Jennifer S. Kelly's Blog, page 6

Books of Note: Sham: Great Was Second Best

[image error]Secretariat

The 20th century had two Big Reds: Man o’ War and Secretariat, both horses so dominant that they topped the list of the century’s greatest horses at numbers one and two. Both red chestnuts captured the hearts and imaginations of the people who watched them. Both inspired writers and verse to encapsulate their equine greatness, with multiple books devoted to their stories. These Big Reds stood at the top, their brilliant performances their legacy to the sport of horse racing. Behind those thrilling moments, though, lie their catalysts, the horses who might have finished second but drove those Big Reds to bigger and better. Among those were horses like Sir Barton and Sham.

For this month’s Book of Note, I wanted to read more about Sham, the colt who finished second to Secretariat in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes and challenged the big red colt in the Belmont, only to fall to last when repelled by that “tremendous machine.” In his own right, Sham was a champion and, had he been born in any other year, could have won the Triple Crown himself. But, like Alydar, he is better known for being second best. What Phil Dandrea does is take that shadowy form behind Secretariat and make him flesh and blood.

[image error]Sham

Dark bay and 16.2 hands, Sham was by Pretense, out of Sequoia, sharing Princequillo as a damsire with Secretariat. Pretense had started his career as a sprinter, but stretched out to become a champion handicapper at age four. His dam was a stakes winner herself who had full sisters that won both the Kentucky Oaks and the Coaching Club American Oaks. Sham’s pedigree was built for stamina; he would stalk the pace and then come on with a closing rush. Bred by Claiborne Farm, he was part of Claiborne’s excellent racing stock at age two, trained by the legendary Woody Stephens, until Bull Hancock’s untimely death in late 1972. Claiborne was forced to sell its horses in training in order to pay estate taxes and preserve the legendary breeding stock. Seth Hancock desperately wanted to keep Sham, knowing the colt’s potential and his father’s fondness for the easy-going colt, but the son of Pretense had to go, sold to Sigmund and Viola Summers for $200,000.

At three, now trained by Frank “Pancho” Martin, Sham showed even more potential in the run-up to the Kentucky Derby, winning the Santa Anita Derby and finishing a fast-closing second (by a head) in the Wood Memorial. He was the favorite for the 1973 Kentucky Derby, with Secretariat as the second choice by only a few thousand dollars. At the start, Sham’s mouth slammed into the doors of the starting gate, dislodging two teeth and leaving the colt with blood gushing from his mouth. Despite this, Sham ran a brilliant race, stalking the pace and taking the lead as they rounded the final turn into the stretch. Yet, as he made his final run, one that would be a winning one in any other year, Secretariat took the outside path, catching up to Sham and then passing him to win by 2 1/2 lengths. The final time? 1:59 2/5, besting the Kentucky Derby’s previous record of 2:00. Though his time was not recorded, Sham’s position behind Secretariat put him potentially ALSO running the race in a sub-2:00 time, a record time on its own — but records don’t belong to second place.

[image error]Dandrea takes moments from Sham’s career like this one and balances the overweening influence of Secretariat with Sham’s performances in races like this one. Even when Secretariat is not in the race, his shadow looms large over Sham; Dandrea can’t profile one without the presence of the other. We can never know Sham without Big Red so Sham’s story has to always contend with the influence of the Triple Crown winner. Yet Dandrea is able to tell Sham’s story with fondness, through the words of his trainer, his owners, his jockeys, and his grooms. Those who knew Sham loved him and, by book’s end, I came to love him as well. Dandrea gives us as complete an overview of Sham’s career as he can, showing us both the champion and the colt, the athlete and the pet that won over the hearts of the humans that worked with him. Sham: Great Was Second Best showed me how great meets immortal and cements his own legend in the process.

Sham: Great Was Second Best by Phil Dandrea is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and even at the Secretariat store!

Author Answers: Linda Carroll

Three weeks ago, I featured Duel for the Crown by Linda Carroll and Dave Rosner as the blog’s Book of Note for December. Their thrilling profile of the rivalry between Affirmed and Alydar recounted both their epic battles on the track and the people and moments that brought those two great horses to that thrilling Belmont finish in 1978, where Affirmed bested Alydar by a scant nose to win the Triple Crown. This month’s Author Answers features Linda Carroll, award-winning author of Duel for the Crown and Out of the Clouds and reporter for many prestigious publications, including Reuters, the New York Times, and NBC News.

