INTO EACH LIFE A BIT OF REIN MUST FALL
~ AMERICA'S BEST KNOWN EQUINE ACTORS, RACERS AND WARRIORS ~
Fury - Originally named Highland Dale, TV's most famous black horse was foaled on March 4, 1943. An American Saddlebred Stallion with a great disposition, he was purchased by trainer Ralph McCutcheon, who immediately nicknamed him 'Beaut.'
Beaut was trained on the reward system, with his favorite treat - carrots. As McCutcheon once said: "There is a big difference between a trick horse and a trained horse. A trick horse will perform stunts as if he memorized them. But a trained horse seems to understand the things he's taught. Writers were constantly putting new things into scripts. I just sort of explained the stunt to Beaut right on the set, gave him a rehearsal or two, and then he did it. He was a trained horse."
Beaut, insured for over a quarter million dollars, knew how to play dead, walk lame, untie a knot, laugh and whinny on command - but his very best trick was earning $5,000 a week.
Beaut's movie career was launched when he landed the title role in Twentieth Century Fox's film Black Beauty. Soon after, he was cast by MGM to appear in Gypsy Colt. While reading the script for Gypsy Colt, McCutcheon became slightly concerned by the number of new tricks Beaut would have to learn, so MGM gave him three months to prepare. In that time, the clever horse learned many amazing routines including opening doors with his mouth and running into a schoolhouse to pick up his young owner. The movie got good reviews; and Beaut was honored for his noteworthy performance with a Patsy Award, the animal equivalent of an Oscar. Beaut also played a wild Nevada stallion in Wild is the Wind and was cast as Elizabeth Taylor's horse in Giant. In the closing scene, he was seen limping slowly toward the ranch, a broken bridle broken hanging over his head, and blood, from vicious spurring, covering his flanks. Beaut stole the show as he stood there on three legs and whinnied softly.
It was the television series, which ran for over five years that made Fury a household name. He received voluminous fan mail and was a marketing sensation. There were storybooks about Fury, puzzles, games, comic strips, and Fury hobby horses. Fury acted well into the 60s, and had parts on such shows as The Monkees, Bonanza, and National Velvet.
Beaut was never gelded, and never bred. In his late 20s, he developed a respiratory disorder, and his health began to fail until. He died at age 29, in McCutcheon's care.
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Mr. Ed - TV's most famous "talking horse," was played by the palomino Saddlebred Cross Stallion, Bamboo Harvester. He was liberty trained (no lead line) by Lester Hilton, who had learned the practice from performer Will Rogers.
Like many equine actors, Mr. Ed had a stunt double. An American Quarter Horse, named Pumpkin, he looked very much like Mr. Ed except for a gold spot in the middle of his white blaze - which was covered with white makeup when he worked as the stand-in. Mr. Ed appeared to be jealous of Pumpkin, who lived in the stall next door. If visitors greeted Pumpkin first, Ed would stomp out the back door of his stall into a paddock and refuse to return - even for carrots.
While the Mr. Ed character was supposedly an eight year old horse that could talk to his owner, Bamboo Harvester was already 11 years old when the series first went on the air, and 17 years old when it ran for the last time in 1966.
Shortly after that, his health began failing and two years after the series ended, had to be put down. He had spent those final years with Hilton who died in 1973 without ever telling anyone where Mr. Ed was buried.
After Mr. Ed's death, Pumpkin's career continued. He did the pudding commercials and other live appearances but his true identity was kept a closely guarded secret as the advertising companies believed it would be too upsetting for young children watching syndicated re-runs to know that the real Mr. Ed was dead.
Click here to listen to the Mr. Ed theme song (358 K WAV).
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Trigger - Roy Rogers' beautiful Golden Palomino Stallion and co-star was foaled in 1932 on a small ranch in the San Diego area which was partly owned by Bing Crosby. His sire was a Thoroughbred that had raced at Caliente Track, and his dam was a cold-blooded Palomino. The manager of that ranch, Roy Cloud, named the horse Golden Cloud, and sold him to Hudkins Stables, which rented horses to the movie industry.
Golden Cloud's first major appearance was in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood in which he was ridden by Olivia de Havilland.
When Columbia Pictures, the cast Roy Rogers in the lead role for Under Western Stars, Hudkins Stables brought its best horses to the studio for Rogers to see. When he rode Golden Cloud, Rogers commented that the horse could "Turn on a dime and give you some change." Co-star Smiley Burnette, overheard that remark and added that the horse was "quick on the trigger." They swiftly agreed that Trigger was the perfect name for this beautiful and clever horse.
