SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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PILLORY
1922 was one of those years when the Derby and Preakness were run on the same day. Pillory was placed in the Preakness in 1:51.60, the same time as Man O‘ War two years earlier. He went on to win the Belmont over Snob II, (they named two horses “Snob”?). He was not a successful stud horse and wound up being sold to the Army. He was bred and raced by Richard T. Wilson, co-owner of the Saratoga race course, trained by Thomas Healey and ridden by Louis Morris and then C.H. Miller. His career record was 5-1-3 in 12 races.
BIMELECH
Bimelech was a Kentucky horse named after a friend of the owner’s, Colonel E. R. Bradley whose name was Abimelech. Bradley liked all his horses to have names beginning with a “B” and so he dropped the “A” from his friend’s name. His trainer was William A. Hurley and his jockey Fred Smith. Bimelech came into the 1940 Kentucky Derby undefeated and was the heavy favorite. But he ran wide the whole race and was caught by a horse named Gallahadion. Smith accepted the blame for the loss and road the horse to wins in the Preakness, and the Belmont, besting Gallahadion, despite a subsequently discovered injury. Also, this was the point at which modern starting gates were being introduced and Bimelech didn’t like being stuffed into them so Bradley decided to retire him to stud to avoid further injury. Bimelech wound up with a record of 11-2-1 in 15 races and was arguably a better race horse than many of the Triple Crown winners. He had a very successful career at stud, producing 30 stakes winners.
U-Tube doesn’t have any footage of his races. If only he hadn’t run wide in the Derby….
CAPOT
Capot was a New Jersey horse owned by the wealthy Whitney family through their farm, green tree Stable. He was trained by John Gaver and ridden by the great Ted Atkinson. He was 13-1 shot going into to the 1949 Derby but led most of the way until caught by Ponder, the only horse anywhere near him. In the Preakness he beat Palestinian by a head. No other horse was within 3 lengths of them. Then he won the Belmont. He finished 12-4-7 in 28 races.
Here is the 1949 Derby with no sound but a picture is worth a thousand words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K86JJp0kQw
NATIVE DANCER
He was one of the great horses of all time, both as a race horse and has a sire. He won 21 of 22 races and sire 43 stakes winners. He is “an ancestor of countless modern champions”. They called him the “Grey Ghost”. He was a Kentucky-born horse owned by Alfred Vanderbilt, who raised him at his Maryland farm. His trainer was William Winfrey and his jockey Eric Guerin. Like Bimelech, he was undefeated going into the 1953 Kentucky Derby and the heavy favorite. Wikipedia says he “was fouled twice during the race and lost to Dark Star.”. I guess he wasn’t fouled by Dark Star. He never lost again, winning the Preakness and Belmont. He was the first horse to become a TV star as people turned into his races to watch him run. He even appeared on the cover of TV Guide.
That one loss:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBBvKILL1IM
Two brief bios of Native Dancer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVjiT5yI-8c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPXfWpmMb1o
NASHUA
Long before Affirmed and Alydar, there were Nashua and Swaps. Nashua was a Maryland horse owned by William Woodward Jr. and trained by the venerable Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons. He was ridden by the great Eddie Arcaro. It seemed an unbeatable combination. Swaps was a California horse owned by Rex Ellsworth and trained by Mesh Tenny. His jockey was Willie Shoemaker. So the dual wasn’t just between two great horses. It was between arguably the two greatest jockeys of all time.
Shoemaker won the first round. “ Swaps raced to an early lead, and holding off an impressive stretch drive by Nashua, he drew clear to win by a length and a half. Nashua had also run an outstanding race, as proven by the six and a half lengths of daylight between him and Summer Tan.” But Swaps suffered a split hoof that became infected and returned to California, leaving Nashua to win the Preakness and Belmont.
A match-race was set up, the most famous one since Seabiscut and War Admiral, (with the same East Coast-West Coast aspect to it), and Arcaro and Nashua won it by taking the lead over the speed horse and keeping the inside lane, forcing Willie and Swaps to slog through a softer part of the track. Nashua was named horse of the year for 1955. The next year Swaps won the same award, in "The most amazing exhibition of speed in history." He broke or equaled six different track records. In 25 races Swaps was 19-2-2 and was ranked the 20th greatest US race horse of the 20th century by Bloodhorse Magazine while Nashua was 22-4-1 in 30 races and ranked 24th by Bloodhorse. They were possibly the two greatest horses to have been born in the same year, (Affirmed and Alydar were ranked #12 and #27, Sunday Silence #31 and Easy Goer #34).
The way it was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFKuXSHP0ho
Arcaro narrates a letter-quality film of a match race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePbBleObAuM
Sports Illustrated, in its early years, was trying to appeal to the “country club set” and when they decided to have a “Sportsman of the Year” award, they decided to award it to Nashua’s owner, William Woodward Jr. On the eve of the issue, he was mistakenly shot to death by his wife, who thought he was a prowler. SI hurriedly decided to give the award to someone else, (there were rumors the shooting was not an accident and that could become a major high society scandal). Their managing editor, Henri Laguerre, asked “Who do we have a good picture of? They had a nice color picture of Johnny Podres, who had won game 7 of the World Series for the Dodgers. That went on the cover and in a brief article inside, Johnny became “Sportsman of the Year” because Mrs. Woodward thought she heard a prowler and Johnny was photogenic.
