Colins Ghost

On Saturday, Rachel Alexandra will launch her 4-year-old season at the Fairgrounds in New Orleans. In 2009, Rachel A. became just the third 3-year-old filly to be awarded Horse of the Year. She has a challenging road ahead and has much to accomplish to meet the expectations imposed on her by the racing world. Her second start of the year is scheduled for the Apple Blossom, where she would face the undefeated Breeders Cup Classic winner Zenyatta.

Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year (AP)

If Rachel Alexendra can notch a single victory in 2010, it will be one more than the other two 3-year-old filly Champions could manage. Busher and Twilight Tear — the other 3-year-old fillies named HOTY in 1944 and 1945 — only raced one time each after their sophomore campaigns, both starts ended in losses and subsequent retirement.

Busher did not race as a 4-year-old because of an injury suffered at the end of 1945. In January 1947, she made her 5-year-old debut in an allowance race, and finished an uninspired 5th, in what was the final race of her career. Her owner, the movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, was said to be so devastated by Busher’s retirement that he sold his racing stable. The Associated Press reported on the end of Busher’s career on February 10, 1947:

“…Close observers declared that [Louis B.] Meyer’s heart went out of racing when Busher failed to come back, and the evidence points that way.

Busher, 1945 Horse of the Year

“Mayer bought Busher from Col E.R. Bradley for $50,000 at the end of her two-year-old season.

“In 1945, as a three-year-old, Busher nearly swept the boards at Santa Anita, Washington Park and Hollywood Park. She became the darling of the turf and of Mayer’s affections. The movie magnate was never happier than when standing in the winner’s circle with the glistening bay filly.

“Then after clinching horse-of-year honors, Busher broke down in a prep for the Hollywood Gold Cup…”

“…Intensive plans were laid to bring back the No. 1 filly at the 1946-47 Santa Anita meeting. Now a five-year-old, she was nominated for the $100,000 Santa Anita handicap March 1 and all efforts pointed toward that goal.

“On Jan 2, Busher was started in a six-furlong sprint test. She ran fifth in a field of six fillies and mares she used to beat with one hoof tied behind her back.

“She was nominated for the $50,000 San Pasqual, then scratched a few hours before the race Jan 11.

“On Jan 13, a Mayer spokesman disclosed that ‘L.B. wants to sell and get out.’

When Mayer dispersed his stable for $500,000, he sold his beloved Busher for $135,000. She eventually landed at the Maine Chance farm in Kentucky where she delivered five foals. She died in 1955.  A few years after the heavily publicized sale of his racing stable, Louis B. Mayer re-entered the horse business and bred the 1959 Preakness winner Royal Orbit

Twilight Tear also fizzled after winning Horse of the Year. She closed her 3-year-old campaign by beating handicap champion Devil Diver in the Pimlico Special. She scratched from what was to be her final start in the Riggs Handicap at Pimlico on Nov 20, 1944 because of track conditions. Twilight Tear did not make her 4-year-old debut until August 1945. The Associated Press reported on her final career start:

“It looks like the end of the trail for Twilight Tear, Warren Wright’s great filly who has won more than $200,000 and last year was named ‘horse of the year.’ The Tear bled in her four-year-old debut at Washington Park [Chicago] yesterday and faltered to finish last in a five horse field.

“Trainer Ben Jones declared she ‘hemorrhaged** through the nose during the race, then had another attack on the way to the stable. I have informed Mr. Wright that we ought to retire her, but I won’t know until I hear from him.’

Twilight Tear was indeed retired and sent to the legendary Calumet Farm. She foaled a number of stakes winners including A Gleam (pictured below, as a foal), who won the Hollywood Oaks among her dozen wins.  Twilight Tear died in 1954.

Twilight Tear, 1944 Horse of the Year

If Rachel Alexandra can return to form in 2010, she will surpass Busher and Twilight Tear among the all-time great fillies. Busher and Twilight Tear’s 3-year-old campaigns might be more impressive because they notched more wins, and raced in open company more often, but neither did anything beyond their stellar sophomore seasons.

Another full season of racing where Rachel Alexandra beats high class competition, will elevate her into another stratosphere. When all is said and done, she might turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime filly.

SOURCES, NOTES, AND OBSERVATIONS

** NOTE: When a horse “hemorrhages” or “bleeds” its not as horrific as its sounds.  When horses are running, and they over-exert themselves, they sometimes burst blood vessels in their lungs.  This condition effects their breathing and, obviously, ability to race.  The drug Lasix, legal in American racing, is used to treat this condition.  Joe Drape, of the New York Times, wrote about Lasix in an article in 2009.