Trigger was often billed as "the smartest horse in the movies." He and Rogers appeared in dozens of westerns in the 1930s and 40s, always chasing and thwarting the bad guys, and working to serve peace and justice. Trigger even shared the movie title with Roy on two occasions: My Pal Trigger in 1946 and Trigger, Jr. in 1950.
Trigger died in 1965, at 33 years of age.
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Buttermilk Dale Evans' light buckskin American Quarter Horse and dark points, was foaled in 1941. Like her husband Roy Roger's horse, Trigger, Buttermilk was also extremely popular and inspired a successful marketing campaign that included cast iron and plastic replicas, lamps, and dozens of other products.
After Buttermilk's death in 1972, at age 31, his hide was stretched over a plaster likeness and put on display at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, California, which has since been relocated to Branson, Missouri.
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The Budweiser Clydesdales - Budweiser Breweries is world famous for its Clydesdale horses, which have been goodwill ambassadors of Anheuser-Busch since 1933, when August A. Busch Jr. presented a hitch of the horses to his father to commemorate the repeal of Prohibition. A short time later, the hitch was used to deliver one of the first cases of post-Prohibition Budweiser to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the White House in Washington, DC. Since then, the Clydesdales have become as synonymous with Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch's rich brewing tradition as Budweiser has become with the American Invitational and the sport of show jumping.
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Comanche - The sole survivor of Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 29, 1876, Comanche actually belonged one of Custer's officers, Miles Keogh. Two days after Custer's defeat, a burial party investigating the site found Comanche, severely wounded, and transported him by steamer to Fort Lincoln - 950 miles away. He spent the next year recuperating. Comanche remained there with the 7th Cavalry under orders that excused him from all duties. Only at formal regimental functions was he led, draped in black, stirrups and boots reversed, at the head of the regiment.
He was gray in color, with black points, a long mane and long flowing tail. His figure was muscular, with a deep chest and short back, strong haunches, a small head, quick eyes, broad forehead, and small feet. When the Cavalry was ordered to Fort Riley, Kansas in 1888, Comanche, aging but still in good health, accompanied them as a symbol of the tragedy at Little Bighorn. Comanche died of colic on November 7, 1891 at age 29.
The officers of the 7th Cavalry, wanting to preserve the horse, asked Lewis Lindsay Dyche of the University of Kansas to mount the remains. For a fee of $400 and on the condition that he be permitted to exhibit the horse in the Chicago Exposition of 1893, Dyche completed the taxidermy. Although there is no record of the fee being paid, the horse was donated to the university's museum.
Comanche is currently on display in a humidity controlled glass case at the University Of Kansas Museum Of Natural History, Dyche Hall in Lawrence, Kansas.
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Traveller - The most famous horse in the stables of Confederate Commander General Lee, Traveller was iron gray in color. He was raised in Greenbrier County, near Blue Sulphur Springs and as a colt, won first prize at a fair in Lewisburg, Virginia.
When hostilities commenced, the horse, then known as "Jeff Davis," was owned by Major Thomas L. Broun, who had paid $175 in gold for him. When Lee first saw the gray in the mountains of West Virginia, he instantly became attached to him, and in the spring of 1862, purchased the gray for $200. He changed his name to Traveller. From that date forward, the commander could be seen daily, astride his horse, riding about camp. His rapid, springy stride and bold carriage made him conspicuous in the camps of the Confederates. On a long and tedious march with the Army of Northern Virginia, he easily carried Lee's weight at five or six miles an hour, without faltering, and at the end of a day of hard travel, was said to be as fresh as at the beginning.
There were a number of battle horses in Lee's stables during the war including Grace Darling, Brown Roan, Lucy Long, Ajax and Richmond, but Traveller remained the general's favorite.
Traveller sturdily and faithfully endured the hardships of the campaigns in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. When the last battle of the Army of Northern Virginia had been fought in April of 1865, the veteran war-horse was still on duty. And when Lee rode to the McLean house at Appomattox Court House, he was astride of Traveller, and it was this faithful horse that carried the Southern leader back to his waiting army, and then to Richmond.
When Lee became a private citizen and retired to Washington as the president of Lee University, Traveller was still with him, and as the years passed and both master and servant neared life's ending they became more closely attached. As the funeral cortege accompanied Lee to his last resting place, Traveller walked behind the hearse.
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Black Jack - This beautiful black horse was foaled on January 19, 1947 - his sire and dam are not known. He was named after General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, Supreme Commander of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I.
