Jennifer S. Kelly's Blog, page 3
August 8, 2019
The Horse Racing Show!
Every time Triple Crown season rolls around, Kenny Rice is there, reporting for NBC Sports. You can catch his familiar cadence and expert coverage on their broadcasts so imagine my thrill when I discovered that Mr. Rice had a show of his own! Streaming on YouTube, you will find all 29 episodes, featuring names like Bill Parcells, Mike Smith, Bill Mott, Larry Collmus, and more. Imagine my delight when I was able to part of Mr. Rice’s Horse Racing Show! Below you can find my interview with Mr. Rice.
You can find the show on YouTube and subscribe to their channel or stream the audio here. Thank you to Kenny Rice and his staff for this chance to be a part of a great show!
July 10, 2019
One Hundred Years Ago, a Defeat
Eternal had had enough of Sir Barton. As the day of the mile-and-an-eighth Dwyer bloomed gloomy with the summer rain, Kimball Patterson, the colt’s trainer, took the weather as a sign that perhaps it was time to say when. Eternal had faced Sir Barton three times in 1919 and all three times the son of Star Shoot had gotten the better of the juvenile co-champion of 1918. Sir Barton was simply the better of the two now.
[image error]Almost a month after his Belmont Stakes victory, Sir Barton was still a perfect four-for-four in 1919. After reeling off all of his victories in only 32 days, the winner of what we now know as the first Triple Crown had had a break, but now was ready to face the barrier for the Dwyer, Commander Ross eager to add another laurel to his champion’s resumé. The rain had driven all but two other horses from facing Sir Barton on July 10, 1919. Crystal Ford was clearly out of his element, but, hey, with only three horses in the field, the colt was bound to win some money. The show, though, belonged to Sir Barton and Purchase, two colts on hot streaks that begged for something extraordinary to happen.
[image error]After being one of 1918’s most promising juveniles, Purchase had missed the spring classics after getting his leg caught in his hayrack in late April. His owner/trainer Sam Hildreth had planned to run the colt earlier in the spring, but that injury had kept him off the track until early June. When he did return to the races, Purchase reeled off three victories in four starts, his only defeat coming at the hands of Eternal in the Brooklyn Handicap. Despite four starts in four weeks, Purchase seemed ready to run in the Dwyer, the beneficiary of a nine-pound break in weights from Sir Barton.
At the Aqueduct barrier, Purchase stood on the rail with Crystal Ford and then Sir Barton to his right. The sloppy track made the outer lanes better for running so jockey Johnny Loftus kept Sir Barton for the first mile, with Crystal Ford running a length or so behind him and then Purchase bringing up the rear. Fractious at the start, Purchase had gotten away slowly, with Sir Barton already a couple of lengths ahead of him, but, once he found his stride, jockey Willie Knapp sat patiently waiting for the stretch. Once there, as Sir Barton pulled away from Crystal Ford, Knapp gave Purchase some rein and the colt took off, the Triple Crown winner in his sights. Sir Barton seemed to resist Loftus’s urging for more, sulking after another barrage of the whip. Purchase drew away to win by three lengths, with Sir Barton straggling home ahead of the outclassed Crystal Ford.
After such a stellar spring, the defeat in the Dwyer had a deleterious effect on Sir Barton’s reputation. Whereas Man o’ War’s defeat in the Sanford a month later would be almost heroic, the Dwyer left Sir Barton fans deflated. A bruised hoof and a tough spring campaign had left the son of Star Shoot short of the form that had made him a star, but trainer H.G. Bedwell wanted Sir Barton on the lead so Loftus had to use the whip early in the race to drive the colt to the front. Giving Purchase nine pounds on top of it meant that Sir Barton had to work harder than he had in previous starts to get as close to victory as he had. On top of the weight and the questions about his form, Sir Barton had also lost a shoe in the running of the Dwyer, another challenge he had had to overcome in the course of the nine furlongs.
