Whirlaway

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Whirlaway
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Sire:	Blenheim II
Grandsire:	Blandford
Dam:	Dustwhirl
Damsire:	Sweep
Sex:	Stallion
Foaled:	1938
Country:	USA
Colour:	Brown
Breeder:	Calumet Farm
Owner:	Calumet Farm
Trainer:	Ben A. Jones
Record:	60: 32-15-9
Earnings:	$561,161
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Major Racing Wins
Lane's End Breeders' Futurity (1940) Hopeful Stakes (1940) Saratoga Special Stakes (1940) Kentucky Derby (1941) Preakness Stakes (1941) Belmont Stakes (1941) Travers Stakes (1941) Lawrence Realization Stakes (1941) Saranac Handicap (1941) Dwyer Stakes (1941) American Derby (1941) Massachusetts Handicap (1942) Jockey Club Gold Cup (1942)
Racing Awards
5th U.S. Triple Crown Champion (1941) U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1941) United States Horse of the Year (1941 & 1942) U.S. Champion Older Male Horse (1942)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1959) #26 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack Whirlaway Handicap at Fair Grounds Race Course
Infobox last updated on: October 31, 2006.

Whirlaway (April 2, 1938-April 6, 1953) was an American champion thoroughbred racehorse.

A chestnut colt, he was sired by "Blenheim II," out of the dam "Dustwhirl" at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Trained by Ben A. Jones and ridden by Eddie Arcaro, he won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1941 by capturing the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. He also won the Lawrence Realization Stakes and the Travers Stakes that year. He was voted the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year for 1941 and repeated as Horse of the Year in 1942.

Whirlaway, ridden by George Woolf (called "The Iceman"), who won the Pimlico Special in 1938 on Seabiscuit, 1940 on Challedon, and 1942 on Whirlaway, rode the 1941 Triple Crown winner at a leisurely pace during the 1942 Special in a walkover. No opponent had been found to challenge the great horse for the race.

Arcaro, who successfully rode Whirlaway in all his 3-year-old victories, missed the 1942 season because of racing infractions and was warned off all American tracks. Woolf, who gleefully took the reins of Whirlaway for most of the 1942 season, was busted after bringing Whirlaway to the position of all-time money winner. After the race that made Whirlaway the all-time money winner, Woolf was asked by turfwriters if Whirlaway was the greatest horse he had ever ridden. He made the most outspoken comment of his career by declaring that "... no, Seabiscuit was the greatest horse I have ever ridden." Woolf an outspoken but knowledgeable critic of pedigree, had stated publicly many times he didn't respect Blenheim II as a stud, even though Blenheim II had great bloodlines himself. Woolf wasn't off-target by much. Whirlaway, Jet Pilot, and Fervent were about the only champions from literally hundreds of offspring to prove out. Jet Pilot won the Kentucky Derby in 1947. Fervent won the Pimlico Special in 1947.

Woolf didn't witness these horses or their victories, having been killed in a racing accident at Santa Anita Racetrack in January 1946.

At age 5, Whirlaway was retired to stud and later shipped to France to stand for Marcel Boussac at his Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard.

Whirlaway was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1959. In The Blood-Horse ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Whirlaway was ranked No. 26.