Black Gold (horse)
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| Black Gold | ||
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| Sire: | Black Toney | |
| Grandsire: | Peter Pan I | |
| Dam: | U-See-It | |
| Damsire: | Bonnie Joe | |
| Sex: | Stallion | |
| Foaled: | 1921 | |
| Country: | USA | |
| Colour: | Black | |
| Breeder: | Mrs. Al Hoots (Rosa) | |
| Owner: | As Above | |
| Trainer: | Hanley Webb | |
| Record: | 35:18-5-4 | |
| Earnings: | $111,553 | |
| Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards | ||
| Major Racing Wins | ||
| Kentucky Derby (1924) Louisiana Derby (1924) Derby Trial (1924) Ohio State Derby (1924) Chicago Derby (1924) Bashford Manor Stakes (1923) Tidal Stakes (1923) |
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| Racing Awards | ||
| U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1969) | ||
| Honours | ||
| Buried in the infield of the New Orleans Fair Grounds The Black Gold Stakes is run in his honor |
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Infobox last updated on: September 18, 2006. |
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Black Gold (February 17, 1921 - January 18, 1928) was an American thoroughbred racehorse who seemed predestined to win 1924's 50th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Contents |
[edit] A Dream of Glory
A man named Al Hoots once owned a fine, but unfashionably bred, race mare called U-See-it. There was only one horse the Oklahoma-bred could not beat in her small-track out-west 6 furlong races: the wonderful Hall of Famer Pan Zareta, but other than Panzy, U-See-it whipped everything else that raced against her—so long as the races were short. The little mare won 34 of her starts and kept Al and his wife Rosa out of the poorhouse. The Hoots and their horse lived in Indian territory and were well known on the Texas/New Orleans racing circuit. Came a day in 1916 when Al raced his prized mare in a claimer in Juarez, Mexico having made agreements with one and all that no one would claim her. But a man called Toby Ramsey broke that agreement. Al refused to let her go, holding off Ramsey with a shotgun. For this, both he and his racing mare were banned from racing for life. In 1917, Al was on his deathbed and had a dream that if U-See-it were to be bred to one of the leading sires of the time, the foal that his beloved mare carried would win the Kentucky Derby. He made his wife, Rosa, promise to breed her to Black Toney, though the stud fee was way beyond anything the Hoots family could afford. Rosa agreed, although she had no idea how she might accomplish such a thing.
Not too long after, oil was discovered in what is now Oklahoma where the widow Rosa Hoots lived, and with her share, Mrs. Al Hoots (who was a member of the Osage Nation), honored her husband's last request, shipping U-See-it to the Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky where Colonel E. R. Bradley's very fashionable Black Toney stood at stud. The result was a black colt called Black Gold for the oil that had made him possible. Hanley Webb (or Hedley or Harry: depends on the source), who had been a close friend of Al Hoots and also trained U-See-it, was Black Gold's trainer.
Beginning at the New Orleans Fair Grounds on January 19th, 1923, Black Gold won nine races in 18 starts as a two-year-old. When he came out as a three-year-old, he won six races in a row, then moved up into Stakes company in the Louisiana Derby. He led at once, splashing through mud to wire the field and win by six lengths. Mrs. Hoots was reportedly offered $50,000 for her colt, but turned it down.
As Al had dreamed, Black Gold went into the 1924 running of the Derby, America's greatest race, as one of the favorites. In 1924, the Kentucky Derby was fifty years old and was therefore celebrated as the "Golden Jubilee Derby." It was the first time a golden cup would be presented to the winner and the first time "My Old Kentucky Home" was played before the race. Black Gold won it with a rough trip against strong competition in the last seventy yards. Ridden by J.D. Mooney, buffeted and bumped, he was forced to check...but recovered with grace and skill. Racing four and five wide with the very classy Chilhowee running ahead and the race seemingly his, Black Gold made his move, a move that took him right past Chihowee and safely home for the roses.
Nicknamed "The Indian Horse," Black Gold did not race in the Preakness or the Belmont Stakes after the Derby...the Triple Crown was still a couple of years away. Instead, he went on to win four different Derbies: the Kentucky Derby, the Louisiana Derby, the Chicago Derby, and the Ohio State Derby. He was the first horse ever to accomplish winning the Derbies of four different states.
The Thoroughbred Record had this to say of Black Gold's greatest season: "...about as vigorous a campaign as a horse could be called upon to undergo, one that knew no let-ups and that never dodged a single issue."
The man who groomed and exercised him was also his regular jockey, the aforementioned Jaydee Mooney. He seldom rode any other horse, fearing something might happen to keep him off Black Gold.
[edit] Back to the races
Black Gold was retired to stud, but was not very fertile. The only colt he sired was struck by lightning and killed...which all considered a bad omen. So at the age of six, Black Gold was back on the racetrack. Unfortunately, over-raced, he suffered with a quarter crack for the remainder of his career. He started four more times without a win. On January 18, 1928, at the age of seven, and against good sense, he was started one more time in the Salome Purse at the Fair Grounds. Not as strong as he was, and not as fast, still he was just as gallant and just as game. Trying desperately to make up ground in the stretch, he broke down, but did not stop. Black Gold finished the race on three legs. He was put to sleep on the track.
He's buried in the infield of the Fair Grounds close to the sixteenth pole, next to his mother's old rival, Pan Zareta. The Thoroughbred Record wrote that Black Gold was "...as game a horse as ever stood on plates."
A male line descendant of Eclipse, in 1989, he was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
[edit] Career Highlights
- at 2:
- 1st: Bashford Manor Stakes
- 2nd: Cincinnati Trophy
- 2nd: Tobacco Stakes
- 3rd: Breeders' Futurity
at 3:
- won: Kentucky Derby
- won: Louisiana Derby
- won: Chicago Derby
- won: Ohio Derby
- won: Derby Trial
- 3rd: Latonia Derby
- 3rd: Raceland Derby
