Colins Ghost

On Saturday Peppers Pride made it 17 in a row at Zia Park to surpass the “modern” North American winning streak for a Thoroughbred. If she races two more times, (as planned) she has a chance to break Hindoo’s record of 18 straight set in 1881 (the “pre-modern” record?…more on that in a future post). Sixty years ago Citation set his streak of 16 while capturing the Triple Crown during what many believe the greatest 3-year-old season ever. Here is a recap of Citation’s 16.

Image: Citation after winning the 1948 Kentucky Derby. Courtesy of Kentuckiana Digital Library

This timeline was compiled using Citation’s past performances as documented in DRF’s Champions. Other details and quotes are courtesy of legendary announcer Phil Georgeff’s outstanding biography Citation: In A Class by Himself.

April 17, 1948 – Chesapeake Futurity at Havre de Grace
Citation avenges his 2nd career loss in a six furlong sprint over a muddy track. Citation beat a field of four including Saggy, who beat him in a controversial race at Havre de Grace on April 12. It was Citation’s 5th victory in 6 starts during his 3-year-old season.

April 27, 1948 – Derby Trial at Churchill Downs
Citation tunes up for the Kentucky Derby with a win in the Trial.

May 1, 1948 – Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
Citation faces a short field of six that included his stablemate the undefeated Coaltown. Citation wins by 3 1/2 lengths. Coaltown, by Bull Lea the same sire as Citation, would go on to win stakes races from 6 furlongs to a mile and a quarter during his career (23 wins from 39 starts). He ran second in the Derby.

Watch the news reel footage of the 1948 Derby:

May 15, 1948 – Preakness at Pimlico
Citation wins in a gallop over three rivals

May 29, 1948 – Jersey Stakes at Garden State Park
Citation trainer Hall of Famer Jimmy Jones, son of Hall of Famer Ben Jones, decides to keep him sharp for the Belmont Stakes by running him in a mile and a quarter stake at Garden State Park. He wins with with ease – breaking the track record by over a second

June 12, 1948 – Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park
Trainer Jones tells jockey Eddie Arcaro in the paddock: “The Triple Crown’s ours, so don’t fall off.” Citation stumbled out of the gate but Arcaro stayed on. He wins by eight lengths, equaling Count Fleet’s track record of 2:28 1/5.

July 5, 1948 – Stars and Stripes Handicap at Arlington Park
Facing older horses for the third time in his career (he beat older horses twice in February 1948), Citation uncharacteristically begins to slow coming down the stretch but is urged by Eddie Arcaro to victory. After crossing the wire, he slowed again and began limping noticeably. Unknowing to Aracro, Citation had sprained his ankle and wrenched his hip at some point during the race.

August 21, 1948 – Allowance race at Washington Park
After the longest layoff of his three-year-old season, Citation returns from his injury to win an allowance race in Chicago.

August 28, 1948 – American Derby at Washington Park
Eddie Arcaro, back on board for the first time since Citation’s injury, sensing a slow pace moved him to the front early and repelled a late run by stablemate Free America to win by a length. Chicago sports writer Elmer Polzin wrote of his performance, “It took him two, maybe three, strides to accelerate and match Free America’s closing surge – not on his life would he allow the other guy to head him.”

September 29, 1948 – Sysonsby Mile at Belmont Park
Citation returned to Belmont where he won twice as a two year old (Futurity Trial and the Futurity). In the Sysonsby, Citation faced old foe Coaltown who had been running consistently well in races under a mile since finishing second in the Kentucky Derby. Citation goes from six lengths back to two lengths ahead in less then a quarter mile and wins by three lengths matching Belmont Park’s fastest mile time of the season (1:36).

October 2, 1948 – Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park
Just days after putting away some of the nation’s quickest horses in the Sysonsby, Citation lined up against the best “stayers” in the two-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup. Arcaro told Phil Georgeff about the big race at Belmont, “Cy was wired as never before….Now, he wasn’t an angry horse or hateful horse; once in a race he was merciless, but never like he was that day. Every time someone challenged him, he simply broke their heart by grinding their challenges into the dirt.” Citation won eased up by seven lengths.

October 16, 1948 – Empire City Gold Cup at Belmont Park
Two weeks after the two mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, Citation won another Gold Cup. This one at a 1 5/8.