Associated Press. “Twilight Tear at Trail’s End,” The Spokesman-Review, August 30, 1945

Associated Press. “Busher Injured Out of Big Race,” The Spokesman-Review, October 16, 1945

Associated Press. “Busher Failure Leads to Sale,” Kentucky New Era, February 10, 1947

Twilight Tear at the Unofficial Racing Hall of Fame

Image of Twilight Tear from H.P. Richardson’s The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America

Read more about Twilight Tear at Brooklyn Backstretch

Ron Micetic — a reader who has been tremendously generous in providing scans of his extensive racing program collection — has come through again, in a big way, with a ticket for yours truly to this year’s Apple Blossom. I have hammered out all the logistics and will be hitting the road on Tuesday April 6 with a stop at Keeneland to visit the library and watch the races. Then its off to Hot Springs for two days of racing at Oaklawn. I will be posting images and reports throughout the trip here at Colin’s Ghost. Should be epic — hoping the big race goes off as planned.

THANKS FOR READING AND GOOD LUCK!

Count Turf with jockey Conn McCreary (Turf and Sport Digest)

Last week, I did an article that started with the 1952 Kentucky Derby.  Coincidentally, this week, I have a post about the 1951 Kentucky Derby. Count Turf — like Canonero, Mine That Bird, and Dark Star — was a nondescript colt and many questioned his entry in the ‘51 Derby, including his trainer.

After Count Turf finished 5th in the Wood Memorial, trainer Sol Rutchick resisted his owner’s desire to run in the Kentucky Derby. Count Turf’s owner, Jack Amiel, reportedly told his trainer, “Well, get a plane and give me a man to saddle the horse for the race and we’ll go without you.”

And so it was, Rutchick never made it to Churchill.  He said later he had every intention to go, but  missed his flight the morning of the race. According one account, he listened to the race in his apartment, with a plane ticket to Kentucky in his pocket.

In 1967, the Turf and Sport Digest published a story called “Jack Amiel’s Big Day,” about Count Turf and his owner. The article begins with an account of Amiel, and Count Turf’s jockey Conn McCreaery, encountering famed jockey Eddie Arcaro the night before the big day.

Here is part of author Herb Goldstein’s piece from 1967:

“On the eve of the 1951 Kentucky Derby, Eddie Arcaro was battling a steak in Louisville’s Old House when he was joined by Jack Amiel, Conn McCreary, and a sports writer.

“Arcaro, who was to handle Cain Hoy [stable's] favored Battle Morn in the Run for the Roses the next afternoon, asked candidly, ‘Who do you like?’

“‘Are you kidding? I like my horse,’ Amiel cracked. ‘I’m going to win it.’

“‘You’re nuts,’ Arcaro said.

“McCreary, who had ridden only four winners that season after having retired from the saddle the previous year, gave his opinion.

“‘He’s right Eddie,’ declared Conn. ‘We are going to win.’

“‘You’re both nuts,’ Arcaro stated emphatically, and went back to his beef.

“The sports writer, who had been Amiel’s guest for ten days in Louisville, secretly agreed with Arcaro. Unknown to his host, he had picked C.V. Whitney’s Mameluke to win the next day. He was convinced Arcaro was right in his estimate of Amiel and McCreary as soothsayers.

“Amiel, who owned a New York frankfurters-and-hamburger pit named The Turf on the corner of West 49th Street and Broadway, also was the proprietor of a three-year-old named Count Turf, which was named for the hash house. Picking McCreary to ride his horse seemed a union of unusual distinction. McCreary had nothing but past as jockey and Count Turf had no future. In fact, McCreary with his four wins, had three more than Amiel’s horse that season.

“Seventy-nine writers on hand to cover the Derby had been polled by the Associated Press and not one had selected Amiel’s colt to finish in the top three. The Churchill Downs’ price-maker had placed the colt in the mutuel field, a move which at least meant he would get some play.

“Sol Rutchick, who trained the colt for Amiel, wasn’t even in town, though he was expected to saddle Count Turf for the race. Rutchick…was in New York with the other 24 members of his public string. [as mentioned above, he never made it to Louisville]

“Arcaro had one parting blast before leaving the restaurant. ‘Jack,’ he announced, ‘Count Turf just isn’t the kind of horse you bring to the Derby.’