With that defeat, Sir Barton went on the shelf, a necessary vacation after a hard spring campaign. Purchase moved on to Saratoga, carrying his new status as a contender for best three-year-old of 1919 into victories against horses like Exterminator at the Spa. Calls for Sir Barton to meet Purchase at the barrier again to decide the three-year-old championship went unanswered: an injury in October 1919 meant that the two would not race against each other again that year. Eventually, Sir Barton’s fall campaign would earn him the title of the year’s best three-year-old.
One hundred years ago today, Sir Barton suffered his first defeat after his pioneering Triple Crown victory. Contrasting the reaction to his defeat with that of Man o’ War’s defeat in the Sanford is an interesting portrait of how reputation can affect perception with long-term historical effects. Find more in Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown, available from the University Press of Kentucky.
July 3, 2019
Celebrate the Holiday with Sir Barton!
It’s July 4th weekend! Summer is already half over, but you still have plenty of time to kick back, relax, and enjoy some downtime before you get back to the grind. What better way to enjoy your free time this weekend than with Sir Barton? I will be around the Lexington/Frankfort area on July 5th and 6th. I hope you will come by, say hi, and talk all things Sammy and racing!
July 5 @ 12 pm — Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, KY
July 6 @ 10 am — Paul Sawyier Library, Frankfort, KY
July 6th @ 2 pm — Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lexington, KY
If you can’t make it out to the Lexington/Frankfort area, why not pick up a copy of Sammy’s story for your beach reading? Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown is available from your favorite bookseller or library. If your library doesn’t carry the book, you can request it.
June 12, 2019
Pick One Up Today!
Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown is out! You can find it at the University Press of Kentucky, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million. If you find it in your local bookstore, let me know! I’m on Twitter and Instagram (@thesirbarton).
If you’d like a cool piece of Sir Barton swag, look no further than Old Smoke! Their line of t-shirts is a personal favorite of mine. Check them out!
June 11, 2019
One Hundred Years Ago, a Triple Crown
JUNE 11, 1919
This Wednesday in New York dawned bright and warm, the almost-summer sun beating down on the regal space of Belmont Park. The trains brought in more and more people, to the point that the grounds swelled with 25,000 in attendance, twice the usual number of fans for mid-week at the track we know as Big Sandy. The first race went off at 2.44 pm, with a steeplechase and a stakes race to follow, but the throng wasn’t there for that. No, they had turned out for one race and one horse. The fourth race was the Belmont Stakes and the horse they all came to see was racing’s newest star, the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, Sir Barton.
Commander Ross was there, joined by his wife and his children, Hylda and Jim, and others to watch Ross’s newly minted champion compete against only two others in the Belmont. The crowd gathered around the Belmont paddock, under the track’s signature white pine, their eyes solely on the chestnut colt, his white blaze cascading down his lovely face, veering to the left over one nostril. Sir Barton was class personified, his sinewy muscle rippling with each step, his strong legs calling to mind the power and speed that he showed each time he galloped down a racetrack. The blaze was soon eclipsed by his customary blinkers while a tiny saddle was secured to his back. H.G. Bedwell boosted Johnny Loftus into place and they all looked forward, toward the bugle’s call and the task at hand. The masses watched the wonder horse in front of them, cognizant of greatness and yet unaware of the history they were all about to witness.
The three horses walked from that grand white pine toward the wide Belmont course, taking their place at the barrier. These were the days when Belmont Park ran its races clockwise rather than the customary counter-clockwise so they were close to where today’s fans would find the finish line. Mars Cassidy took his place in the starter’s stand, with Sir Barton on the rail, then Natural Bridge and Sweep On to his outside. Cassidy waited for the three to still and then up flew the barrier! Sir Barton was on his toes and ready, flying out to the lead before Loftus wrapped him up and allowed Natural Bridge to run on the lead. They continued like this for the first six furlongs of the race’s eleven, Natural Bridge a handful of lengths in front until they hit the stretch.