October 29, 1948 – Pimlico Special at Pimlico
The Special was, at the time, an invitation only event created by Pimlico owner’s A.G. Vanderbilt in an effort to create an end of the year championship race. Citation chased away all competition and won the race in one of the most memorable walkover’s in the history of the sport.

December 3, 1948 – Allowance at Tanforan
Against the instincts of trainer Jimmy Jones, Citation was shipped to Tanforan in San Francisco. According to Phil Georgeff, Calumet Farms owner William Wright sent Citation – the most famous horse in America -out west as a favor to a business associate who had a stake in Tanforan.

December 11, 1948 – Tanforan Handicap at Tanforan
Citation’s final win of 1948 would mark the end of Citation dominance of American racing. Tanforan’s surface was notorious among horsemen for being as hard as concrete. He came out his sojourn to the west “gimpy.”

Citation spent all of 1949 in Kentucky recovering from a significant injury to his ankle. Most, including Eddie Arcaro and Jimmy Jones, thought he should have been retired. William Wright had other ideas. He wanted Citation back racing so he could reach the unprecedented million dollar mark in earnings. Citation returned to racing in 1950 and added the final win to his streak of 16:

January 11, 1950 – Allowance race at Santa Anita
Citation wins in a tune-up race for the winter stakes at Santa Anita. He would go on to run 2nd in 5 straight races before finally winning again in June at Golden Gate Park.

According to Phil Georgeff, William Wright’s obsession with reaching the one million mark in earnings (a feat he eventually reached) ruined Citation’s legacy. After winning 27 of 29 races in 1947-48, he won only 5 out of 16 races in 1950-51. Three of those wins came in 1951 when he reeled off victories in his final three starts, capping off his career with a victory over the Bewitch in the Hollywood Gold Cup. Georgeff concluded: “Had Citation stayed ‘retired’ following the end of a three-year-old career, a campaign not even Secretariet could match, his achieved fame as racing’s all-time ‘greatest thoroughbred’ would have stood the test of time.”

SOURCES

Phil Geogeff’s book Citation: In a Class by Himself is a must read for any fan of racing history. Much of the book is based on his 50 years of conversation with the major players in Citation’s career.

The Kentuckiana Digital Library is a great source for historic racing images. Check out additional photographs of the great Citation.

For more on Citation’s 1948 season check out Ron Hale’s excellent Remembering Citation

Another article with images, check out Paul Moran’s outstanding Citation: You Can’t Stop a Runaway Train

Thanks for Reading and Good Luck!

As Congress points its uninformed finger at thoroughbred racing this week, I thought it might be appropriate to take a look at the sad end to the aptly named Dark Secret. I revive the story for few reasons. From an historical perspective, their is nothing new about the uniquely tragic aspect of horse racing — even at the height of its popularity, horses broke down. It is a part of the game that will never be completely eliminated. To be a horse racing fan means justifying and accepting its darker side.

At its worst, outsiders view racing as a gaggle of wealthy owners, crooked trainers, and heartless gamblers who care nothing about the welfare of the animal. I would argue that, in the majority of cases, the exact opposite is true. One of the things that will be missed during the congressional proceedings is the fundamental connection that most racing people feel for racehorses.

Jimmy Breslin’s description of Dark Secret’s demise in his biography of Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons encapsulates all that I love and hate about the great sport of kings. It captures the glory of the thoroughbred in competition as well the emotion and anger that stirs when a horse breaks down.

Dark Secret being led by Wheatley’s Stables, Ogden Mills, after his 1933 Gold Cup victory.
New York Times, Sept 17, 1933

A little background on Dark Secret: He was the son of 1925 Kentucky Derby winner Flying Ebony. In 1933, he won the Manhattan Handicap at a mile-and-half and the Jockey Club Gold Cup at two miles. After winning the Manhattan, the New York Times called Dark Secret “a menace to Equipoise’s supremacy in the handicap division.” (Equipoise was Horse of the Year in 1932 and 1933.) A few weeks later he beat Equipoise in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. In 1934, he won the Manhattan again and also repeated his win in the Gold Cup but broke down tragically after crossing the finish line. Here is how Jimmy Breslin described Dark Secret’s courageous final run:

“In 1934, when he was having trouble with Omaha, then a 2-year-old, Mr. Fitz ["Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons] had a barn full of horses who could run. One was Faireno, owned by [William] Woodward, and the winner of the 1932 Belmont Stakes. The other was Dark Secret, owned by Mrs. [Gladys Mills] Phipps and Ogden Mills. Dark Secret was the outstanding distance horse in the country in 1934, and won 19 races in his career.

