Country Star and My Girls!

Country Star is a Feb. 7, 2005 filly born in beautiful Paris, Kentucky at Stonerside Stable to Empire Maker out of Rings a Chime by Metfield. She has an impressive pedigree, including a little taste of Citation!

Her trainer is Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, and she's been nominated for consideration for the Kentucky Derby this spring! She'll also likely have a chance to opt for the Oaks instead!

Her current record is a slim, but impressive 3: 2-1-0.

She won the Alcibiades Stakes and then set a flaming track record at Hollywood Park at the Hollywood Starlet Stakes. I haven't recieved very many workout notices or race results for her this spring, so I am hoping that she is training well, getting to be a big strong fast girl, and that she has a good year.

Coaltown -- What a good boy!

I don't have a photo that I can use for this gentleman, though I encourage you to check out the Thoroughbred Gallery and look for Barbara Livingston's copyrighted photos. Coaltown was a half-brother to Citation and came second to his brother in the 1948 Kentucky Derby. But he was talented, fast, wonderful. He ended up being inducted into the National Museum Racing Hall of Fame in 1983 and was voted the #47 of the Top 100 racehorses of the 20th century. He raced from ages 3-6, but didn't race as a 2 year-0ld because he'd suffered a life-threatening throat hemmoraghe and was nursed by his trainer, Calumet Farm's Jimmy Jones. His final record was 39: 23(16), 6(6), 3(3), earning $415,678.

His parents were Bull Lea and Easy Lass by Blenheim. He ultimately won the Champion Sprinter for 1948 and Champion Handicap Horse in 1949 and shared Eclipse Horse of the Year with Capot in that same year.

He set track records, won great races, raced effectively. And he was just a small little guy. His two trainers, the famous father-son combo of Ben and Jimmy Jones, said "He's the fastest horse I've ever handled" and "He had class right from the start."

He sired some kids in the United States before being sold to France. And he passed when he was 20 years old. Much of the information for this entry comes from the Bloodhorse Thoroughbred Champions Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century.

You can read more about him at the following links. Also, you can read the obituary of his trainer, Jimmy Jones, who passed away on September 2, 2001, at the age of 94. It's a really interesting obituary because he trained 8 Kentucky Derby winners, for goodness sakes, including Triple Crown winners Citation and Whirlaway, among others. He had strong opinions about everything, including his opinion that "A Bull Lea foal is worth $10,000 the minute it hits the ground."

My girls have Bull Lea in their family tree!
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=48
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaltown
or
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D71F30F930A3575AC0A9679C8B63

Breaking News! Heading Down the Homestretch

The longest-running racetrack in California, Bay Meadows, will close on May 11th after its last 70 day meet. It was founded in1934, so has had a 74 year run! It's an historically significant track for many, many reasons. It's innovative founder, William P. Kyne, introduced the ideas of pari-mutuel betting and the Daily Double, and implemented the technologies of the all-enclosed starter gate, the totalizer board, and the photo-finish camera, all Bay Meadows firsts!

Famous horses ran here, including Majestic Prince and Native Diver who broke their maidens at Bay Meadows. Determine and Charismatic used Bay Meadows as preps for theier Kentucky Derby wins. And other regular famous horses included Seabiscuit, Citation, Round Table, John Henry, Noor, Coal Town, Cigar, Lost in the Fog, and Secretariat's best girl, Lady's Secret! Famous jockeys included Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay, Jr. and, of course, Russell Baze who just won his 10,000th race there!

A sad thing about it's history is that the groundwater contains poisonous environmental hazards, including petrochemical hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, and pesticides.

I hope Californians enjoy their last meet at this famous track. And I hope they open another in the area which they have discussed and planned.

Citation -- 1948 Triple Crown Winner!

Citation was a Calumet Farms horse who was 8th of the 11 Triple Crown winners! His parents were Bull Lea by Hydroplane by Hyperion. He was in the Kentucky Derby with his half-brother, Coaltown by Bull Lea and Easy Lass by Blenheim. These two brothers were so scorching hot that only 4 other horses had the courage to enter the Derby that year!

