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)