Seattle Slew
When Murless retired at the end of the 1976 season, Pope brought the horse back to the United States, where he was trained by former jockey and U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee John H. Adams. For his new trainer, the colt won the Coronado Handicap at Hollywood Park Racetrack in April and then finished fifth behind Seattle Slew in the Preakness Stakes. By the time J.O. Tobin met Seattle Slew in the Swaps Stakes, the latter had completed the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes to take his winning sequence to nine. J.O. Tobin led from the start and quickly went clear of Seattle Slew and Text. On the final turn, Seattle Slew began to weaken, and J.O. Tobin steadily increased his advantage in the straight. He beat Affiliate by 8-lengths in a time of 1:58 missing the track and world record for 1 miles by two-fifths of a second. Seattle Slew finished 4th, 16 lengths behind. Ridden by Bill Shoemaker, J.O. Tobin led from start to finish, running very fast fractions of 22 to the 1/4 mile, 45 to the 1/2 mile, 1:09 to the 3/4 mile &amp; 1:33 to the mile.