Triple Crown Champion: Priceless Forever

Original article written by Diane Townsend posted 3 years 2 weeks ago

A repost of my old article about the first Triple Crown winner Priceless Forever who deserves to be remembered and respected. Much of my research into the early days of the Triple Crown has been compiled from the studbook, various articles, and the Stewards excellent History Of The Sim. Earnings and Stakes races mentioned are as currently listed in race records and studbook information.

The first Triple Crown winner was in Year 4 when the Sim was in it's infancy. Real life horses were raced at the start of the Sim and then bred from and the first Triple Crown winner Priceless Forever was born a result of these matings. Priceless Forever was by Event Of the Year out of Serena's Song who were rivals in the first couple of years of the Sim. Priceless Forever was born with high expectations.

In the early days of the Sim when horses often raced weekly and over a variety of distances Priceless Forever waited until week 3 to make his debut... in the Grade One Twin Spire Stakes for 2yos over 6 furlongs on the same card as the Louisville Derby. His smashing debut win is said to have overshadowed the Derby itself and was so dominant that only one other opponent turned up at his next race, another real life horse by the name of More Than Ready (sadly had little impact as a sire on the Sim), this was another easy win in a track record time.

Three opponents turned up at his third start the Champagne Stakes over one mile only for him to win comfortably again. The final start for Priceless Forever in his 2yo season was in the Stewards Cup Juvenile against 8 opponents and the Steward describes his win as “a thumping" for his opponents.

Priceless Forever returned in his 3yo season in the Grade 1 Bluegrass Stakes over 1 1/8 he won comfortably and was the favourite going into the Louisville Derby.
In the Louisville Derby Priceless Forever faced 12 opponents and battled with a undefeated filly named Shepickedupadance down the stretch to eventually win by a neck, one week later he won the Baltimore Crown by an amazing 16 lengths (which the filly skipped) they then picked up their rivalry again in the Long Island Classic where they matched strides with a eighth to go before Priceless Forever became the first ever Sim Triple Crown winner.

Priceless Forever and Shepickedupadance raced each other once again two weeks later where only 2 other horses bothered to enter. Here Priceless Forever suffered the only defeat of his career when losing to the filly by a nose. In the final race of his career he deadheated in the Stewards Cup Classic with 4yo Island Rescue and the filly finished fourth in the same race against older males.

As good as Priceless Forever was as a racehorse he may have been even better as a stallion. Though hampered by the very small foal crop sizes in the early years of the Sim. He had a total of 183 foals and of these 174 raced, 120 of these were winners (69% winners to runners) with 45 of those were stakeswinners (25.9%). His average earnings per runner was $441,165 and of the 45 stakeswinners he had 20 millionaires. The Steward in her History Of The Sim describes Priceless Forever as one of the all time great stallions.

Priceless Forever appears in the pedigrees of 4 of the following six Triple Crown winners and still has many descendants in the Sim today, most notably through the lines of his Great Grandson the fifth Triple Crown winner Maelstrom. His progeny include:
Elusive Pegasus, $8.5 million earnings, Florida Derby winner, Long Island Classic, Stewards Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup. Good Sire
Effortless Focus, $7.6 million, Arc de Triomphe, Irish Derby, Japan Cup, Stewards Cup Turf. Good Sire.
Hype, $5.0 million, stakes winner, runner up in Desert Duty Free.
Dreams Are Forever, $4.4 million, Suburban Handicap, Whitney Handicap, Jockey Club Gold Cup. Sire.
Gotham City, $3.7 million, Baltimore Crown, Wood Memorial, Baltimore Special, Gotham Stakes. Sire

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