“On September 15, he took the track with Charley Kurtsinger on his back to run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont, which is a two-mile race. There were only two other horses. One was Inlander, which didn’t seem to fit in, the other Faireno, whom Dark Secret had defeated in a race at Saratoga – the Saratoga Cup – a month earlier. The sky was black and a sheet of rain covered the track.

“There was a crowd of 25,000. The big event had been the Futurity, won by Chance Sun. Omaha had finished fourth. Everybody was writing about that when the three horses came up to the starting gate for the Gold Cup. The gate opened and the horses began running. It was a match race from the start. Kurtsinger got Dark Secret out first, Tommy Malley had Faireno right on him. Inlander was out of it from the first strides. The two horses ran evenly around the huge, sweeping mile-and-a-half Belmont Track, Dark Secret on the inside, Faireno, the outside. Mr. Fitz was in the grandstand at the head of the stretch, watching his two horses run. Dark Secret and Faireno settled down into a duel of legs and lungs and hearts. These were two thoroughbreds out to do exactly what they were born for, and there was to be no stopping. Dark Secret kept in front, now by a half length, now by a length as Faireno held on. At the top of the stretch they started to pick up the pace. Malley’s right arm began to go up and down as he whacked Faireno. The horse lowered his belly, as race people say, and came on. Alongside him, Dark Secret picked up. His stride lengthened and came faster. This was one hell of a race and the crowd started to pick it up. The roar started way up the track, when the people in the grandstand saw the two begin their charge. Then it rolled through the stands and now the whole of Belmont Park was roaring. The two horses came down the stretch, with Faireno’s nose now even with Dark Secret’s flank. Both had come nearly two miles, but they were running straight, and harder every step. Kurtsinger had his face buried in Dark Secret’s mane, his arms pumping forward with everything he had in his little body. He was trying to get home a winner and he was oblivious to everything else. But as they neared the wire Kurtsinger felt a lurch. Dark Secret had bowed a tendon in his right front leg. Dark Secret faltered. But only for a tiny piece of a second. So tiny only Mr. Fitz remembers seeing him do it. Then Dark Secret reached out with his injured right leg again and one thousand pounds of horse and Charley Kurtsinger’s 118 pounds and the saddle and the lead pads all came down on the torn ligaments. He swayed. He kept going. He was a race horse, he was racing. He was not going to stop until he was finished with what he was supposed to do. His feet slammed into the mud, his body strained, his head bucked up and down and he kept even with Faireno. He had the kind of pain you do not live with. But with yards to go Dark Secret kept charging while Faireno flew. He had to catch the crippled horse. But Dark Secret did not stop until he had his nose laid out so everybody could see he was the winner. Then he stopped. His right leg shattered directly under the finish line. Kurtsinger tumbled off, picked himself up and looked.

“Belmont Park was silent. The rain beat down on Dark Secret’s back as he hobbled in the mud. The rain dripped from his coat. But he was up. He was up straight, looking up the track. And his head was high, as high as a proud thoroughbred can hold it. He had won the race.”

SIDENOTE: The New York Times described the scene as follows: “The joy of turf devotees over the get of a crack thoroughbred doing so well was stalled a few moments later when the Wheatley Stable’s [illegible] Dark Secret, broke his leg a stride after he crossed the line a victor in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Race for a second straight year….There was a gasp from the thousands watching as the famous son of Flying Ebony sprawled a split second after the finish. He steadied himself on three legs, and then pulled up, his right foreleg dangling at the fetlock”

Breslin continues:

“The got a van onto the track and a groom helped Dark Secret limp into it. Then they took him to a barn where the veterinarian could look at him. When Mr. Fitz got there, Ogden Mills and Mrs. Phipps were standing with the veterinarian and the man was leaning over and looking at Dark Secret’s leg. Grooms held the horse tightly so he wouldn’t rear and kick out in pain. Then the vet straightened up.

“‘The leg is completely smashed.’

“‘Can I do anything with him?’ Mr. Fitz asked.

“‘He’d suffer too much’ the vet said. ‘Gangrene would set in. You can’t help him at all.‘

“‘All right,’ Mr. Fitz said. The others nodded, too. There was nothing to talk about. The horse had run himself to death.