The rivalry between Affirmed and Alydar is one of the greatest in horse racing. What was it about their battles that made you want to write about them?

I think Affirmed and Alydar were so compelling because either one could have been a Triple Crown winner had they not been born in the same year. Even more than that, their rivalry became one of the greatest not only in horse racing but in all of sports, transcending the racetrack. Their contrasting personalities and racing styles not only fueled the rivalry, but also infused the storytelling. And it didn’t hurt that their human connections were as compelling and colorful as the two chestnuts themselves, with the two “teams of rivals” featuring dueling owners, trainers, and jockeys who also afforded a stark study in contrasts.

With so much visual and print media about both horses available, what did you find to be the biggest challenge in writing Duel for the Crown?
Our biggest challenge, by far, was writing the climactic chapter on the epic Belmont duel. Not only was this the greatest single race ever run, but it was one that those of us old enough to have seen in person or on TV remember in vivid detail and that everyone else has seen replayed over and over through the magic of video. During all those sleepless nights preparing to tackle the chapter describing that showdown, we spent a lot of time rereading Bill Nack’s gripping account of that “other” unforgettable Belmont in Secretariat. His breathtaking description of Secretariat’s rousing Belmont romp gave us more than inspiration: we also saw the brilliance of his conceit in switching to present tense to heighten immediacy and drama. We used it to achieve the same purpose in replaying Affirmed and Alydar’s electrifying Belmont.

What could the sport do to bring in more fans? What could current racing fans do to make others fans as well?

Consider the fact that Affirmed and Alydar faced each other more times (ten showdowns in careers that spanned three years and more than two dozen races apiece) than Justify went to the post throughout his entire career (six lifetime starts spanning just 111 days). Whatever spark Justify’s and American Pharoah’s Triple Crown sweeps lit to reignite racing’s faded popularity these past four years was extinguished too soon when each was retired to the more lucrative breeding shed at the tender age of 3. Contrast those shooting stars with Affirmed, who followed his Triple Crown season by successfully defending his Horse of the Year title as a 4-year-old. In the 40 years since Affirmed’s Triple Crown capped racing’s last golden age, the average number of starts per Thoroughbred runner has plummeted by a whopping 65 percent from 34 career starts to just 12 today, while the average starts per year has dropped 40 percent from 10 to just 6 today. How can a fan bond with a horse hero when the very best disappear from the scene so quickly? This trend has to stop if racing hopes to build the kind of enduring stars any sport needs to build a following and a growing fan base.

As to your question about how to convert the uninitiated into becoming racing fans, I would just show them this video that still gives me chills every time I watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2sjDivffYE. 

You breed Arabians and Oldenburgs. How did you get into working with those breeds?

[image error]Well, the first horse I ever bought, a horse trader special, was an unregistered Arab, or part Arab. While she did have her quirks, she was sensitive and smart and on top of that an amazing athlete. I figured out early on that if I could stay with her, I’d never be in trouble because that mare never took a bad step. When I saw the movie The Man from Snowy River, I thought, ‘My mare could do that.’ We rode a lot of trails together, but at some point I realized I wanted to do some shows and so I started looking for a registered Arabian. Which is how I got into breeding: because I couldn’t afford the horse I really wanted, I purchased the best mare I could and bred her to what turned out to be the perfect stallion for her. 

I started out riding Western, but eventually got into hunter/jumpers. I had a neat little purebred mare who could jump the moon and we had a great time. But eventually I needed a new prospect and, being a bit older by then and a little less bold, I decided I wanted a big horse that could make the jumps look smaller. So I bred to a warmbood and got a 16.2h boy with the brains of my Arab mare and the size of his sire. At that point, Arab-Warmblood crosses were starting to be the rage, so I just kept breeding. Now I have five Oldenburg-registered half Arabians and 11 purebreds, the most recent a lovely chestnut colt. 

I also have one Thoroughbred mare, a Tiznow daughter, that I got to breed to my Arabian stallion. But she turned out to be a bit tall for live cover, so for the present, I’ve leased her out to a racehorse breeder and she’s made one lovely colt by Race Day and is back in foal for another. 

