Put your list of the 12 mightiest underestimated 20th century TBs.
01. SHAM
02. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
03. FLYING PASTERNS
04. DARK STAR
05. VIGORS
06. FREE HOUSE
07. CAÑONERO II
08. RUNAWAY GROOM
09. PINK PIGEON
10. KING PELLINORE
11. QUACK
12. NOOR
12 most underestimated 20th century TBs
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster
1. and 1A. Reigh Count. Suffered from the hardest of hard luck. Beaten by a nose in the richest American race (Futurity) when his jockey pulled him prematurely either by mistake or plan. Dominated a 22-horse Kentucky Derby while running on a sore leg suffered in training, kicked by his stablemate (who also happened to be the horse to nose him out in that controversial Futurity). Out of the other classics because of injury, he returned to dominate his class and other older horses in the fall. Sent to England next year, he won the Coronation Cup. Losing his winning jockey in a switch, he lost the Ascot Gold Cup to a two-time winner, while a victim of a poor ride admitted to by his British substitute. With a whiff of luck would have been the leading money winner upon retirement. Could sprint on dirt or go 2 1/2 miles on turf. Absent from the top 100 despite accomplishments that some of the others could only dream of doing.
2. Native Dancer. Running on a dinged wheel that never fully recovered, and with an abbreviated training schedule, he nearly won the Triple Crown and nearly finished unbeaten. No one ever saw him running as a healthy mature horse, or what could have been.
2. Native Dancer. Running on a dinged wheel that never fully recovered, and with an abbreviated training schedule, he nearly won the Triple Crown and nearly finished unbeaten. No one ever saw him running as a healthy mature horse, or what could have been.
Jorge, please I don't mean to be a spelling cop. But some of the younger readers might not remember Flying Paster and not find him in the database.
But you're right. He had the poor luck of running 6 times against Spectacular Bid. (Then he tried the turf in the San Juan Cap and finished behind John Henry
) Undeterred, he tried Bid twice more without success at Hol. Stubborn owners. Also the subject of a running joke with my brother who still has his $1k of losing KD tickets. Ouch.
But you're right. He had the poor luck of running 6 times against Spectacular Bid. (Then he tried the turf in the San Juan Cap and finished behind John Henry
) Undeterred, he tried Bid twice more without success at Hol. Stubborn owners. Also the subject of a running joke with my brother who still has his $1k of losing KD tickets. Ouch.I followed the great Spectacular Bid since his impressive 7 furlongs
stakes win as a two-year-old colt, when he clicked around 1:21. I was delighted and always admired his immense talent but I also learned to
"take my hat off" in front of the might and consistency of
FLYING PASTER. What a great horse. Though not on my list, the mare WAYA also gained my deep respect when she raced against The Bid.
FLYING PASTER: http://www.pedigreequery.com/flying+paster
stakes win as a two-year-old colt, when he clicked around 1:21. I was delighted and always admired his immense talent but I also learned to
"take my hat off" in front of the might and consistency of
FLYING PASTER. What a great horse. Though not on my list, the mare WAYA also gained my deep respect when she raced against The Bid.
FLYING PASTER: http://www.pedigreequery.com/flying+paster
I referred to Reigh Count in an earlier post. The horse that beat him in the '27 Futurity was his stablemate Anita Peabody.
She was named by the wife of the owner of Hertz Rent-a-Car and Yellow Cab for the daughter of her friend, owner of Peabody Coal Company.
Anita Peabody didn't deserve to win that Futurity (a $90k race that year, by far the largest purse). Reigh Count had the lead and his jockey pulled the reins prematurely. But she was still very close to him.
After the race, she was diagnosed with a leg injury. Wintered over, she ran once race early in '28 and won. She began training for the KD with Reigh Count. She kicked Reigh Count. Also, her old injury flared up and she was later retired.
Her record was 7 of 8, her only loss due to a bad start in the era before starting gates. Her first outing was a win by a nose. The next day she romped in the Debutante at CD.
She carried a ton of weight in the Tomboy Handicap (I love that name) 3 days prior to the Futurity. Granted, in the Futurity she was handed a gift by Reigh Count's jockey. But considerably behind her in that big race were the winners of next year's Preakness, Belmont and Travers.