Black Jack was sent from Fort Reno, Oklahoma, to the Third Infantry (The Old Guard) at Fort Myer on November 22, 1953. He served as a caparisoned (riderless) horse, the symbol of a fallen hero, and took part in the ceremonial functions, including the funerals of Presidents Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and General Douglas Macarthur. His service also included thousands of other funeral processions at Arlington National Cemetery. Black Jack was the last horse issued to the Army by the Quartermaster, and the last to carry the "U.S." brand all army horses had. Black Jack was semi-retired on June 1, 1973, and died February 6, 1976, at the age of 29. His ashes were placed in an urn at his monument at Fort. Meyer, Virginia.
Those Americans who watched the funeral of John F. Kennedy will never forget the sight of Black Jack prancing behind the flag covered coffin, a beautiful and restless symbol of the nation's loss, with the empty, reversed boots shining in the stirrups.
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Cincinnati - Though General Grant had many horses throughout the Civil War, his favorite was probably Cincinnati, a mount he described as "the finest in the world." Cincinnati was a Thoroughbred, and was the son of Lexington, the fastest four-mile Thoroughbred in the country. Like his sire, Cincinnati was also very fast horse.
Grant was offered $10,000 in gold for him, and of course he refused. Grant liked Cincinnati so much that he refused most requests to ride him. Grant only permitted Admiral Daniel Ammen and President Abraham Lincoln to ride Cincinnati. Ammen - because he had once saved Grant from drowning and Lincoln - because they were close friends. Grant rode Cincinnati to meet with General Robert E. Lee for the surrender meeting. While Grant was president, Cincinnati and one other horse lived in the White House stables in 1869. And during his second term in office, he commissioned a statue of him, astride his beloved Cincinnati. The Grant memorial is one of the largest, most important sculptures in the US Capital, located at the foot of Capitol Hill in Union Square.
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Secretariat - Although Thoroughbred horses are known to slow down after running a quarter-mile, Secretariat was one of the few horses in the world than actually ran faster in each succeeding length after the first quarter-mile. An explanation for this phenomenon was discovered when the legendary race horse was autopsied after his death and his heart was found to be significantly bigger than other horses. The average Thoroughbred heart is 8.5 pounds. Secretariat's heart weighed an incredible 22 pounds. The previously known largest-sized Thoroughbred heart was that of the great Eclipse, which weighed 16 pounds.
Secretariat won many races, but when he clinched his triple crown, he had what is arguably the greatest win in thoroughbred racing history: the 1973 Belmont Stakes, winning by an unprecedented and unrepeated 31 lengths and setting a new Belmont Stakes and 1.5-mile record of 2:24...2-3/5's seconds faster than any other horse at that distance.
He had many great wins and awards. On May 19, 1999, Secretariat was honored as the 35th greatest athlete of the 20th Century by ESPN's SportsCentury, a series of programs profiling the top athletes of the past 100 years. Secretariat was the only non-human to make the top 50.
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Man O' War - Possibly the most famous race horse in history was born on March 29, 1917 in Lexington, Kentucky. His owner was August Belmont, son of the famous financier for whom the Belmont Stakes, and Belmont Park in New York was named. Belmont had carefully planned for the colt by breeding from pedigreed Arabian stock on the sire's side to the most respected English stock on the dam's. But he would not realize the results of his planning. America had entered the Fist World War which was engulfing the globe and Belmont, at age 65, volunteered to serve. Sent to France by the U.S. Army his duties included procuring mules for the service. Mrs. Belmont named the new foal "My Man O' War" in honor of her husband. As the war dragged on, Belmont cabled home for his wife to sell the 1917 string of yearlings including Man O' War, ("My" had been dropped.)
Samuel Riddle of Glenn Riddle, Pa. purchased the colt along with several others. Riddle was a textile magnate and relatively new to big time racing but he was immediately impressed by the credentials and looks of the big chestnut colt. His intuition would not go un-rewarded. Soon thereafter he had the colt shipped by train to the Riddle farm in Worcester County, Maryland. By the spring of 1919 the blinding pace that he was setting in his training times indicated to Riddle that he had acquired an exceptional horse.
In his first official race of 1919, Man O' War won so handily in a field of outstanding young thoroughbreds that his jockey was standing straight up in the stirrups looking back at the field as he crossed the finish line. Where ever the big colt raced that year he won, and smashed existing records. In one race at Belmont Park in 1920 he won by 100 lengths! His presence guaranteed unprecedented attendance and he seemed to electrify racing fans. Security details had to constantly protect the horse against fans trying to pull keepsake hairs from his body, while constant threats on his life made it necessary to employ detectives to guard him at all times. At one time, Riddle was offered a legitimately signed blank check by a Texas millionaire to be made out in any amount for the big horse. Riddle refused to sell. He also refused to run him in the Kentucky Derby for training reasons. Later that year however he soundly trounced the winner of the Derby as well as wining the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.