The day of the Derby was wet and sloppy, but Citation pulled immediately into the lead. Eddie Arcaro pulled him back and let Coaltown surge ahead. But finally, Arcaro let him go, and Citation went on to win by 3 1/2 lengths!

Eddie Arcaro, one of the best jockeys of all time, said of Citation, "Citation was the best. He was so fast he scared me." Jimmy Jones was Citation's trainer, and his dad, Ben Jones, also a famous trainer, told him the night before the race, "Jimmy, you can sleep well tonight, and you can take this as gospel: any horse Citation can see, he can catch. And he's got perfect eyesight."

Now just a small recap of his racing career! He ended with 45: 32-10-2, and had to take some time off for an osselet in his fetlock joint. He was the first horse to earn more than $1 million. In 1947, he was voted the Champion 2-year-old colt. In 1948, his big year, he earned Champion 3-year-old colt and the Eclipse Horse of the Year, and, of course, won the Triple Crown! He was the first horse in the U.S. to win 16 races in a row, and the second in the world. He had 19 wins in 20 starts. In 1950 and 1951, he was Champion Older Male.

Of his 1948 season, it can be said that he won at every distance, won at 10 different tracks, won in 7 different states, travelling in unairconditioned trucks and rail cars. He won all his races by a total of 66 lengths, and won the Triple Crown races by a total of 17 lengths. He ended his racing career in 1948 (at that point) with a 29-27-2-0 record! His 16 race winning streak made it as #67 of Horse-Racing's Top 100 moments according to Blood Horse, and Blood Horse reported that the owners of the horses entered in the Belmont the year Citation swept the Triple Crown were true good sports, "These gentlemen deserve some credit for their sportsmanship, for they knew when they entered they were filling a race for Citation." He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1959. And he was voted #3 of the Top 100 racehorses of the 20th century.

His trainer, Jimmy Jones, said that he would put Citation above Secretariat in that ranking, at #2, saying "He was the best horse I ever saw. Probably the best anybody else ever saw, I expect. Citation didn't have a fault. He could sprint, he could go two miles, he could go in the mud, and could go on a hard track. He could do it all. Secretariat couldn't run a bit in the mud." His dad, Ben Jones, put Citation at #1, saying "Man o' War? Citation is a better horse."

Of the Derby win, writing in his autobiography, Eddie Arcaro reported thinking of Ben Jones' words, "the horse that Citation could not run down had not yet been born." And Jimmy Jones said, "My horse could beat anything with hair on it."

My girls are related to this superstar most immediately through Bull Lea, Hyperion, St. Simon and Isinglass.This blog entry received help from Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments, Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, and Two Minutes to Glory: The Official History of the Kentucky Derby.

You can read more about Citation who is buried at Calumet Farms at the following links:
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/citation.html
or
http://horseracing.about.com/od/famoushorses/l/aa012998.htm
or
http://horseracing.about.com/library/blcitation.htm
or
http://www.thoroughbredchampions.com/biographies/citation.htm
or
http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014135.html
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_(horse)

A lovely video of our Triple Crown Winners

We have had 11 Triple Crown winners in our American history:
Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew(1977), and Affirmed (1978). These Youtube Videos are truly lovely, sweet, sentimental, goofy documentaries about these 11 champions!


And here are two photos of War Admiral and Count Fleet, the two triple crown winners coursing through Violet's veins!!! Aiyay!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nprhskem-is
or
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lA238PqUCco

Two Lea and My Girls!

