Kentucky 2007: Bold Ruler's Grave

Here is Bold Ruler's grave. He was bred and owned by Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps' Wheatley Stable, and Mrs. Phipps loved him dearly and even had a St. Christopher's medal braided into his forelock before his races. He was foaled at Claiborne Farms, the same night as the fabulous Round Table. In fact, Bold Ruler's career took place in the company of the most amazing mega-crop of racers and sires.

He's lucky he even had a race career because he was plagued by accident, injury and illness. When he was a baby, he cut his tongue very badly and almost broke a leg in a water trough. Through his career, he suffered back, leg, rheumatoid injuries, and at the end of his career, it was discovered he'd been running with a large splint fracture for some time, probably in great pain!

But when he did retire, he retired as a champion. He was voted the #19 race horse of the Top 100 of the 20th century by Blood Horse magazine. He was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1973, the year his kid Secretariat won the Triple Crown. He even has a race named after him, The Bold Ruler Handicap, run each year at Belmont Park. His final record was 33: 23-4-2, and he beat some major horses in his life. At 3, in 1957, he was voted 3-year-old Champion and Horse of the Year! The latter award was pretty impressive given his competition! He beat Iron Leige in the Preakness Stakes, and beat both Gallant Man and Round Table in the Trenton.

He was beat by Iron Leige in the Kentucky Derby, but here's what his rider, Eddie Arcaro had to say about that miss: "He was so full of run that he could have gone right on past Federal Hill, and I should have let him do that, but it wasn't until then that I realized I was fighting him too hard. Then he was empty. I had discouraged and confused him by fighting him when he wanted to run." So, that's why it felt good to let Bold Ruler run like a king in the Preakness and win.

When he retired after his splint bone injury, he became one of the most important studs ever. He led the sire list 8 years, including 7 consecutive years. He has 11 champions among his offspring. He was by Nasrullah and Miss Disco by Discovery. He passed that strength and speed in the 1970s to 7 of the 10 Kentucky Derby winners in his male line. His descendanta include Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, Foolish Pleasure, and Ruffian. He was the sire of 82 stakeswinners, and broodmare sire of 6 Champions and 121 stakeswinners. In fact, he led the American sire list more times than any other sire of the 20th century, and sired more stakeswinners than any other stallion except for his dad, Nasrullah. He had a 22% stakeswinner percentage. And let's not forget that he is the dad of the horse most think is the very best racer of this century -- Secretariat!

On July 12, 1971, he was euthanized after a strong battle with cancer. Bull Hancock said of him, "You can pick the Bold Rulers out by their conformation. I see the same musculature as Nasrullah. They all had an extra layer of muscle beside their tail running down to their hocks. It is a good sign when you see it on a Bold Ruler. It means strength and speed."

Something sweet about him is that even though he was a big old macho sexy stud colt, he was sweet with his mom. Whenever she came down to lead him to the winner's circle, he would lean his face down for her to hold his lead line and he would walk like a sweet old pony, all proud to be with his mom. I think that's nice.

I got help for this Blog entry from the 1999 Thoroughbred Champions book by Blood Horse and from the Unofficial Thoroughbred Hall of Fame website. You can read more about Bold Ruler and see photos, and even see film footage of his amazing Preakness Stakes win at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bold_Ruler
or
http://www.diamondjfarms.com/boldruler1.html
or
http://www.aro.co.za/aroHorseProfiles/BOLD%20RULERUSA1954.htm
or
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/boldruler.html
or
http://horseracing.about.com/library/pics/blboldruler.htm
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=34
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6PuKjzWATs

Violet's Discovery!!

Violet is related to a gentleman whose nicknames included "The Iron Horse" and "The Big Train." Discovery earned $195,287 during his track life, with a 63-27-10-10 record. Among his starts, he won The Brooklyn Handicap and Whitney Stakes three times (1934, 1935, 1936), with the latter he won twice by 10 lengths! He won the Detroit Challenge Cup by 30 lengths, and also won the Arlington Handicap. When he was running, he carried an average of 31 lbs. He was voted U.S. Champion Handicap horse twice! And he won the 1935 Horse of the Year! That latter achievement was amazing because he was named Horse of the Year in the same year as Omaha won the Triple Crown. It was the first and only time in history that a Triple Crown winner wasn't named Horse of the Year. Not surprisingly, Blood Horse voted him #37 of the Top 100 race horses of the 20th Century. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1969. Turf Historian, John Hervey, said of Discovery, " There is no other horse in the entire range of Turf history, American or foreign, that ever attempted to do anything so tremendous or came anywhere near Discovery in doing it so successfully." He has a race named after him, "The Discover" which was originally run at Belmont Park and is now at Aqueduct. This grandson of Fairplay, born in Lexington, had a 21 year stallion career and is so very famous for producing amazing daughters. Among his kids are Bail Bond, Conniver, Dark Discovery, Geisha (dam of Native Dancer), Miss Disco (dam of Bold Ruler), My Recipe, and Traffic Court (dam of Hasty Road). Violet shares in this rich pedigree through Traffic Court who bore Hasty Road (winner of the Preakness Stakes). Hasty Road's child Third Martini was bred to War Admiral and Count Fleet's grandchild, Three Fingers, to make Three Martinis, great-grandpa on her damsire side! You can read more about Discovery at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_(horse)

or

http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=59

or

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