Bold Ego (March 2, 1978 – June 30, 1997) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse known for his blazing speed who won the 1981 Arkansas Derby and ran second in the Preakness Stakes.
[4] Under Van Berg and assistant trainer Dennis Werre, Bold Ego won Oaklawn's Southwest and Rebel Stakes followed by the prestigious Arkansas Derby, a win that propelled him into the U.S.
[6] A frontrunner who was always difficult to rate, in the Derby Bold Ego got into a speed duel for the lead with Top Avenger and tired himself out by running the fastest times in the history of the race for the first quarter and first half.
His connections felt that Bold Ego was much better than his performance in the Derby portrayed, so they shipped him to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, to run in the second jewel of the Triple Crown: the $1,000,000 Grade 1 Preakness Stakes.
[10] In the Belmont Stakes, Bold Ego was part of a pack of four leaders through the first half mile but dropped out of contention by the three-quarters mark and finished eleventh and last.