Here's a picture of Two Lea's victory cooler that she won in the 1952 Ramona Handicap. Two Lea was a Calumet filly who ultimately earned the #77 spot on the list of the top race horses of the 20th century. During her career, she raced hard with short stretches between races, and she competed while struggling with ringbone and soreness. She was sometimes raced 3X in a single month, like the time she raced for a third time in one month against Kentucky Derby winner Ponder and was beat by him only at the end. This match was in the Santa Maturity. Despite her ringbone, she earned a career record of 26: 15, 6, 3. In her third year, she shared championship honors with Wistful and later in her career earned Champion older mare as well as was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1982. She once raced in the Santa Anita Handicap with Citation and Ponder, but all three were beaten by Noor. Later in her career, she was on extended break due to ringbone and when she returned to the track, she showed visible scarring and knots from her firing procedures. In her final season, she raced 11 times and won 6, with 5 of those wins occurring in stakes races. In fact, she won 2 of her last 3 starts. And in one very splashy race, Calumet Farms took 1-2-3 in the Vanity Handicap with Two Lea, Wistful and Jennie Lee! When she retired, she proved to be a truly amazing broodmare as well. She produced Tom Fool, who won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and came in 2nd in the Belmont. She also produced Hall of Fame horse, Tim Tam, and through a cross with Nasrullah, produced stakes winners Pied d'Or and On-and-On. She died in 1973 at the wise age of 27! My girls are closely related to Two Lea.. Her father is Bull Lea and she also has Sweep, Chicle, Friar Rock, Spearmint, and Ballot as some of their shared relatives! You can read more about this great champion and fighting mare at the following links:
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=157
or
http://www.racehorseherbal.com/Memorabilia/Cooler/cooler.html

Twilight Tear and My Girls!

My girls are closely related to a very famous racing filly, Twilight Tear. In fact, Violet is very closely related to her. Twilight Tear "Suzie" was born in 1941 and she was the daughter of Bull Lea and Lady Lark, Blue Larkspur's daughter. Suzie was Calumet Farm's first champion sired by Bull Lea and was 1 of 3 champions in his very first foal crop -- Durazna and Armed. It's important to note that Bull Lea was a leading American Sire 5 times, producing 58 stakes winners, 4 Horses of the Year, and 3 Kentucky Derby winners! His daughter Suzie was one of those Horses of the Year! Her trainer, Ben A. Jones, who had already trained Whirlaway, said of her that she was the best he had ever trained, though later he would train her daddy's Triple Crown son, Citation!. So, no faint praise for her! She beat Violet's Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner relative, Pensive. She even beat boys with a 2 length victory in the Arlington Classic! That was her 11th straight victory in her third year! She closed out that year when "she met two-time handicap champion Devil Diver in the Pimlico Special. The older colt was beaten in the first quarter, and Twilight Tear went on to win by 6 lengths, tying the track record set by Seabiscuit in his 1938 victory over War Admiral" (cited from the Unofficial thoroughbred hall of fame website). So, at the close of her third year, she claimed the Eclipse Horse of the Year award, the first filly to do that since 40 years earlier by Beldame. She also had taken the 2 year-old filly of the year, 3 year-old filly of the year, and Champion Handicap Mare! Her final track record was 24: 18-2-2, $202,165. She retired in her fourth year because of bleeding. She was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in the year of my birth, 1963! And she was voted 59th out of the Top 100 race horses of the 20th century. And in a 1955 trainers' association poll, she was voted the second greatest filly in American racing history, behind the fabulous Gallorette. She is related to both my girls, but is closely, closely related to Violet. Among many, they share Ormonde, St. Simon, Bull Lea, Blue Larkspur, Durazna. You can read more about this super amazing filly at the following links:

http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/twilighttear.html

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Tear

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=156

Bull Lea and Violet!

Violet is related to Bull Lea through at least 3 lines. Bull Lea was a Calumet Farms stud. He raced 27 times, winning 10, taking second 7, and third 3 times. He was the sire of 57 stakes winners, broodmare sire of 105 stakes winners, including Violet's Mark-Ye-Well. He was the leading sire from 1947-1949, 1952, 1953, and leading broodmare sire in 1958-1961. Impressively, he sired Citation, the number 3 race horse of all time, Horse of the Year, and Triple Crown winner!! Violet is directly related to Bull Lea who produced Meadow Maid who was crossed with Nasrullah on the dam side of Violet's sire. Bull Lea also produced Durazna who was crossed with Count Fleet to produce Manzana. So, of the top 5 race horses of the 20th century, Man 'O War, Secretariat, Citation, Kelso, and Count Fleet, Violet is heavily directly related to Man 'O War and Count Fleet, and indirectly related to Secretariat and Citation through very impressive "big heart" gene and stakes winners lines, and very heavily, closely, but indirectly related to Kelso. I hope Clairborne Farms doesn't find out about my royal princess!