Headline from the Daily Racing Form, May 7, 1952

Jack Amiel’s colt, with his washed-up jockey, shocked Arcaro and everyone else on Derby day.  The Daily Racing Form’s Charles Hatton saw it this way:

“Count Turf amazed perhaps the largest crowd that ever saw a horse race in America when he surged out of the dust curving for home and won the richest of all the Kentucky Derbys by four decisive lengths. J.J. Amiel’s colt was one of the ‘mutuel field,’ but he left the choices up the stretch…The New York restauranteur’s surprising son of the Derby winner Count Fleet earned $98,050 for running the historic mile and a quarter in a 2:02 3/5 in dry going and returned those who played the mutuel coupling $31.20…

“…Little Conn McCreary, who had won the 1944 Derby on Pensive, had the mount on the sleek bay and gave him the benefit of a well-judged ride…

“…The tremendous throng that filled every nook and cranny of the Downs, to the stable roofs along the backstretch, sensed that this would one of the best shows in Derby history and they weren’t disappointed. Though the winner came from an unexpected quarter, he was given a splendid ovation, from the time McCreary guided him up the flower-bordered path to the charmed circle until Governor Wetherby of Kentucky presented Amiel the Derby’s gold trophy…”

Eddie Arcaro, who told Count Turf’s owner that he didn’t belong in the race, finished a non-threatening sixth aboard the post time favorite Battle Morn. The chart caller used the coldest terms in his arsenal to describe the effort of Arcaro’s mount: “no excuse.”

SOURCES, NOTES, AND OBSERVATIONS
Hatton, Charles, “Count Turf Gains Stunning Derby Triumph,” Daily Racing Form, May 7, 1951
Goldstein, Herb, “Jack Amiel’s Big Day,” Turf and Sport Digest, August 1967

Watch Count Turf win the 1951 Kentucky Derby in slow motion

THANKS FOR READING AND GOOD LUCK!

Like many race fans at this time of year, I am beginning to show symptoms of Derby fever. Unfortunately, we are still a few months away, so to whittle away some time before then, I decided to do a little project. I am not much of a numbers guy but sometimes you just can’t avoid numbers if you are trying to gain a better understanding of a particular subject.

The question that sparked this article was a simple one: How major are the major Derby preps?  In other words, how can you express, in raw numbers, the influence of the Bluegrass Stakes, Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, and Santa Anita Derby on the outcome of the Kentucky Derby? What I decided to do was start in 1952 – the first year of the Florida Derby – and focus on the top three finishers in those four races and see how they fared on the First Saturday in May.

Since 1952, 46 of 59 winners of the Kentucky Derby finished in the top three in the Bluegrass, Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, or Santa Anita Derby. Of those 13 who did not, two finished fourth in the Santa Anita Derby (Giacomo and Charismatic) and one finished fourth in the Blue Grass (Sea Hero). In 1966, Kauai King finished fifth in the Florida Derby prior to winning a three-year-old stake at Bowie in Maryland. That makes it 50 out of 59 who finished in the top five in one of the major preps since 1952.

If we add the Arkansas Derby to the mix, then we can add a few more runners who finished first at Oaklawn (Smarty Jones, Sunny Halo) or second (Lil E Tee, Grindstone).

That leaves us with only five outliers. In 1985, Spend a Buck took the short-lived Jersey road to the Derby in winning the Garden State Stakes and Cherry Hill Mile before winning the roses at Churchill.  In 2002, War Emblem used a win in the Illinois Derby to take the field wire-to-wire in Kentucky. In War Emblem’s Derby year, none of the colts that finished in the top three in the four major preps could manage second or third.  It is fitting in a year when the Illinois Derby produced the Kentucky Derby winner, that the runners from the traditional preps fared so poorly (the only time that has occurred since 1952).

The three runners that remain — Dark Star (1953), Cannonero II (1971), and Mine That Bird (2009) — are among the biggest Derby upsetters ever. Dark Star ran in the Florida Derby but he finished 13th by 16 lengths. He won the Derby Trial just a few days prior to his shocking victory over the undefeated Native Dancer (it would be Native Dancer’s only career loss from 22 starts). Another of the outliers is Mine That Bird. We are all familiar with his story, he finished 4th in the Sunland Derby in New Mexico before winning the Kentucky Derby in 2009. And, finally, we are left with Canonero II, who not only won the Derby but the Preakness too.  Mine that Bird was a surprise but, as far as racing upsets go, nothing compares to Canonero II. How would you have played this one if you were handicapping the 1971 Derby?

Past Performances for Canonero II as they appeared in the Daily Racing Form on Kentucky Derby day in 1971

Immediate throw out, right?  Steve Haskin wrote an outstanding piece about Canonero in 2008 that is a must read for racing fans.  Bill Finley also wrote about Canonero after last year’s Derby.

If you are interested in more details, I put together a spreadsheet in Google docs that includes the top three finishers in each of the four major Derby preps since 1952.

SOURCES, NEWS, AND NOTES

In researching this piece, I used the primary ammo for any racing historian: American Racing Manual, Champions, and the Daily Racing Form archive.

Last weekend marked the beginning of the real Derby prep season with the Southwest, Fountain of Youth, and Risen Star. If you would like to keep current with all of the races leading to this year’s Kentucky Derby, sign up for the Derby prep alerts from Hello Race Fans.

THANKS FOR READING AND GOOD LUCK!