Stud News
BY   DAVID   SCHMITZ
CHAMPION LITTLE CURRENT DEAD AT 32
Son of Sea-Bird powered his way to Preakness and Belmont wins
Little Current, whose powerful bursts of speed in the stretch resulted in 
lengthy victories in both the 1974 
Preakness (gr. I) and Belmont (gr. I) Stakes the year he was champion 3-year-old 
male, was euthanized Jan. 
19 at age 32 after a bout with colic. He had resided since 1995 at Drs. Mark and 
Ann Hansen's farm near 
Monroe, Wash.
"He was healthy and normal for a 32-year-old, " said Ann Hansen, who owns 
Pacific Equine clinic with her 
husband. "Up to his final days, he was still running and rolling around. We 
discovered the colic problem 
when my husband went out there for a routine check. We knew that surgery would 
be too hard on him at 
his age. "
Mark Hansen became a big fan of Little Current after watching the horse's races 
on television and reading 
articles about him. He and his wife first visited Little Current when the son of 
Sea-Bird stood ° at Doug 
Arnold's Buck Pond Farm near Versailles, Ky.
"He was a striking individual, " Ann Hansen said. "In his races, he showed such 
heart and powerful bursts 
of energy. "
Little Current raced as a homebred for Darby Dan Farm owner John Galbreath. The 
Darby Dan program 
was geared toward producing the classic horse, and the mating of French great 
Sea-Bird to the My Babu 
mare Luiana at Darby Dan near Lexington in the spring of 1970 was made with that 
in mind. A Native 
Dancer grandson, Sea-Bird had established himself as one of racing's greatest 
runners with dominating 
wins in the 1965 Epsom Derby and Prix de 1'Arc de Triomphe, both at 1 1/2 miles. 
The son of Dan Cupid 
stood at Darby Dan under a lease arrangement. Luiana, although unraced, was a 
half-sister to Galbreath's 
1963 Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner Chateaugay.
In his first two starts as a 2-year-old of 1973, Little Current showed speed 
instead of the closing ability 
usually associated with classic performers. "He was a speed type of horse, " 
said trainer Lou Rondinello 
from his Long Island home. "Angel Cordero, who rode him, wanted to keep trying 
for the lead, but I
told him to take him back. If he was going to become a classic horse, he had to 
learn to come from behind. 
".
Cordero followed instructions. Little Current won in his fourth and last start 
of the year and soon was on 
his way to Florida to prepare for the classics.
Little Current went into the 1974 Kentucky Derby with his lone
win of the season coming in the Everglades Stakes (gr. II) at Hialeah. He also 
went in with a new rider. 
Cordero had committed to the Woody Stephens-trained Cannonade, and Miguel 
Rivera, who had ridden 
Little Current to a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) nine 
days before the 100th Run for the 
Roses in his only start aboard the horse, was committed to Rube the Great. 
Little Current had a new rider in 
Robert Ussery.
There was another complication. Rondinello had undergone a kidney stone 
operation and was unable to 
give Ussery on-track instructions. He watched the race on television at a 
hospital.
Sent off at 22-1 in a huge field of 23, Little Current ran into traffic several 
times, but still managed to rally 
from 17th at the top of the stretch to finish fifth behind winner Cannonade. 
(Rube the Great ran 10th. ) Not 
much was thought of Little Current's stretch run until later on.
Reunited with Rivera and with Rondinello healthy, Little Current redeemed 
himself in a huge way in the 
Preakness and Belmont over Cannonade, winning both races by seven lengths. The 
margin was the largest 
for a Preakness winner since Bold scored by that many lengths in 1951 and has 
been equaled only once 
since then, by Hansel in 1991. Little Current's time of l: 54Xs equaled what was 
then the third-fastest time 
in the race's history. It was after the Belmont that talk of Little Current's 
Derby stretch run surfaced in a big 
way. Many felt that with less hindrance, Little Current would have won the 
Derby. Thus, racing would 
have had its second consecutive Triple Crown winner, following Secretariat. 
Churchill limited the Derby 
field to 20 starters, starting in 1975.
Galbreath's grandson, current Darby Dan head John Phillips, remembers his 
grandfather felt that Little 
Current should have won the Triple Crown. "Many other people feel the same way, 
" Phillips said. "He was 
disappointed for the horse, not for himself. Little Current was the one who 
changed the ruling to 20 starters. 
He was a kind and beautiful horse, the epitome of a Darby Dan horse with his 
closing running style. "
Little Current raced three more times before retirement. He was beaten a nose in 
the Monmouth Invitational 
Handicap (gr. I) and by a head in the Travers Stakes (gr. I), both times to 
Holding Pattern, then suffered an 
ankle injury in the Lawrence Realization (gr. IIT). A good finish in the 
Realization would have earned him 
a try in the Arc. Two years earlier, Galbreath had run his Epsom Derby winner 
Roberta in the Arc, but the 
colt finished unplaced.
Little Current, who was syndicated for $4 million that summer, retired with four 
wins from 16 starts and 
earnings of $354, 704. Although he was champion 3-year-old male, he wasn't much 
of a threat to Forego 
for Horse of the Year. Little Current returned to Darby Dan to enter stud in 
1975.
Little Current sired 35 stakes winners. His runners scored graded wins on both 
dirt and turf, and two of 
them, Current Hope and Prize Spot, were grade I winners. One of his added-rnoney 
winners, Curribot, 
became a fan favorite in the Southwest by winning 21 stakes there.
Following his years of stallion duty at Darby Dan, Little Current was moved to 
Buck Pond and later stood 
at George Oechsner's Good Guys Farm in Louisiana before heading to the Hansens' 
farm. His last crop was 
foaled in 1997.
Little Current's death came shortly after the demise of 1981 Derby/Preakness 
winner Pleasant Colony. The 
oldest living Derby winner and Preakness winner is 1979 victor Spectacular Bid, 
who stands at Dr. 
Jonathan Davis' Milfer Farm near Unadilla, N. Y. The oldest Belmont winner is 
believed to be 1979 winner 
Coastal, who at last report resides at Mick Goss' Summerhill Farm in South 
Africa.
Little Current will be buried at Buck Pond.
THE BLOOD-HORSE •  FEBRUARY  1, 2003