I have to know: which horse is your favorite, Affirmed or Alydar?

Affirmed. Because he was so intelligent; because he had such an indomitable will to win; and, most of all, because he was the underdog who had to prove his mettle time and again against the most formidable foe any Triple Crown winner has ever had to overcome. In fact, that admiration for the underdog is what drove our choice for our follow-up racing book: Out of the Clouds tells the intertwined tale of racing’s greatest rags-to-riches Cinderella stories–how the bargain-hunting outsider Hirsch Jacobs transformed an unwanted plodder named Stymie from a cheap $1,500 claimer into the richest racehorse the world had ever seen. And considering that Affirmed was co-owned by Hirsch Jacobs’s daughter, Patrice, I guess you could call Out of the Clouds something of a prequel to Duel for the Crown. How can a fan bond with a horse hero when they disappear from the scene so quickly? This trend has to stop if racing hopes to build the kind of enduring stars any sport would need to build a following and a growing fan base.

Thank you, Ms. Carroll, for being a part of the Sir Barton Project! If you would like to learn more about Linda Carroll, you can visit her Fiery Run Farm or the Duel for the Crown website. If you would like to buy Duel for the Crown, you can find it at most major retailers.

 

Happy Christmas!

On this day of celebration, I hope yours is full of family, friends, and fun. Thank you for being a part of the Sir Barton Project this year and I look forward to continuing the countdown to the release of Sir Barton & the Making of the Triple Crown in May 2019. 

Crystal Ford, Herald of Defeat?

This past weekend, the Miami Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots on a last-second series of laterals that ended with a touchdown, the final score 34-33. It became the fifth time that the Patriots had lost in Miami, giving Tom Brandy a record of 7-10 lifetime against a team that tends to underperform the rest of the regular season. For whatever reason — be it the weather or something else altogether — playing in Miami has become an Achilles heel for the Patriots, a portent that something odd this way comes for one of the NFL’s most consistent teams. Strangely, for Sir Barton, a horse named Crystal Ford seemed to be a similar token of ill luck.

Crystal Ford was not a star horse by any stretch, even though his sire, Clifford, had participated in a match race with Domino and Henry of Navarre to determine the year’s best three-year-old in 1894. Crystal Ford would prove to be less consistent on the racetrack than his sire, running up and down the East Coast, usually at the lightest of weights. Twice this son of Clifford & Glitterglass raced against Sir Barton, taking his place amongst a litany of almost-anonymous horses that take a shot at the big boys and maybe, just maybe, catch them on an off day. Most of the time, though, a horse like Crystal Ford would be an extra in a performance where the featured players all finished up the track from him. Most of the time — except for the 1919 Dwyer Stakes and the 1920 Philadelphia Handicap.

Indeed, Crystal Ford’s presence in the 1919 Dwyer Stakes was largely ignored: everyone’s eyes were on Sir Barton versus Purchase, the only other top three-year-old that the Triple Crown winner had yet to face. Purchase was on a hot streak, winning three of his four starts in the last month; Sir Barton had completed the first Triple Crown (and won the Withers), but was showing signs of soreness after his record run. The morning of the race, rain and a muddy track had forced three of the six horses entered for the Dwyer to scratch, leaving the Clifford colt as the race’s third wheel. Yet, as Sir Barton ran on the lead, Clarence Kummer on Crystal Ford kept his mount at Sir Barton’s flank, hemming in Purchase and Willie Knapp. In order to make his move on the front-running Sir Barton, Knapp had to take Purchase wide around the turn and hope that the colt had enough to run down the leaders. Purchase managed to eke past Crystal Ford and then Sir Barton in the stretch, taking advantage of the nine-pound break in weights that he received from the Triple Crown winner. Crystal Ford took home third place and $300 for his efforts. Sir Barton’s prize for his second place finish was uncertainty about his place as the best three-year-old of 1919.

