admin

Smarty Jones

admin April 8, 2025

Owned by Roy ‘Chappy’ Chapman and his wife, Patricia – after whose late mother, Milly ‘Smarty Jones’ McNair, he was named – Smarty Jones is best remembered for winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2004, but failing by just a length to win the American Triple Crown. Foaled at Fairthorne Farm, Pennsylvania on February 28, 2001, Smarty Jones was originally destined to be handled by Robert ‘Bobby’ Camac, but following his murder on December 6, 2001, the Chapmans turned instead to little-known trainer John Servis.

Smarty Jones won his first race, a maiden special weight over six furlongs at Philadelphia Park, by 7¾ lengths on November 9, 2003 and followed up, by 15 lengths, in the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes, over seven furlongs at Turf Paradise two weeks later. He spent the winter at Oakland Park, Arkansas, where the racecourse authority introduced a $5 million bonus for any horse that won the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby.

Ridden by Canadian-born jockey Stewart Elliott, as he was on all nine career starts, Smarty Jones duly won the Rebel Stakes by 3¼ lengths and the Arkansas Derby by 1½ lengths to give his connections a chance of winning the bonus. Sent off favourite at Churchill Downs on May 1, 2004, he took over from the trailblazing Lion Heart approaching the final furlong and was ridden out to win by 2¾ lengths. In so doing, he became the first unbeaten Kentucky Derby since Seattle Slew in 1977 and made Elliott the first first jockey for 25 years to win the ‘Run for the Roses’ at the first attempt.

An impressive, 11½-length victory in the Preakness Stakes was followed by defeat by the largely unconsidered Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes to bring his career to a less-than-perfect end. Nevertheless, Smarty Jones won eight of his nine races and, including the $5 million bonus, over £7.6 million in total prize money.

Seattle Slew

admin April 8, 2025

Foaled on February 15, 1974, Seattle Slew was, at the time of his death on May 7, 2002, the only horse to win the American Triple Crown while undefeated. Since then, the only other horse to do so was Justify, in 2018, who is descended from Seattle Slew through perhaps the best known of his offspring, 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy.

Originally trained by William ‘Billy’ Turner Jr. and ridden by French-American jockey Jean Cruguet, Seattle Slew raced just three times as a juvenile. He did, however, win all three starts, including the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park – at the time, the most important race of its kind in the United States – which was sufficient to be named Champion Two-Year-Old in 1976.

After three preparatory races, in which he was sent off at long odds-on, Seattle Slew duly became the tenth winner of the American Triple Crown, clinching the championship with a comfortable, 4-length victory over Run Dusty Run in the Belmont Stakes, with Cruguet celeberating prematurely, some way from the finish line. Controversy followed, with Seattle Slew managing only a distant fourth, beaten 16 lengths, in the Swap Stakes at Hollywood Park on his next start, a defeat that ultimately led to Turner being fired and replaced by Douglas Peterson. Seattle Slew was beaten twice more as a four-year-old, by a neck and by a nose, but still finished his career with 14 wins from 17 starts and just over $1.2 million in prize money.

Following his retirement from racing, Seattle Slew stood at stud at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington and Three Chimneys Farm in Midway. He eventually died in his sleep at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Paris, Kentucky on May 7, 2002 – 25 years to the day after winning the Kentucky Derby – at the age of 28. Co-owner Mickey Taylor said of him, “He was the most complete Thoroughbred the industy has ever seen. He just kept raising the bar with every record he broke.”

Figure

admin April 8, 2025

Figure, otherwise known as the ‘Justin Morgan Horse’, after his most famous owner, was the foundation sire of one of the earliest American breeds, the Morgan Horse. The details of his lineage have been hotly debated down the years, but he was almost certainly foaled in southern New England in 1789 and was sired by True Briton, s Throughbred, out of a dam by Diamond, known as ‘The Wildmair Mare’. John Wallace, for example, who published the first volume of his ‘Trotting Register’ in 1871, claimed that Figure was not, in fact, sired by True Briton, and effectively accused his owner of fraud by misrepresenation.