Man O' War went on to win every race he ever entered in except one, ironically to a horse named Upset, though he went on to convincingly beat this horse several times thereafter. That one loss is surrounded by an air of mystery and rumors of wrong doing. His last official race was run in October of 1920 after Riddle had decided it would hurt the horse to have to carry the ever increasing handicap weight that was being assigned to him. In this last race he easily ran away from the winner of the 1919 Triple Crown in a match race. Man O'War established records that stood until the invention of the aluminum horse shoe and horse racing track surfacing changed.
In retirement, Man O' War continued to set records by siring champions. Of the almost 400 foals that he sired, more than 200 of them became champions in their own right. Two of the more famous were Battleship, who won the English Grand National Steeplechase, and War Admiral, who was the 1938 Triple Crown winner.
He died of a heart attack in 1947 at Riddle's Faraway Farm in Kentucky, at age 30.
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Seabiscuit - This unprepossessing thoroughbred was a dung-colored, stocky horse with a scraggy tail, an ungainly gait and legs that did not straighten properly. And he was a representation of the American Dream. Seabiscuit was an underdog, sneered at by smart East Coast race-goers, who became not only a champion horse, but a working man's hero, in a time of great economic strife.
An underachiever, Seabiscuit was struggling his way through the minor league races and not getting far, when trainer Tom Smith, and jockey Red Pollard thought they recognized an untapped power. Pollard established a rapport with the horse and together they became unstoppable overnight winners, winning race after race.
Seizing on any chance to escape the grim realities of the Depression, the American nation took the horse to their hearts, and he became a national obsession, a symbol for the struggle of poor against the oppression of the rich.
The symbolism of this battle reached its highest pitch in his 1938 race against the long-limbed Triple-Crown winner, War Admiral, a favorite of the well-to-do race fans. The nation was obsessed by the pre-race publicity, and 40,000 supporters crammed the tiny racetrack for the Pimlico Special. When Seabiscuit darted over the finish line 4 lengths ahead of War Admiral, pandemonium broke out.
Seabiscuit suffered numerous leg injuries, as did his jockey, and the pair had to stop racing for a time. In 1939, when they stepped out to try and win the elusive Santa Anita Handicap, Pollack joked "Old Pops and I have four good legs between us, maybe that is enough." It was! Seabiscuit ran the second fastest mile and a quarter in American history. Both horse and rider were exhausted and, having won $437,000 in prize money, they retired. Seabiscuit died of a heart attack at age 14 and is buried at Ridgewood Ranch under an oak tree.
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War Admiral - War Admiral was a smaller copy of his famous father Man O' War, considered Man O' War's best offspring. War Admiral reached his peak as a three-year old. He recorded a perfect eight-for-eight year. War Admiral and Count Fleet are the only Triple Crown winners to go undefeated during their three-year old campaign.
In the Kentucky Derby, War Admiral was the 8-to-5 favorite in a field of 20. He led for most the field for most of the way and won by 1 3/4 lengths in front of Pompoon. The Preakness produced one of the most memorable battles in Triple Crown history. Pompoon ran head to head with War Admiral at the top of the stretch. At the wire, War Admiral won by a head. In the Belmont, War Admiral stumbled at the start, injuring his right foreleg. This injury did not stop the colt from winning the Belmont Stakes with an easy four-length victory.
War Admiral's injury from the Belmont kept him out of racing until the fall. But he was named Horse of the Year in 1937 and won the first Pimlico Special. He was considered the leading three-year old in the country and had to contend with a rival, four-year old Seabiscuit, for the country's affection. This rivalry ended in a match race that was held on November 1, 1938 at Pimlico. Each had a brilliant racing career yet had avoided each other until this day. The fact is that War Admiral invariably acted up in the gate. So Seabiscuit's owner agreed to eliminate the gate and instead use a walk-up start. War Admiral's owner probably wouldn't have agreed to the match otherwise. Seabiscuit had never done a walk-up start before. War Admiral did it all the time. Seabiscuit flew out to the lead not because of, but despite that.
War Admiral ran with Seabiscuit as if they were a team. However, Seabiscuit had more reserve and pulled away causing a win of four lengths with record time of 1:56-3/5 for 1 3/16 miles.
War Admiral finished his career with an incredible 21-to-26 record. However, it was Seabiscuit's brilliance in their match race that people remembered.
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Seattle Slew - Seattle Slew will always be remembered as a great racehorse. He was the first and only undefeated Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown winner. His victories included the Champagne, Flamingo, Wood Memorial, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont, Marlboro Cup (over Affirmed), and Woodward. He retired after his four year old season with 14 wins in 17 starts and earnings of $1,208,726, winning championships in each season including Horse of the Year in 1977. Not bad for a $17,500 yearling purchase!