Almost a year later, at Havre de Grace, Crystal Ford and Sir Barton met at the barrier once more, this time in the Philadelphia Handicap. This was Sir Barton’s fourth start in less than two weeks, and again he was carrying 132 pounds, with Crystal Ford assigned only 100 pounds. Friday, April 30th was the thirteenth day of the Havre de Grace meet and the lightweight Crystal Ford, carrying Elmer Fator (brother of the Hall of Fame jockey Laverne Fator), wore the number 13 despite the scratches of five others. #13 on the 13th day? A local barber bet five $10 tickets on Crystal Ford, no doubt hoping that 13 would indeed be his lucky number.

The field of ten stood at the barrier, with Sir Barton, stablemate Billy Kelly, and A. K. Macomber’s Star Master the race’s favorites next to an assortment of lightly weighted extras — Crystal Ford included. At the break, Elmer Fator held Crystal Ford just behind the front-runners, while Tetley and then War Mask had their turns on the lead, Billy Kelly challenging. In the stretch, Billy Kelly was on the lead with Star Master driving, but, to everyone’s surprise, Crystal Ford powered by all of them, gliding down the stretch on their outside. Fator’s patience paid off as his mount held off Star Master by a neck, with Billy Kelly just a length behind them. Sir Barton was fourth, a head back of his stablemate, running a dull race under his heavy impost.

As Crystal Ford outran his record and Star Master, the skies opened up over Havre de Grace, soaking the track and the deflated crowd, their trio of favorites beaten by the 106-to-1 shot who carried only 100 pounds and the hopes of one lucky spectator. That barber carried his five $10 tickets to the window and collected over $6000 from his #13 horse. For the horse that had spent 1919 dominating his competition, the Philadelphia Handicap became Sir Barton’s second finish out of the money in 1920, again showing that, for some reason, the stamina and speed of 1919 was simply not there . For Crystal Ford, it was an impressive reversal of fortune: only days earlier he had finished third in a claiming race with no takers, again straggling home behind other lightweight horses.

If the Patriots feel a slight sense of unease each time they enter Hard Rock Stadium, perhaps the people around Sir Barton felt the same each time they spied Crystal Ford’s name in the list of entries.

Books of Note: Duel for the Crown

[image error]In 1978, as Affirmed and Alydar sizzled down the stretch of the Belmont Stakes, I was a one-year-old toddler oblivious to the drama playing out between these two colts. It would be a decade before I would learn of their legendary battles amid the backdrop of racing’s most elite pursuit, the Triple Crown. To this day, I imagine that, like any rivalry, I would find fans who would be firmly on one side or the other. Affirmed or Alydar? The golden chestnut of Harbor View Farm & his owners Lou & Patricia Wolfson or the reddish-gold son of Raise a Native, the last great hope of the Markeys and the legendary Calumet Farm?

You could read any number of books on the Triple Crown, each profiling the twelve (now thirteen) names on that elite list, and you will get the basic overview of each winner’s career. To truly understand the immortal and his moment, a deeper exploration of the who and what and where and when are necessary and, for Affirmed and Alydar, that is precisely what Duel for the Crown by Linda Carroll and David Rosner provides. Carroll and Rosner skillfully weave together the history behind the venerable Calumet Farm; a self-made millionaire named Louis Wolfson; his second wife, Patrice, the daughter of a Hall-of-Fame trainer; and two colts whose pedigrees include the same influential sire.

[image error]The authors start with a pitched stretch battle between Affirmed and Alydar, but not in the race you think: rather than that storied Belmont Stakes, the two duel in the 1977 Hopeful Stakes, battling eye-to-eye to the wire. Ultimately, the victory belongs to Affirmed, but truly this race signals that something special is going on, its roots deep in racing royalty both equine and human. From the 1977 Hopeful, the book introduces us to Raise a Native, his son Exclusive Native, and the breeding shed at Spendthrift Farm, where these two sires covered mares belonging to first Calumet Farm (Raise a Native-Sweet Tooth) and then Harbor View Farm (Exclusive Native-Won’t Tell You). Carroll and Rosner fan outward from the 1975 breeding season through the history of Calumet and the Wright family and Harbor View Farm and the controversial figure behind it, Louis Wolfson. Through their prose, you sail through the story of how Affirmed and Alydar became the rivals who are better known in relation to each other than as individuals. You meet riding wunderkind Steve Cauthen, his mentor and friend (and Alydar’s jockey) Jorge Velásquez, and the two trainers, Laz Barrera and John Veitch, that laid out the paths these rivals would take through their legendary 1977 and 1978 seasons. Each has stories that are compelling on their own, but, when woven together through these two colts and their careers, the drama is heightened even more.