“The vet reached into his bag for a needle with which he would inject poison into Dark Secret’s blood stream. It would kill him immediately, Mr. Fitz didn’t even ask what it was. He asked the guy to wait for a minute. Then he started walking away. Mills called just a minute, to Mr. Fitz. He walked away, too.

“‘Me and him, we just walked away,’ Mr Fitz says. ‘I wasn’t going to look at that.’

In the newspapers the next day, Dark Secret got a couple of paragraphs at the tail end of the stories about the Futurity, which was a very important race because there was a lot of money in it for the winner. Dark Secret’s victory was only worth $6500 and that didn’t make him very important at all.”

NOTES

For one of the most elegant pieces ever written about horse racing, read W.C. Heinz’s “Death of a Racehorse.” Check it out in its entirety at Steve Byk’s DerbyTrial.com:

My fellow bloggers at the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance have done an outstanding job commenting on some of the issues surrounding the congressional hearings. Here are a few worth a look:
That’s Amore Stable
Brooklyn Backstretch
Equispace
Left at the Gate

I have also found (thanks to equidaily) a report on catastrophic injuries posted at www.thehorse.com that is particularly educational. And, of course, Matt Hegarty at DRF

SOURCES

Breslin, Jimmy, Sunny Jim: The life of America’s most beloved horseman, James Fitzsimmons (1962) Doubleday & Company, Inc.

New York Times, September 16, 1934
New York Times, September 13, 1934
New York Times, September 17, 1933
New York Times, September 14, 1933
[The above were accessed on microfilm at the Wilmington Public Library]

Thanks for reading!

This year’s spring/summer meet at Belmont Park, one of the classic venues for American racing, starts its 103rd year of existence. To get everyone ready for the meet at Belmont, I did some digging at the Library of Congress and found this gem (click to enlarge):

It is the May 5, 1905 cover of the New York Tribune with the news of Belmont’s first opening day. Download a PDF copy of the full text of the story.

The entire article is well worth a look but I have transcribed some highlights below.

The majority of the article details the day’s racing but I found the description of the crowd and their reaction to the new track especially interesting. Here is how the author described the “Variegated assemblage”:

“The attendance, morever, was not restricted to any one locality nor to any one class. They came, men and women, old and young, from the classic confines of Boston and Cambridge, from Philadelphia and from the sporting environs of Chicago and the coast cities. The Bowery and the Avenue mingled in the surging democracy of the betting ring. And both the Bowery and the Avenue wore its best clothes — and went home with them tattered and torn. In the more exclusive precincts of the clubhouse and the paddock there was a tendency to affect the raiment of Goodwood and Ascot, and tall hats and frock coats stood out conspicuously in the picture.“

Not surprisingly, the crowd found the track’s size a bit befuddling. When Belmont opened it had (and still has) no equal in the United States. The huge expanse of the Belmont oval took some getting used to. Under the heading “Plaints from the Stands” the article continued:

“‘Where do we come in?’ demanded the fieldstand. ‘We might as well be in Battle Creek, Mich. The ponies don’t look no bigger’n pug dogs when they get within a couple of miles of the finish.’ And from the upper tiers of the grandstand came another lament: ‘The only way a man can get up here and back in the same afternoon is by use of a balloon or a flying machine,’ it complained, and one individual went so far as to assert that he left his seat in ample time to bet the first race and got there just in time to hear that King Pepper had won the last race.”

Another element of the new track that had the attendees perplexed was the direction in which the horses ran (You will notice this is the headline image above). Belmont Park founders, August Belmont and William C. Whitney, had the races run in the “English fashion” (that is, clockwise). A tradition that lasted for the first 15 years of at the track. The “pikers” at opening day weren’t impressed:

“The scheme of running races the reverse way of the track, which the crowd insisted upon calling ‘the wrong way’, had a tendency to confuse the spectators who were not accustomed to it, and threw them momentarily out of stride.”

However, the anonymous author of the Tribune article had this final word on the crowd’s reaction:

“But all this faultfinding was inspired because of the strangeness and newness and bigness of the surroundings, and when the regulars – for whom most of it came – adapt themselves to the new order of things Belmont Park will undoubtedly become the most popular racing inclosure (sic) in the country.”

A final interesting tidbit: The Metropolitan Handicap (aka The Met Mile) ran on opening day and ended in a dead heat between Sysonsby and Race King . Read the full text for a detailed description of a dead heat in the days before the “photo finish.”

COMING NEXT WEEK
The Atlantic City Race Course

Thanks for reading!