Oh, and did I mention that she was field-born, unsupervised. And nearly sold at auction by her owners. And later bred with Reigh Count. What a great story she is.
She was named by the wife of the owner of Hertz Rent-a-Car and Yellow Cab for the daughter of her friend, owner of Peabody Coal Company.
Anita Peabody didn't deserve to win that Futurity (a $90k race that year, by far the largest purse). Reigh Count had the lead and his jockey pulled the reins prematurely. But she was still very close to him.
After the race, she was diagnosed with a leg injury. Wintered over, she ran once race early in '28 and won. She began training for the KD with Reigh Count. She kicked Reigh Count. Also, her old injury flared up and she was later retired.
Her record was 7 of 8, her only loss due to a bad start in the era before starting gates. Her first outing was a win by a nose. The next day she romped in the Debutante at CD.
She carried a ton of weight in the Tomboy Handicap (I love that name) 3 days prior to the Futurity. Granted, in the Futurity she was handed a gift by Reigh Count's jockey. But considerably behind her in that big race were the winners of next year's Preakness, Belmont and Travers.
Oh, and did I mention that she was field-born, unsupervised. And nearly sold at auction by her owners. And later bred with Reigh Count. What a great story she is.
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xfactor fan
- Breeder's Cup Winner
- Posts: 2212
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:46 pm
Jorge wrote:Steward,
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful stories. I really appreciate it. Would you like to share more on these two equines. I am under the impression you have more information than you alreadyshared.
Great thread!
Chicago in the '30s was mob heaven. Turf wars spread to the taxi business. Poor Anita P was caught in the middle of it:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 73,00.html
"Last week, a night fire blazed in the Hertz stables; a onetime jockey brought famed Reigh Count, Anita Peabody, and many another blindfolded out of burning stalls; eleven horses burned to death, screaming as they did so; the $300,000 stables turned into charred beams and ashes." (more)
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Shammy Davis
- Chef de Race: Classic
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ISLAND WHIRL definitely out ran his pedigree and then was overlooked as a sire. Pensioned in 2004, I'm not sure the old boy is still alive, but I would not be surprised to see his mares making substantial contributions to the breeding industry. IW should not be omitted. SHAM is definitely my favorite. TEMPERANCE HILL is another overlooked colt. What were his Belmont odds? 47-1 was a big payoff for a number of gamblers, but not me. FLYING PASTER is another favorite. I'm glad to see him high on the list. I own a very talented mare by VYING VICTOR and she has thrown a couple of very nice fillies. One is burning up the track in allowance company at Woodbine for some Canadian connections. Last but not least is NORCLIFFE. Definitely a great BUCKPASSER colt who held up his share of his sire's legacy and died too young.
Billy Kelly was a first-rate sprinter/miler whose career was unfortunately sidetracked and eventually ended thanks to a cruel sponging incident and its aftereffects. Had he gotten a chance at a full career in good health, he might be remembered right up there with Roseben as one of the finest sprinters of the first half of the century.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher...You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." C. S. Lewis
One last Reigh Count anecdote to file under the category of "Hmmmmm."
Reigh Count was part of a strong class that included Sun Beau, Petee-Wrack, Anita Peabody, and a couple of regally bred Whisk Broom II/Peter Pan mare offspring, Diavolo and Victorian. (The former as a 4yo, in Reigh Count's absence in England, was handicap horse of the year, while the latter was only "name" horse besides Phar Lap to win the Caliente/Coffroth Handicap when it was the biggest thing going.)
As he matured and was healthy, Reigh Count dominated that class. His near win in the Futurity found the other colts well behind him at the finish. Next year, he won the KD convincingly. (That year, the KD was 8 days after the Preakness, and Reigh Count raced a prep at CD instead, leaving the Preakness to Victorian.)
His injury suffered while training for the Derby kept him out of the other big spring 3yo tests. He returned to training, and started in the Travers. Mysteriously, he lost to both Petee-Wrack and Victorian, colts that he otherwise handled fairly easily. His owner was baffled not only by his performance but most of all by his disposition. Normally a generous individual, he was nervous and upset both before and after the race, and unresponsive to his handler's attempts to calm him. According to her (I kid you not), it wasn't the off track, something that hadn't been an issue before, but the over-tight braiding of his tail that made him so unlike himself. She swore that the minute it was unwound, he settled down to his regular self, ate vigorously, and was perfect from then on.