Vermont schoolteacher Justin Morgan reputedly received Figure as part payment of a debt in 1791. Morgan advertised Figure for stud duties at various locations in the Connecticut River Valley between 1792 and 1795, but thereafter the horse passed from owner to owner, stood in many places and sired an unrecorded number of foals. In 1891, Figure was sold to his final owner, Levi Bean, in Chelsea, Vermont, and died two years later of a flank injury, caused by a kick from another horse, aged 32. A fictionalised version of his story appeared in the 1945 children’s novel ‘Just Morgan Had a Horse’ by Marguerite Henry and was adapted as a film by Disney Studios in 1972.

A compact, muscular horse, who stood approximately 14 hands high, Figure was the progenitor of a breed that is, nowadays, revered for its beauty, athleticism and calm, intelligent demeanour. Morgans are suitable for various equestrian disciplines and their excellent disposition makes them popular pleasure mounts for experienced and novice riders. Indeed, the official breed registry, the American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA), originally founded in 1909 as the Morgan Horse Club, has the slogan “The Horse That Chooses You.” According to the AMHA, approximately 90,000 living Morgans are officially registered with the Association.

Eclipse

admin April 7, 2025

Born during, and named after, an annular eclipse on April1, 1764 – dubbed ‘The Great Eclipse’ by the scribes of the day – Eclipse did start racing until he was fully mature, as a five-year-old, but won all of his 18 races between May 3, 1769 and October 4, 1770. Indeed, such was his dominance during those two seasons that he started at odd-against just once and walked-over on eight occasions, having frightened the opposition away. His eventual retirement to stud, in 1771, was due, in large part, to the lack of meaningful competition.

On May 3, 1769, prior to the second heat of the Noblemen and Gentleman’s Plate on Epsom Downs, Connacht-born gambler Dennis O’Kelly supposedly asked for odds against “Eclipse first, the rest nowhere”. In other words, O’Kelly was suggesting that Eclipse, who had won the first heat easily, would pass the winning post before any of his rivals passed the ‘distance’ post, 240 yards from the finish, such that they would be deemed to have finished ‘nowhere’. Eclipse did just that, landing odds of 6/4 and even money for the intepid Irishman, who later used his winnings to buy the horse.

Following his retirement from racing, Eclipse stood at Clay Hill Stud, Epsom and later at Cannpns Stud, Edgware, where he would become the foremost sire of modern Thoroughbreds, with his name appearing somewhere in the pedigree of approximate 95% of the breed. Eclipse died following an attack of colic on February 27, 1789, aged 24. Nowadays, his almost complete skeleton is on display at the Royal Veterinary College in Hertfordshire. On the racecourse, he is commemorated by the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes, which is run annually at Sandown Park in July. Established in 1886, the Eclispe Stakes was, at that stage, the most valuable race ever run in Britain.

Comanche

admin April 7, 2025

Comanche was a United States Cavalry horse, reputedly so-named by Captain Myles Keogh, whose personal mount he was, after the horse screamed “like a Comanche” when struck by an arrow during an altercation with the Native American tribe of the same name in 1868. A mixed-breed horse of uncertain ancestry, Comanche was greyish-brown in colour and stood a modest 15 hands high. Although by no means an impressive physical specimen, Comanche nonetheless found fame as, to all intents and purposes, the sole survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in Missouri Territory, on June 25, 1876.

Despite a final, desperate defence, which became known as ‘Custer’s Last Stand’, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and all the men in his immediate command – five companies of the Seventh Cavalry, numbering approximately 210 in total – were killed. When relief arrived the following day, the only living being in the vicinity of the engagement was Comanche, albeit grieviously injured by opposition gunfire.

Comanche was transported to Fort Abraham Lincoln,near Bismarck, North Dakota, where he was slowly nursed back to health, before being retired from active duty in April 1878. Indeed, at that point, Colonel Samuel Sturgis issued a ceremonial order guaranteeing his comfort and well-being during his retirement. In fact, Comanche was not the only horse that survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but it was he who became the living embodiment of the spirit of the Seventh Cavalry, and the United States Army in general, much beloved by soldiers.

Comanche died on November 7, 1891, probably aged 29, and was given a dignified farewell, including military honours. Rather than being buried, though, his remains were preserved for posterity and his taxidermy mount, which was first displayed at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893, stands in the Kansas University Natural History Museum.