When Loftus gave Sir Barton some rein, the colt exulted at the freedom, striding away from Natural Bridge to take a three-length lead. Sweep On came on at the same time, but his attempt to challenge the chestnut colt was futile: no one was catching Sir Barton this day. His lead stretched out to five lengths in the blink of an eye, Loftus again taking up the reins. Even with that, Sir Barton hit the wire in American record time, 2:17 2/5. Loftus brought Sir Barton back around to the winner’s circle, greeted by vociferous cheers from that 25,000 that had turned out for the day’s racing. Commander Ross was exultant, thronged by the crowd of cries of “horse of the decade” and even more lavishly “horse of the century.” No word on the blanket of carnations, but Commander Ross did receive a lovely silver platter for Sir Barton’s Belmont victory.
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With that, Sir Barton had completed America’s first Triple Crown, though it would take at least four or five years before the moniker became attached to the accomplishment. The feat had to be done before the name could come; once others realized the value of those three races, the money and the prestige to be had with winning them, the Triple Crown began to take root in the consciousness of the sport. By 1930, William Woodward saw the value of those three races to the point where he sent both Gallant Fox after them in that year and then, five years later, Gallant Fox’s greatest son Omaha completed the third Triple Crown, the first to see that term used widely. War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), and then Citation (1948) would all add their names before the Thoroughbred Racing Associations officially recognized the Triple Crown in 1950 with a trophy they would eventually award to each of them, starting with Sir Barton. Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978), American Pharoah (2015), and Justify (2018) all have won the Triple Crown in the last fifty years.
Now, one hundred years later, the Triple Crown remains one of the most elusive and elite prizes in the sport of horse racing. Sir Barton’s pioneering victories forever altered the course of the sport, from how we breed thoroughbreds to how they are trained to how we schedule races in any given year. The Triple Crown is often the only part of racing that so many Americans see in a given year. The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes all had achieved some level of renown in the sport before Sir Barton, but his wins and the subsequent coalescence of those three races into the Triple Crown elevated the prestige of all three to bucket-list level. A Triple Crown has become the goal of many a breeder, owner, trainer, jockey, and fan, a life-changing moment for anyone associated with the sport.
We owe all of this to a chestnut colt with English and American classic winners in his pedigree, a horse who stood out from birth as “the king of them all,” Sir Barton. Today, I hope you will raise a glass to the horse that started it all and celebrate with me.
If you want to read more about Sir Barton’s Triple Crown as well as his life and career beyond 1919, please pick up Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown from the University Press of Kentucky. Old Smoke also has a wonderful Sir Barton shirt to help you share your excitement about the 100th anniversary.
May 31, 2019
Talking Sammy & Tracking Bode(xpress): Book Tour Part II
After Book Tour Part I took me around the Commonwealth, I had a blissful week at home recovering before I headed back to Kentucky for the tremendous honor of participating in the Keeneland Library Lecture Series and then buzzing over to Baltimore for Preakness weekend, where I had a signing on Black-Eyed Susan Day at Pimlico and then got to yell “Riders Up!” for the Sir Barton Stakes on Preakness Day. It was a whirlwind week of traveling, one that I will definitely never forget.
Triple Crown Glory
I rolled into Lexington Monday afternoon in preparation for the Keeneland Library lecture on Tuesday. I was able to visit with my family in the area as well as enjoy a quick jaunt to one of my favorite places, Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. How can a Triple Crown historian resist the chance to visit not one, but TWO Triple Crown winners in the same place?!?
Both American Pharoah and Justify looked AMAZING and I was thrilled to see them both. The difference in their personalities is pretty obvious considering how Ashford allows you to access them: AP stood still enough that he posed in the background and hung out while we had our photos taken while Justify was brought out, walked around, and was kept well away from the tour group. Maybe one day Justify will be chill enough for us to get a little closer!
