Hall of Fame - Satelite

Original article written by Paul Sellers posted 16 years 3 weeks ago

Had a clerk at the SIM Jockey Club been a bit more observant, the pedigrees of many of the current group of sprinters would look very different. Whether it was an intentional bit of jargling or typographical error, only breeder Jon Xett knows, but what’s for certain is that the most important sprinter in the racing world needed one less letter on his Hall of Fame plaque.

The son of a granddaughter of Serena’s Song, Satelite was born with a silver coat and a silver bit in his mouth. He was born from one of the first crops of Steward’s Cup Sprint runner-up Rapid Bay and was the first foal of Serena Storm. While Satelite was certainly bred for success, it wasn’t entirely certain that he would be so successful; he is the only offspring of either Rapid Bay or Serena Storm to earn a million dollars.

Satelite made his racing debut on a cool spring day at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in the first race at Arcadia Park. From the moment the gates opened, it took him only fifty-four seconds to steal the collective breath of the horse racing world. Winning by an ever widening thirteen and a half lengths, Satelite vanquished his foes (runner-up Lighting a Candle would go on to win the Long Island Classic) and stamped himself as a star.

Satelite raced three more times that year, winning every race, capturing the Two Year Old Sprint Championship and securing the Simmy for Champion Two Year Old Colt. It would be the first of five Simmys he would win.

Trainer Jon Xett mapped out a sensible schedule for Satelite as he began his sophomore campaign and left little question about his dominance. He won his first race at 3 by a whopping seventeen lengths, and then won two more Grade Two stakes before heading into the Steward’s Cup Sprint with his undefeated record still intact. In a classic East versus West showdown Satelite took on his rival, Riches Are Grand for the Sprint title. When the dust settled, Satelite bested his rival by six lengths and secured two more Simmy Awards.

While his four-year-old season began with the assumption that it would be little more than a coronation, the racing world was also enamored with another horse with an alternatively spelled name: The Scarlet Nite. Born in the same year, both horses had dominated their respective surfaces, Satilte taking no prisoners on the dirt and ‘Nite defeating all-comers on the lawn. What likely originated as an argument among racing enthusiasts became resounding demand for a match race between the two most dominant horses training in North America.

In the late summer of Year 12, Owners Jon Xett and Brianna McKenzie finally indulged the masses and agreed to a 1300 meter race on the turf at Arcadia Park. While Satelite was untried on grass, there was a little bit of turf in his pedigree – both Seeking the Gold and Gentlemen could be found in his bloodlines. In a thrilling race, Satlelite won by a nose, and ended his career on top. He then was shuttled off to begin his life as a stallion.

While it could be safely assumed that his foals would run fast, it was his third crop that assured him of being a commanding influence on the breed for generations to come. Pincay, Saturn, and Villain were so compelling on the racecourse and prolific in the breeding shed that in the foreseeable future his lasting influence on the breed might not be a good one. Because he was such a sire-of-sires the sprinting segment of the thoroughbred world is now quite convoluted and inbred. That said, of his 109 foals to reach racing age, only seven were not winners at the track.

As one member of the Jockey Club put it, “He was the horse by which to judge all other horses, and for sprinters, that might never go away. He will always be number one.”

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