ran the mile and three-sixteenths in 1:54 1/5 returned $5.80 for a $2 bet to win and added $360,000 to a bankroll that passed $2.6 million.
He was the first horse in 50 years to win the Preakness Stakes and the Pimlico Special. He still remains one of only five horses to accomplish that feat along with four Triple Crown winners in Citation, Whirlaway, Assault and War Admiral.
That summer Real Quiet won the one million dollar grade one Hollywood Gold Cup defeating Budroyale and Malek over ten furlongs in 1:59.67. He also managed to place third in the grade two Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs losing to Behrens and Running Stag. He had two seconds in the grade three New Orleans Handicap and the grade three Texas Mile Stakes. Real Quiet was considered to be a strong contender in the Breeders' Cup Classic and was entered in the Pacific Classic. However, he was injured and unable to race for the rest of the year. He finished his four year-old season as a millionaire with a record of 2-2-1 in five starts and annual earnings of $1,101,880.
Retirement
As a 4-year-old, Real Quiet suffered a fractured splint bone in his right front leg. He had won or placed in 17 of 20 starts and earned $3,271,802.
Real Quiet entered stud for a fee of $25,000 in 2000 at Vinery Kentucky near Lexington. George Hofmeister's Highland Farm had purchased the breeding rights in Real Quiet the month before the Kentucky Derby. Hofmeister had bought majority interest in Vinery, owned by Ben P. Walden Jr. and his wife, Elaine.
Real Quiet later stood at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky and Pin Oak Lane Farm then Penn Ridge, both in Pennsylvania. Real Quiet also shuttled to Australia and Uruguay, taking advantage of the reversed breeding season observed in the southern hemisphere.
In 2005, he was relocated to Regal Heir Farms in Pennsylvania. He has produced a prime runner in the Philippines named Real Spicy who is owned by Hermie Esguerra. The horse is a strong contender for that country's own version of the 2005 Triple Crown Championship. Although Real Quiet's progeny has not been nearly as successful in the United States, he managed to produce Pussycat Doll, who won the La Brea Stakes and the G1 Humana Distaff Handicap (defeating her stablemate Behaving Badly), No Place Like It, winner of the U.S.A Pine Oak Stakes, and Wonder Lady Ann L, winner of the 2006 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Belmont Park. He also sired back to back Breeders' Cup Sprint winner, Midnight Lute. Real Quiet died on September 27, 2010, after falling in his paddock at Penn Ridge Farms.