Talking Sammy: Keeneland Library Lecture
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On May 14th, I had the great privilege of presenting an extended discussion of Sir Barton and his career, followed by a book signing. I saw a number of familiar faces there, including the venerable Ed Bowen, former editor of the Blood-Horse; Milt Toby, author of Taking Shergar among other books; Jamie Nicholson, fellow writer and editor of the Horses in History imprint; Lenny Shulman, Blood-Horse writer and the author of the recently released Justify: 111 Days to Triple Crown Glory; and many more. Sadly I didn’t get any photos of the set-up or the people because I am a terrible photographer who is easily distracted. The presentation was a great way to start rethinking Sir Barton’s reputation, one of my goals for the book.
Leaving on a Jet Plane: Preakness Weekend
After a successful jaunt back to Lexington and some of my favorite places on Earth, I returned home to repack and reload for Pimlico. I flew out to Baltimore for a book signing at Pimlico on Friday and then my 30 seconds of coolness before the Sir Barton Stakes on Saturday. My friend Maribeth, who is also part of the Save Pimlico movement, hung out at Old Hilltop while I sat with fellow writers Linda Carroll (Duel for the Crown, Out of the Clouds) and Peggy Rowe (yes, Mike’s mother & a writer herself) signing books. Mike Smith walked by! So did Jimmy Barnes! Bob Baffert! Graham Motion! Steve Byk (who I forgot to get a photo with)! I only got a couple of photos, but I will treasure them always.
On Saturday, I had the great fortune of yelling “Riders Up!” for the Sir Barton Stakes! I also got a saddlecloth to commemorate the occasion. It was so fun to hang with Mario Verge, the paddock judge, who showed me the ins and outs of his job and with Gabby Gaudet as she interviewed Todd Pletcher. I got to stand near the winner’s circle for the running of the Sir Barton Stakes, right where the horsemen stand while watching the race.
Maribeth and I were in the Turfside Terrace on Friday, but on Saturday our tickets were for the Triple Crown Room. We roamed Pimlico, finding friendly faces everywhere we went. I was able to squeeze down by the rail to watch War of Will win the Preakness while Bodexpress shed Johnny Valezquez at the start and run pell-mell over the Pimlico course, following the other horses as they raced. It was at once exhilarating and terrifying because you know how easily he could hurt himself and others.
With War of Will’s victory, the painter ascended to change the colors on the Pimlico weathervane and then the victor walked by with his blanket of black-eyed Susans following. It was an exhilarating and exhausting day, a great capper to a week of rare opportunities that I will always treasure.
Back to reality now. Back to work. Back to my office with its treasure trove of thoroughbreds decorating the walls and a new souvenir to mark this special time. My gratitude to everyone involved with these special events and all of the smiling faces I met along the way. I am so glad to be a part of the horse racing community.
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May 30, 2019
Bookin’ It Bluegrass-Style: Book Tour Part I
Little Sir Barton and I loaded up the swaggin’ wagon (i.e., my minivan) for my first series of appearances in support of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown. My first stop was the Southern Kentucky Book Fest (SOKYBF) in Bowling Green, Kentucky on April 26th & 27th. I then skipped up to Louisville for Fan Fest at the Kentucky Derby Museum and rounded out this first part of this promotional swing with a presentation as part of the Kentucky Proud Evening program at the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service office in Lexington.
SOKYBF — A Table for Several
My first official event as an author was this appearance at SOKYBF at Western Kentucky University’s Knicely Convention Center. Our table was all University Press of Kentucky authors, several in all, including Milt Toby, who wrote Taking Shergar. I had a number of friendly faces come by and get books signed, a new experience for me, for sure. Little Sir Barton hung out with me the whole day while I met writers like Abbie Roads, Andy Plattner, and Artie Bennett. I also had the chance to talk to Milt and even had the privilege of meeting Alex Waldrop, the president of NTRA. A great day!
