(This is the first of a five part series.)
He began a storied career on an April day in 1947, at Havre de Grace racetrack in Maryland. After two campaigns, perhaps unsurpassed before or since in American racing, injury had finally caught up to the great horse. The later years marked a stark contrast to the dominance he had demonstrated in the earlier ones, the powerful ease now replaced with gallant effort. The strong frame and quick limbs didn't move with the same authority and fluidity; but as he perservered courageously, the heart stayed resolute, sturdy, and unchanging. The horse of steel, the legend, Citation, became a model of Thoroughbred virtue. The big bay had remained the brightest equine star in racing's firmament, and had long ago attained what few athletes, equine or human, could ever legitimately claim: sports immortality.
He began a storied career on an April day in 1947, at Havre de Grace racetrack in Maryland. After two campaigns, perhaps unsurpassed before or since in American racing, injury had finally caught up to the great horse. The later years marked a stark contrast to the dominance he had demonstrated in the earlier ones, the powerful ease now replaced with gallant effort. The strong frame and quick limbs didn't move with the same authority and fluidity; but as he perservered courageously, the heart stayed resolute, sturdy, and unchanging. The horse of steel, the legend, Citation, became a model of Thoroughbred virtue. The big bay had remained the brightest equine star in racing's firmament, and had long ago attained what few athletes, equine or human, could ever legitimately claim: sports immortality.
It was sixty years ago, the date July 14, 1951, the venue Hollywood Park, California. Citation, six-years-old, had brought back memories of those golden moments, once achieved with stunning regularity. The instant he crossed the wire, he had established another milestone, capping off an extraordinary list of accomplishments and saying farewell with touching dignity and grace. But had this final achievement come at a price too high? Leaving the track for the last time, he undoubtedly left his legions of followers with a reminder; that even at such a price, he was still...the immortal Citation.
PART ONE: THE HERITAGE
The following discussion highlights key individuals, primarily in the immediate five generations of Citation's pedigree, and illuminates their achievements on the track and in the stud. His bloodlines are deeply rich in English and French horses.
THE SIRES
Citation's ancestry began twenty-one generations ago with a bay colt, foaled around 1700, and later imported to England from the Middle East. One of three Foundation Sires, credited with the genesis of the Thoroughbred breed, this stallion was the Darley Arabian, whose blood coursed through the veins of nearly two centuries of Thoroughbreds until only five generations removed, reached those horses who would produce a masterpiece equine athlete named Citation.
Fifth Sire – Flying Fox (GB)
Flying Fox was bred and owned by the First Duke of Westminster. His paternal grandsire was Ormonde (GB), a roarer, who was also plagued with splints; yet despite these maladies, he was undefeated in a sixteen race career, which included the English Triple Crown, consisting of the one mile Two Thousand Guineas, 1 ½ mile Epsom Derby, and 1 ¾ mile St. Leger. Ormonde, considered the best English racehorse of the nineteenth century, sired Orme, who also became a stakes winner. Orme's cover of Vampire thus produced the bay colt Flying Fox in 1896. The racer Flying Fox was a good weight carrier, extremely talented, and with early brilliance. At age three, he won all six starts and emulated his grandsire's Triple Crown feat, in addition to annexing the Eclipse, Prince of Wales and Jockey Club Stakes.
Later sold to France, Flying Fox sired many European stakes winners, including son Ajax.
Fourth Sire – Ajax (FR.)
Ajax, foaled in 1901, out of the Clamart (FR.) mare Amie (FR.) was a very elegant bay colt. He raced only five times but never lost, counting among his victories the Prix du Jockey Club and Grand Prix de Paris. Ajax was successful in the stud and after a mating with the multiple stakes winning mare Rondeau (GB), sired Teddy.
Third Sire – Teddy (FR.)
Teddy was a bay horse, arriving on the scene in 1913. He raced both in Spain and France, captured several key stakes before beginning a career as a stallion, eventually making his way to the United States. Among his brightest luminaries were Sir Gallahad (FR.), out of Plucky Liege (GB), the great broodmare La Troienne (FR.), and the Italian racer Ortello (ITY.).
Sir Gallahad won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the Prix Jacques le Marois and later, as Sir Gallahad III, was a four-time leading sire and an extremely illustrious broodmare sire, leading that list twelve times and making a lasting imprint on American breeding. Among his sons were 1930 American Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox, and Kentucky Derby winners Gallahadion and Hoop Jr., both in the 1940s.
La Troienne, another import to the United States, became a giant in the country's breeding. To name just a few of her direct descendents were Busher, Affectionately, Buckpasser, Numbered Account, Allez France, Relaxing, Easy Goer and Sea Hero.
Ortello dominated racing in Italy and defeated the best in Europe in the 1929 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He went on to become an important sire in his country.