Writing about the Triple Crown has become a passion of mine and reading about it was one long before I put pen to paper to write about Sir Barton. As a reader, Duel for the Crown is one of those books where I found myself so entranced that I was surprised that I did not read the whole thing in one sitting. As a writer, I aspire to the masterful storytelling that Carroll and Rosner employ in covering this epic rivalry; additionally, I drew on John Veitch’s description of Alydar in writing about Sir Barton in my upcoming book on America’s first Triple Crown winner.

Now, as the chill of winter descends on us, may I recommend that you cozy up with your favorite blanket, a cup of your preferred hot beverage, and Duel for the Crown? If you’re a fan of great horses and great books about them, this is a worthy addition to your bookshelf. If you love someone who loves great horses and great books about them, Duel for the Crown would make an AMAZING gift this holiday season.

Let’s relive that epic battle between Affirmed and Alydar one more time, shall we?

Author Answers: John Perrotta

[image error]John Perrotta has had a jack-of-all-trades career in racing: jockey’s agent, handicapper, sportswriter, breeder, and now Vice President, Operations at Santa Anita Park. This month, his Racetrackers was my Book of Note, a collection of stories from Perrotta’s years at the racetrack. Mr. Perrotta was kind enough to answer my questions for this week’s Author Answers.

You have written about your experiences in racing in your books and then parlayed that experience into the series Luck. What led you to write about the sport after years of experiencing it on a daily basis? Do you write thinking about how you might tell that story onscreen?

I began my career as a sports writer and met David Milch in 1984 when I was managing one of the largest horse breeding and racing entities in the US called Due Process Stable. We agreed to collaborate should he ever decide to do a series based on the race track. Miraculously he called me twenty-five years later and I began working on the HBO story, LUCK as his technical advisor, writer, and story editor. Working with great racing writers like Jay Hovdey and Bill Barich was the icing on the cake.

Horse racing is dependent on the visual: watching races, examining a horse’s physique and workouts, etc. What do you see as the biggest challenge writing about something this visual?

Horses are easily visualized by readers, but with racing there’s always more than meets the eye. It’s not enough to give a physical description and opinions only matter to bettors. The challenge is to impart the urgency of success that racetrackers meet every day, how they interact with their horses and grind out a life. Racing is a game at which one loses more than they win. That’s a tough scenario for many people to accept and frustration and disappointment bring most of them down.

What does reading about racing add to the experience of the average racing fan?

A true racing fan is fairly obsessed with the sport. But it’s obscure and cryptic to newcomers and they need a chance to get educated. When they read about behind the scenes drama that goes on they begin to feel like insiders.

How do you like to introduce horse racing to potential fans? What aspect of the sport do you see as the best way to draw new people in?

Nothing like a first time at anything. Most of the uninitiated just need an invitation and they jump at the chance. And the gods of racing always see to it that first-timers pick a winner and cash a ticket… then they’re hooked for life. As VP and GM of Santa Anita I like to find new fans and take them to the paddock or the winner’s circle for the unique experience at The Great Race Place.

In a lifetime spent with this sport, what is your favorite horse racing memory?

My father introduced me to racing when I was a young boy in New Jersey… Days with him at Monmouth Park, Garden State, and Atlantic City will always be my fondest memories.

[image error]Thank you, Mr. Perrotta, for being a part of the Sir Barton Project! As the holidays approach, if you’re interested in any of John Perrotta’s books, please visit his website to order one for everyone on your list!

My Memories: My First Time at the Races

If you’ve been following the blog for some time, you may already be familiar with my origin story. After discovering horse racing via Walter Farley and his Black Stallion series, I watched the Triple Crown races on television, dreaming of the day that I could go see horses run LIVE. Thanks to my aunt Betty, that dream came true the next year.