Fan Fest — Triple Crown Excitement
The theme of this year’s Fan Fest at the Kentucky Derby Museum was the Triple Crown. A new exhibit featuring last year’s Triple Crown winner, Justify, opened with a few pieces of Sir Barton memorabilia thrown in to celebrate a century of the Crown. I was invited to speak about Sir Barton, which I was able to do in the Museum’s Central Hall; I saw radio host Steve Byk pop his head in and then apparently Mike Smith & Caton Bredar must have heard some of my presentation because I received compliments from both! I then was able to sit just outside the gift shop for a book signing. I met so. many. people. including Mike Smith(!), Caton Bredar(!), Julie June Stewart, Pat Day, and more! I even saw Bob Baffert not three feet from me!
In addition to getting my own copy of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown signed by Bredar, Baffert, and Smith, I also got a Justify Maker’s Mark bottle signed by those amazing people. I lead a charmed life!
Kentucky Proud — Talking Sammy
Little Sir Barton and I made our last stop on this whirlwind trip around Kentucky in Lexington. A short drive from Louisville found us in LEX for one of the University of Kentucky’s Cooperative Extension Office’s Kentucky Proud Evenings. The staff at the CES provided a yummy Derby-themed dinner for the audience and myself, including an amazing quiche and cobbler. The evening was also a chance for me to give my first extended presentation on Sir Barton’s life and career, an opportunity I enjoyed immensely! A couple of those smiling faces even came back for a second go-round when I appeared at the Keeneland Library a couple of weeks later.
Alas, our swing through the Commonwealth was over. I had an AMAZING time talking about Sir Barton, signing books, and meeting so many people. The best part is I got to follow all of this excitement up with Book Tour Part II — Talking Horses.
Sir Barton Turns 100+3!
The month since the release of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown has been a bit of a whirlwind, which puts me woefully behind on updating here on the Sir Barton Project. In 2016, on the occasion of Sir Barton’s 100th birthday, Lori Hoyt of the Boondocks Flower Shop and Gifts in Douglas, Wyoming was kind enough to create a bouquet of flowers for Sir Barton’s grave. This year, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sir Barton’s Triple Crown triumph, I decided to place flowers on Sir Barton’s grave again, but, because of this milestone, I thought we needed to go bigger!
I created a GoFundMe and, thanks to the generous donations of several people including Jody Lamp & Melody Dobson, the wonderful filmmakers behind Born to Rein (which I hope you will go and see if it plays near you!), we were able to raise enough money for a very special arrangement for Sir Barton’s birthday. Lori and her daughter Kaylann created this beautiful crown-shaped display for Sir Barton’s grave. They placed it on his grave in Washington Park in Douglas on Sir Barton’s birthday, April 26th.
The crown is made of red roses to honor his victory in the Kentucky Derby, black-eyed Susans to honor his victory in the Preakness Stakes, and white carnations to honor his victory in the Belmont Stakes. It was a beautiful arrangement and I hope others were able to see it and think of the speed and stamina and heart of the horse that pioneered racing’s most elite accomplishment.
Thank you to everyone who donated to this GoFundMe to make this small gesture of recognition for Sir Barton happen. Thank you to Lori and Kaylann for working on this beautiful arrangement. Thank you to YOU for being here!
May 29, 2019
Sir Barton & Old Smoke — A Dynamic Duo!
[image error]Last year, I discovered Old Smoke via Gary Stevens. I now have a handful of shirts from them, ranging from an adorable Bodexpress shirt from this year’s Preakness to a wonderful Triple Crown shirt. Their shirts are high-quality material with these great designs that show their appreciation for horse racing. As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Triple Crown this year, it was only natural that Old Smoke would celebrate this milestone with a Sir Barton shirt.
I am grateful to Kurt & Adrian at Old Smoke for the chance to create another way to recognize this milestone and celebrate the anniversary of America’s first Triple Crown. You can purchase the shirt here!
May 24, 2019
Winning Ponies with John Engelhardt
Whew! It has been a whirlwind month! I am woefully behind on posting here. I have had a number of events to celebrate the publication of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown with more to come! I will do a write-up of those events soon, but, in the meantime, I appeared on Winning Ponies with John Engelhardt last night. You can listen to that interview here:
