SWC75
Bored Historian
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(I posted this series a year ago and decide to repost it now that the Triple Crown horse races are beginning again.)
It should be noted that the idea of connecting these three races into one extended event which would be known as the “triple crown” evolved over time and when the first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, won those races, no one took special note of it or called Sir Barton a “Triple Crown winner”. Per Wikipedia, the term was first used in 1923 and wasn’t common until racing writer Charles Hatton used it to refer to the second horse to win all three races, Gallant Fox, in 1930. Man O; War didn’t compete in the Kentucky Derby because of the lack of recognition of a Triple Crown in 1920, when he was a three year old. His owner wanted him to race on the east coast and never sent him to Kentucky.
SIR BARTON
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRTbXCCn8h8
Sir Barton was supposed to be a “rabbit”- a speed horse would start fast and get the field going at too high a pace to endure while his more highly regarded stablemate, a horse named Billy Kelly, was held back until the sprint at the end. But at the Derby, Sir Barton took a big lead and never relinquished it, winning by 5 lengths. Then he won the Preakness just four days later. He then went to New York and won the Withers Stakes and then the Belmont. To racing fans of 1919, it was just a great run, enough to get Sir Barton named “Horse of the Year”. But nobody knew him as a “Triple Crown Winner” until Hatton formally coined the term even years later.
The next year, Sir Barton had a match race with Man O’ War and was not match for him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC86Jm5oiMc
In 31 races, Sir Barton’s record was 13-6-5, (win, place, show: 1st, 2nd and 3rd). Sir Barton was bred in Kentucky by John E. Madden and Vivian A. Gooch at Hamburg Place Farm near Lexington and was bought in 1918 by Canadian businessman J. K. L. Ross. His trainer was H. Guy Bedwell and his jockey was Johnny Loftus.
It should be noted that the idea of connecting these three races into one extended event which would be known as the “triple crown” evolved over time and when the first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, won those races, no one took special note of it or called Sir Barton a “Triple Crown winner”. Per Wikipedia, the term was first used in 1923 and wasn’t common until racing writer Charles Hatton used it to refer to the second horse to win all three races, Gallant Fox, in 1930. Man O; War didn’t compete in the Kentucky Derby because of the lack of recognition of a Triple Crown in 1920, when he was a three year old. His owner wanted him to race on the east coast and never sent him to Kentucky.
SIR BARTON
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRTbXCCn8h8
Sir Barton was supposed to be a “rabbit”- a speed horse would start fast and get the field going at too high a pace to endure while his more highly regarded stablemate, a horse named Billy Kelly, was held back until the sprint at the end. But at the Derby, Sir Barton took a big lead and never relinquished it, winning by 5 lengths. Then he won the Preakness just four days later. He then went to New York and won the Withers Stakes and then the Belmont. To racing fans of 1919, it was just a great run, enough to get Sir Barton named “Horse of the Year”. But nobody knew him as a “Triple Crown Winner” until Hatton formally coined the term even years later.
The next year, Sir Barton had a match race with Man O’ War and was not match for him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC86Jm5oiMc
In 31 races, Sir Barton’s record was 13-6-5, (win, place, show: 1st, 2nd and 3rd). Sir Barton was bred in Kentucky by John E. Madden and Vivian A. Gooch at Hamburg Place Farm near Lexington and was bought in 1918 by Canadian businessman J. K. L. Ross. His trainer was H. Guy Bedwell and his jockey was Johnny Loftus.