[image error]I have to start this story with a bit of geography. I grew up in the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area, where football is king, baseball and basketball might duke it out for second, and horse racing appears down the list of sports of import — way down. (Right now, if I wanted to go to the races, the closest track would be Keeneland — five hours away. ) Not since the first part of the 20th century has the Birmingham area seen horse racing, but, in early 1987, the Birmingham Turf Club (now the Birmingham Race Course) opened. The Turf Club has live horse racing, not just simulcasting, but, as a twelve-year-old kid who lived in the ‘burbs, walking there was out of the question. That’s where my dear aunt Betty comes in.

I don’t remember the exact date, but I know it was 1989 when Betty and I rolled down the interstate toward the Turf Club. I’m sure I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, giddy with anticipation. Actual horses! Actual horses running on dirt! Actual jockeys! This sport I loved would be live in front of me rather than some removed spectacle on a television set. Now, nearly thirty years later, I don’t remember many of the details, but I do remember the thrill of it all, the warmth down in my gut that this was a place I could spend hours and never be bored, never want to leave.

[image error]We bought a program and started perusing the entries for the races. I made my picks and, being about a decade too young, had to wait patiently as my aunt placed my bets for me. Each time, she would ask, “Are you sure?” and I would nod with the certainty that only comes from your first time at the track and the sure wins racing luck gives you to reel you in well and good. My bets were never more than a couple of dollars — I was twelve and cash was precious — but I remember winning and winning enough that we soon had a couple of grizzled old gamblers following us around.

“Who does the kid like in the next race?” they would ask my aunt. And I would share because I felt so grown-up having old men ask me what I thought about the races. I knew how to read the past performances and such, but I’m sure I took the kid’s perspective of betting on names and horse colors. To this day, gray horses and memorable names get me every time (see My Miss Lilly & Arrogate).

Outside of the grizzled gamblers, my only other clear memory of my first day at the races is going out to the paddock to watch the horses get saddled for the next race. I remember standing at the rail watching trainers place the saddles and tighten the girths, the jockeys milling around, waiting for instructions. One horse in particular caught my eye, a beautiful chestnut filly/mare with a wide blaze named Missy Be Good. I don’t know how or why or heck if I’m remembering it correctly, but I think she walked up to me, her nostrils flaring as she took in my scent. She was checking me out and I must have been wide-eyed and frozen with fascination. It was the closest I had ever been to a horse. I wish I could be in that moment again, to take it in one more time. I want to capture the whole of it so I can preserve it in a mental photograph I can look at over and over.

I haven’t been to the races many times since that day nearly 30 years ago. I’ve been to the Derby and the Preakness, thanks to my dear husband, and I’ve been to Keeneland; I even went back to the Birmingham Turf Club one more time after that day with Betty. Each of those days at the races holds a special place in my heart, but that first one is what reeled me in and never let me go, thanks to my Aunt Betty, some grizzled old gamblers, and a horse named Missy Be Good.

What are your memories of your first time at the race track? What sucked you into the sport? Share your experiences in the comments!

Star Shoot Dies

[image error]Star Shoot

In 1898, at the prestigious Eyrefield Lodge in Ireland, Astrology foaled a chestnut colt by Isinglass. The son of an English Triple Crown winner, the little foal soon came down with a fever, his survival uncertain. The Lodge’s stud groom, Dan McNally, wrapped the wee colt in so many blankets that he could barely move and placed him in the front of a fire in the tack room. Thanks to McNally’s attention, Astrology’s foal survived to become Star Shoot, a good racer with several stakes wins at two. By three years old, though, Star Shoot had developed a breathing issue, much like his damsire, and, was retired to stud. English and Irish breeders assumed that breathing issues were hereditary so they solved the problem of Star Shoot’s questionable genetics in their customary way: by shipping the colt abroad.

American breeders were not so dismayed by any infirmities Star Shoot might have, betting that his talent and speed would be passed down instead. After John Hanning brought the stallion to the United States, he started his stud career in America at Runnymeade Farm, where Catesby Woodford and Ezekiel Clay had bred horses like Miss Woodford, the first American thoroughbred to earn $100,000, and Hanover, who won the 1887 Belmont Stakes and later became a leading sire. By 1911, he was the leading sire in the United States, his stature as a top-20 sire (from 1908-1923) making his a desirable stallion for another prestigious American breeder, John E. Madden. Madden brought Star Shoot to Hamburg Place, where he became the breeder’s flagship sire for most of the next decade.

