SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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COUNT FLEET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoUMUrUO9rE
Count Fleet was owned by John D. Hertz, who started the rent-a-car company and he made the other horses look like Avis. He got off to a slow start as a two year old and was almost sold. But a stable boy convinced Hertz to keep the horse, saying that “when he gets going, he can just about fly“. Jockey Johnny Longden agreed and Hertz kept the horse, who made the Triple Crown look easy, winning the Kentucky Derby by 3 lengths, then the Preakness by 8 lengths and the Belmont by an awesome 25 lengths. People who saw that never expected to see a horse win a prestigious race by such a margin again. (But if they lived to 1973 they saw something even better). But perhaps an asterisk should be next to the Count’s name: this was wartime and the opposition wasn’t what it normally would be: there were, for example, only three horses in the Belmont. Count Fleet was foaled at Stoner Creek Stud Farm in Kentucky and had a career record of 16-4-1 in 21 races.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoUMUrUO9rE
Count Fleet was owned by John D. Hertz, who started the rent-a-car company and he made the other horses look like Avis. He got off to a slow start as a two year old and was almost sold. But a stable boy convinced Hertz to keep the horse, saying that “when he gets going, he can just about fly“. Jockey Johnny Longden agreed and Hertz kept the horse, who made the Triple Crown look easy, winning the Kentucky Derby by 3 lengths, then the Preakness by 8 lengths and the Belmont by an awesome 25 lengths. People who saw that never expected to see a horse win a prestigious race by such a margin again. (But if they lived to 1973 they saw something even better). But perhaps an asterisk should be next to the Count’s name: this was wartime and the opposition wasn’t what it normally would be: there were, for example, only three horses in the Belmont. Count Fleet was foaled at Stoner Creek Stud Farm in Kentucky and had a career record of 16-4-1 in 21 races.