Teddy was also fifth generation sire to the line which eventually led to Sword Dancer, the 1959 American Horse of the Year, who in turn sired the great Damascus.
Plucky Liege, a pivotal broodmare, showed precociousness on the track as a two-year-old sprinter. She was sired by Epsom Derby/Grand Prix de Paris winner Spearmint (GB) out of the St. Simon (GB) mare Concertina (GB). Spearmint was sired by the greatest Australian racer of the nineteenth century, Carbine (NZ), whose achievements as a racehorse bordered on the unbelievable. Born in 1885, the bay colt Carbine made forty-three starts, winning thirty-three, with six seconds, and three thirds, after capturing a wide array of prestigious races, some two and three times. Among his wins was the two mile Melbourne Cup in 1890, under 145 pounds, in a field of thirty-nine. St. Simon, a bay colt, foaled in 1881, was outstanding both as a racehorse and a stallion. He went undefeated in nine starts, including wins in the two and a half mile Ascot Gold Cup and two mile Goodwood Cup. A tail-male line predecessor of Princequillo (GB) and Ribot (GB), St. Simon was a perennial leading sire.
The other notable offspring from a Teddy-Plucky Liege mating was Bull Dog.
Grandsire – Bull Dog(FR.)
Sir Gallahad's full brother, Bull Dog, was a brown horse, foaled in 1927. He made eight starts and won two stakes. After being sold, he came to America, where he led the sire list in 1943 and broodmare sire list four times in the 1950s. Notable names through his daughters were the handicap champion and Horse of the Year Tom Fool, who later sired Buckpasser; Rough 'n Tumble, the sire of legendary Dr. Fager; and a brown colt out of Isolde by Royal Gem III, named Dark Star, winner of the 1953 Run for the Roses against a field that included the fabulous and previously unbeaten Native Dancer.
Bull Dog is perhaps best remembered for his cover to an unraced American-bred brown mare named Rose Leaves. From that cover, in 1935 a brown colt was born and given the name Bull Lea.
Sire – Bull Lea
Bull Lea's racing credentials were respectable with a resume showing twenty-seven starts, ten wins, seven seconds and three thirds. Among his victories were the 1 1/8 mile Blue Grass Stakes in 1938, and the 1 ¼ mile Widener Handicap the following year. As a stallion, Bull Lea led the North American sire list five times and broodmare sire list four. His output of champions and stakes winners included Horse of the Year Armed, champions Coaltown, Two Lea, Twilight Tear, Bewitch, Real Delight, and Derby winners Hill Gail and Iron Liege. Through his daughters came champions Barbizon and Tim Tam, Preakness winner Gate Dancer, Belmont Stakes winner Quadrangle, and Bramalea, the dam of the superb European champion and stallion Roberto.
Although these descendents were more than enough to ensure Bull Lea's legacy, one son would overshadow all of them.
THE DAMS
In tail-female line, Citation's lineage traces back to the English Foundation Mare, who was called Dam of the Two True Blues (GB). This mare, born in the last decade of the seventeenth century, was a daughter of the Byerley Turk Foundation Sire, a black/brown horse foaled in 1680. The damline made Citation a member of family number three. The system, devised by nineteenth century pedigree researcher Bruce Lowe, gave each family a number, based on wins in the English classics, namely the Derby, Oaks and St. Leger. Tracking a damline back to its Foundation Mare, the members who compiled the most victories were designated Family number one, and so on. Lowe counted over forty mares, a number later expanded. His system is mentioned here more for historical than practical interest.
Fifth Dam – Broad Corrie (GB)
The bay mare Broad Corrie, foaled in 1889, was a daughter of the superb racer Hampton (GB), out of the Galopin (GB) mare Corrie Roy (GB). Hampton, a bay horse, gifted with stamina, started as a hurdler but later took to the flat, counting among his wins the Goodwood and Doncaster Cups in 1877. Broad Corrie's own race record is unclear although she apparently won several stakes races. She was bred to Isinglass (GB), a brown horse, who boasted a race record of eleven wins and a second in twelve starts, including the Triple Crown in 1893, the Eclipse Stakes the following year and Ascot Gold Cup as a five-year-old.
The offspring of Broad Corrie and Isinglass was the bay filly Glasalt (GB), foaled in 1898.
Fourth Dam – Glasalt (GB)
Third Dam – Glacier (GB)
Second Dam – Toboggan (GB)
Glasalt, a stakes winner at age two, produced the filly Canyon (GB) by Chaucer (GB), in 1913. Canyon would capture the One Thousand Guineas, and later as a broodmare was bred to the great ancestral stallion Phalaris, producing a brown colt in 1923 named Colorado (GB), who would win the Two Thousand Guineas, Princess of Wales and Eclipse Stakes. Several years earlier, Glasalt had been bred to St. Simon, producing a bay female foal in 1907, who would be called Glacier, who in turn was bred to Hurry On (GB), a tremendously gifted racehorse, and undefeated in six outings ranging from a mile to over two miles. The foal of Glacier and Hurry On was the filly Toboggan, born in 1925, and who won the Epsom Oaks three years later.