She might have had a valid point. Reigh Count subsequently won easily four days later. Then he took on the older Preakness champion Display in a 2 horse Saratoga Cup and trounced him. He followed that up with victories in the Lawrence Realization (dusting his Travers conquerors) and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which he beat Chance Shot (former Belmont Stakes winner), Display, and Diavolo. The latter race was his last American appearance. Facing the prospect of crushing handicap weights because of his overwhelming superiority to anything running, he went on a boat to England.
A tight braid - the ultimate Graveyard of Champions alibi.
Reigh Count was part of a strong class that included Sun Beau, Petee-Wrack, Anita Peabody, and a couple of regally bred Whisk Broom II/Peter Pan mare offspring, Diavolo and Victorian. (The former as a 4yo, in Reigh Count's absence in England, was handicap horse of the year, while the latter was only "name" horse besides Phar Lap to win the Caliente/Coffroth Handicap when it was the biggest thing going.)
As he matured and was healthy, Reigh Count dominated that class. His near win in the Futurity found the other colts well behind him at the finish. Next year, he won the KD convincingly. (That year, the KD was 8 days after the Preakness, and Reigh Count raced a prep at CD instead, leaving the Preakness to Victorian.)
His injury suffered while training for the Derby kept him out of the other big spring 3yo tests. He returned to training, and started in the Travers. Mysteriously, he lost to both Petee-Wrack and Victorian, colts that he otherwise handled fairly easily. His owner was baffled not only by his performance but most of all by his disposition. Normally a generous individual, he was nervous and upset both before and after the race, and unresponsive to his handler's attempts to calm him. According to her (I kid you not), it wasn't the off track, something that hadn't been an issue before, but the over-tight braiding of his tail that made him so unlike himself. She swore that the minute it was unwound, he settled down to his regular self, ate vigorously, and was perfect from then on.
She might have had a valid point. Reigh Count subsequently won easily four days later. Then he took on the older Preakness champion Display in a 2 horse Saratoga Cup and trounced him. He followed that up with victories in the Lawrence Realization (dusting his Travers conquerors) and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which he beat Chance Shot (former Belmont Stakes winner), Display, and Diavolo. The latter race was his last American appearance. Facing the prospect of crushing handicap weights because of his overwhelming superiority to anything running, he went on a boat to England.
A tight braid - the ultimate Graveyard of Champions alibi.
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Patuxet
- Grade III Winner
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In 1962 Kelso won three races-- the Woodward, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Stymie.
That same year Beau Purple won five -- the Hawthorne Gold Cup, the Appleton, the Brooklyn, the Suburban and the Man o'War. In the last three he set new track records. In the last two Kelso ran second to him.
Yet once again sentimentality apparently trumped reason and Kelso was name Horse of the Year. Go figure.
That same year Beau Purple won five -- the Hawthorne Gold Cup, the Appleton, the Brooklyn, the Suburban and the Man o'War. In the last three he set new track records. In the last two Kelso ran second to him.
Yet once again sentimentality apparently trumped reason and Kelso was name Horse of the Year. Go figure.
Well, let's start filling up the second dozen.
01. Reigh Count
02. Island Whirl
03. Billy Kelly
04. Beau Purple
05. Star of Cozzene
06. Pia Star
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
12.
(p.s. Any comment on Dark Star?)
Put your list of the 12 mightiest underestimated 20th century TBs.
01. SHAM
02. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
03. FLYING PASTERNS
04. DARK STAR
05. VIGORS
06. FREE HOUSE
07. CAÑONERO II
08. RUNAWAY GROOM
09. PINK PIGEON
10. KING PELLINORE
11. QUACK
12. NOOR
01. Reigh Count
02. Island Whirl
03. Billy Kelly
04. Beau Purple
05. Star of Cozzene
06. Pia Star
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
12.
(p.s. Any comment on Dark Star?)
Put your list of the 12 mightiest underestimated 20th century TBs.
01. SHAM
02. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
03. FLYING PASTERNS
04. DARK STAR
05. VIGORS
06. FREE HOUSE
07. CAÑONERO II
08. RUNAWAY GROOM
09. PINK PIGEON
10. KING PELLINORE
11. QUACK
12. NOOR