Not only was he great on the track, but he was a champion sire with a standing fee of $150,000. He sired over 100 stakes winners including champions A.P. Indy, Slew o' Gold, Swale, Landaluce, Surfside, and Capote. His offspring have won over $76 million so far. He proved to be an excellent broodmare sire as well with his daughters producing such progeny as Cigar, Lemon Drop Kid, and Escena. Seattle Slew, died on May 7, 2002 at Hill 'n' Dale Farm near Lexington exactly 25 years since his Kentucky Derby victory on May 7, 1977. He was 28.
He had suffered from back problems the last two years which required two surgeries and had been moved from Three Chimneys Farm after the last surgery this spring to Hill 'n' Dale Farm. The quieter surroundings there got him away from the excitement of seeing the mares brought in to breed with the other stallions.
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Smarty Jones - The Thoroughbred winner of the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes was born on February 28, 2001. He is descended from Triple Crown winners Secretariat and Count Fleet, as well as the famous Native Dancer and Nashua. In the direct sire line, like most winners of Triple Crown races in recent years, he descends from Mr. Prospector (1970-1999) and his sire, Elusive Quality, holds the world record for a mile on turf. Also included in Smarty Jones' pedigree are the 1964 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Northern Dancer, as well as the 1975 Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure.
Born at Someday Farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the horse was named after Milly "Smarty Jones" McNair, the mother of co-owner Pat Chapman. The two shared a birthday, and Mrs. Chapman wanted to honor her late mother.
Originally Pat and Roy Chapman hired Bobby Camac to be Smarty Jones' trainer, but in December 2001, Camac and his wife were murdered by Camac's stepson, Wade Russell, who was eventually convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison. This tragedy, combined with Roy Chapman's failing health, resulted in the Chapmans' decision to disband their small breeding operation and retain only a few of their horses, one of which was Smarty Jones.
In 2003, the Chapmans sent Smarty Jones to John Servis for race training. In July, starting gate training began and Smarty injured himself badly when he reared up and smashed his head on the top of the gate. He fell to the ground unconscious, blood pouring from his nostrils. Initially, Servis thought Smarty was dead. A veterinarian tended to his injuries then shipped the horse to the New Jersey Equine Clinic where he was swiftly diagnosed with a fractured skull. The bones around his left eye were so badly damaged that the veterinarians thought they might have to remove the eye. Smarty Jones spent three weeks in the hospital, and just over a month recuperating on the farm for a full recovery.
Servis carefully resumed Smarty's training and by November 2003, the colt was ready to make his racing debut at nearby Philadelphia Park, a small racetrack in Pennsylvania. Under Canadian -born jockey Stewart Elliott, Smarty Jones won the six furlong (1207 m) race by 7¾ lengths. Two weeks later, he captured the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes by 15 lengths. And at that point, the owners, the trainer, and the jockey were convinced that they had an extraordinary horse on their hands.
In January 2004, three-year old, Smarty Jones was given his first major test against a quality field of horses in the Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. On the home stretch, Smarty pulled away from the field and won by five lengths. Realizing that the Kentucky Derby was a real possibility, Servis chose to bring the horse along carefully taking the "path of least resistance" to the Derby and avoid grueling races against the very best horses in the United States. In February they shipped Smarty Jones to Oaklawn Park racetrack in Arkansas where he won the Southwest Stakes, the Rebel Stakes and then the Arkansas Derby. Despite being unbeaten in six races, Smarty Jones was nevertheless not initially rated as a favorite for the Kentucky Derby because racing experts believed he had not been truly tested. He did however, become a slight post time favorite.
On May 1, Smarty Jones became the first unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977. Servis and Elliott became the first trainer/jockey combination in 25 years to win the Derby in a debut appearance. Smarty Jones won the most prestigious horse race in North America by 2¾ lengths, earning $854,800 for the Chapmans, along with a bonus of $5 million from Oaklawn Park for having won the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby, and Kentucky Derby.
On May 15, Smarty won the second leg of the Triple Crown by a record margin of 11½ lengths. And following his Preakness victory, his popularity increased and he became a huge favorite to win the Triple Crown. However, on June 5, Smarty Jones finished second in the Belmont Stakes, being upset in a late charge by the 36-1 long shot Birdstone. It was his single loss out of nine starts.
His retirement from racing was announced on August 2, 2004. Smarty Jones stands stud at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky, and currently occupies the same stall that housed Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew throughout his stud career until his recent death.
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