Gainsborough (GB) – Selene (GB)
Gainsborough, a bay colt, foaled in 1915, also won the Triple Crown, and became a leading sire. One of the mares Gainsborough covered was champion racer Mumtaz Mahal (GB), and the offspring was Mah Mahal (GB), the later dam of the gray horse Mahmoud (FR.), English champion and successful stallion. As a broodmare sire, Mahmoud's daughters produced Derby winner Determine, Belmont Stakes winner Gallant Man (GB), and Grey Dawn (FR.), a two-year-old champion in France, and the only horse to defeat Sea-Bird (FR.). Another Mahmoud daughter, Boudoir (GB), dropped a chestnut colt in 1947, who was named Your Host, the future sire of the incomparable five-time Horse of the Year Kelso. Mahmoud was also damsire of Silver Spoon, a filly who will be mentioned again in the final part of this story.
The bay mare Selene, by Chaucer out of the Minoru mare Serenissima, was born in 1919 and became a solid racer and stakes winner. She also reached Gainsborough's court, and the two produced a chestnut male in 1930, who became one of the breed's finest horses. His name was Hyperion.
Broodmare Sire – Hyperion (GB)
Hyperion was a small colt with exceptional quality and talent. A champion in England at age three, he received a Timeform rating of 142. When his race career ended, he became a six-time leading sire and four-time leading damsire. A few of his children were duel American classic winner Pensive, European champion filly Sun Chariot (IRE), and Alibhai (GB), the paternal grandsire of Kelso. Hyperion was also grandsire of Forli (ARG.), who would sire the three-time Horse of the Year Forego, and paternal great-grandsire of the 1968 Arc winner, Vaguely Noble (IRE.).
One of Hyperion's girlfriends was Toboggan. After their trist, a chestnut filly, who would become Hydroplane, arrived in 1938.
Dam – Hydroplane II (GB)
Hydroplane was an undistinguished racer; however, Warren Wright owner of Calumet Farm in Kentucky, saw breeding value and purchased her from Lord Derby. Getting her safely to America was a concern however because of the War, when the Atlantic Ocean was infested with German submarines. A journey that circumvented the perilous waters enabled the mare to be safely, if not arduously, transported to the States. After arrival, she became Hydroplane II.
Hydroplane II was first bred to Sun Teddy, and produced a chestnut filly named Fly Off, born in 1943. As a racehorse, Fly Off posted forty-two starts with modest success. Hydroplane II was then bred to Bleinheim II, who had already sired Whirlaway, winner of the American Triple Crown in 1941. Hydroplane II's second foal, born in 1944, was a bay girl called Mermaid. Like her dam, Mermaid's racing career was uneventful.
Hydroplane II would now meet Calumet's big stallion, Bull Lea, and the two of them made such beautiful music together, that the masterpiece which had finally evolved from five generations, was a composition so great as to have few equals in the twentieth century.
The Kentucky-bred bay colt by Bull Lea out of the Hyperion mare Hydroplane II, was born on April 11, 1945, approximately one month before Germany unconditionally surrendered, and closed the curtain on the European Theater. The honor of selecting a name for the colt went to a friend of Warren and Lucille Wright's. Because it was wartime, a word spoken quite often in honoring military servicemen was given to the foal: Citation. His own incredible story had begun.
To be continued...
Resources
http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=844
http://www.equineline.com/Free-5X-Pedigree.cfm?page_state=ORDER_AND_CONFIRM&reference_number=90840®istry=T&horse_name=Citation&dam_name=*Hydroplane II&foaling_year=1945&nicking_stats_indicator=Y
Page Cooper and Roger L. Treat, Man O' War (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2004).
http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/HurryOn.html
http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=1044
http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=838
Thoroughbred Times Co., Inc., The Original Thoroughbred Times Racing Almanac 2009 (Lexington, KY: Thoroughbred Times Books, 2008).
Pohla Smith, Citation Thoroughbred Legends, No. 3 (Lexington, KY: Eclipse Press, 2000).
Robert Shoop, Down To The Wire: The Lives Of The Triple Crown Champions (Everson, WA; Chilliwack, BC: Russell Dean and Company, 2004).
Marvin Drager, The Most Glorious Crown: The Story of America's Triple Crown Thoroughbreds from Sir Barton to Affirmed (Chicago, Ill.: Triumph Books, 2005).
Copyright 2011, 2012 by John Califano
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