During his years at Hamburg Place, Star Shoot sired a number of stakes winners, including Uncle (sire of Old Rosebud, 1914 Kentucky Derby winner); Grey Lag, 1921 Belmont Stakes winner; and, of course, Sir Barton, America’s first Triple Crown winner. Like Star Shoot, all three were dominant on the racetrack; like Star Shoot, all three also suffered from the thin-walled hooves that made their soundness precarious. Because Star Shoot himself ran on the turf, any issues with his hooves likely were minimized, but his progeny ran on dirt, which exacerbated any hoof issue. Indeed, Jim Ross, Commander Ross’s son, suggests in his memoir Boots and Saddles that many of Sir Barton’s defeats likely were as a result of the discomfort his hooves caused him.

In November 1919, while he was away at the National Horse Show, John E. Madden received word that Star Shoot was ill with pneumonia. On November 19th, at the age of twenty-one, the chestnut son of Isinglass, who had survived a fever in his earliest days, succumbed to his illness, leaving Hamburg Place without a flagship sire. Because of Sir Barton, likely the best of his many foals, Star Shoot topped the list of leading sires in the United States for the last time in 1919.

Star Shoot’s legacy a century later includes Sir Barton’s Triple Crown, the first of thirteen in 99 years. As a sire of sires, his record is lackluster; none of his sons made the same impact on the breed. As a broodmare sire, he left more of a lasting mark, with mares like Star Fancy, who was mated with Man o’ War to produce Crusader among others, and Thunderbird, whose son Jim Dandy famously beat Gallant Fox in the 1930 Travers Stakes at odds of 100-1.

Nearly a century on, Star Shoot is best remembered for his role in siring the colt that made what we know now as the Triple Crown one of the elite accomplishments in horse racing.

Books of Note: Racetracker by John Perrotta

[image error]If you listen to Steve Byk’s daily radio show At the Races for any length of time, you will know that John Perrotta is one of those racing personalities that appears multiple times a year, talking everything from the Dublin Racing Club to handicapping and more. In addition to his position as Vice President of Operations at Santa Anita, Perrotta has a storied career as a sports reporter, freelance writer, and jack-of-all-trades around the racetrack. In his lifetime, Perrotta has worked as a hotwalker, a jockey agent, a patrol judge, a racing manager for trainer John Forbes, and a breeder among his many experiences with horses and horse racing. Upon learning that Perrotta had served as writer, technical advisor, and co-producer for the HBO series Luck, I knew that I wanted to make his book Racetracker one of my Books of Note. Boy, am I glad I did!

[image error]Racetracker recounts stories from Perrotta’s varied career in the sport, starting with a chance encounter with Nashua and Swaps on television via his father and grandfather, through his decades working in the racing industry. He covers a variety of topics, explaining how the racing industry works while recounting the details of his experiences wandering from one track to another as a gambler or a jockey’s agent and more. The stories follow one thread — Perrotta’s own life — and, by necessity, does not move in a totally linear fashion, much like anyone’s life: most lives do not go in a straight line but deviate or even fold back at times. What the reader gets from Perrotta’s style is this homey depth to the sport of horse racing; the way that he speaks of events and personalities brings a warmth that comes from listening to a one-on-one conversation with someone who has lived an interesting life. Rather than sitting alone in my office reading Perrotta’s prose, I feel as though I’m sitting at a table with him and other racetrackers, listening to them tell the tales of men they know only by nickname or sharing the inside details of a moment I might have only seen on television.

Perrotta’s writing leaves you feeling like this is a conversation between writer and reader rather than a one-sided consumption of knowledge. If you’re a longtime racing fan, his stories are a glimpse into a sport you love, both of you bitten by the same bug. If you’re new to the sport, Racetracker gives you the behind-the-scenes color that you know all sports have in one way or another. Whether your love for the world of horse racing starts with names like Nashua or Nyquist, you will enjoy this insider look at the sport. Anyone who has spent any time on the apron of a racetrack, placing bets and observing the humanity there, is going to recognize the characters and their stores contained within the covers of Racetracker. I highly recommend a visit!

You can find Racetracker and other books by John Perrotta for sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Book Depository.