George Edward Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest jockeys in the history of American Thoroughbred horse racing. Arcaro was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of an impoverished taxi driver. His parents, Pasquale and Josephine, were Italian immigrants and his father held a number of jobs, including taxi driver and operator of an illegal liquor enterprise during Prohibition. Arcaro was born prematurely, and weighed just three pounds at birth; because of this, he was smaller than his classmates and was rejected when he tried out for a spot on a baseball team. His full height would reach just five-foot, two inches. Eventually nicknamed "Banana Nose" by his confreres, Arcaro won his first race in 1932 at the Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico; he was 16 years old. In 1934, the inaugural year of Narragansett Park, Arcaro was a comparative unknown who rode many of his early career races at 'Gansett.
Citation was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the eighth winner of the American Triple Crown. He won 16 consecutive stakes races and was the first horse in history to win US$1 million.
The Wood Memorial Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. It is run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on dirt. The Wood Memorial has been run as a Grade II event since 2017. It was a Grade I race from 1974 to 1994 and again from 2002 to 2016.
The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Since 2005, it has been run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which is held on the first Saturday in May. Thus the Florida Derby is currently run either at the end of March or the beginning of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade I race is run at 1+1⁄8 miles on the dirt. The purse was increased to $1 million in 2011 but was reduced to $750,000 for 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purse was once again increased to $1 million in 2022.
Lawrin was an American thoroughbred racehorse owned by Herbert M. Woolf who won the 1938 Kentucky Derby. He was the son of Insco. He is the only Kansas-bred winner of the Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Derby winner ridden by the great jockey Eddie Arcaro. Lawrin died in 1955 and was buried next to his sire, Insco, on Woolford Farm in what would become Prairie Village, Kansas. One can still visit his grave in the cul-de-sac at 59 Le Mans Court, Prairie Village, just northwest of Mission Road & Somerset.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Widener Handicap at Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida was a Grade III stakes race for Thoroughbred racehorses 3-years-old and up. It was run over a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles until 1993 when it was modified to 1+1⁄8 miles. Initially called the Widener Challenge Cup Handicap, the race was named for Hialeah Park owner Joseph E. Widener. It was first run in 1936 as the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California.
The Everglades Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Hialeah Park in Hialeah, Florida. For three-year-old horses, the 1+1⁄8 mile race was run on dirt until 1994 when it was converted to a race on turf. It was elevated to Grade III status in 1999.
Never Bend (1960–1977) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 1962 American Champion Two-Year-Old and later became a leading sire in England.
Albert Snider was a jockey in Thoroughbred racing who had success in his native Canada as well as the United States. He was born in Calgary, Alberta, and got his first win on September 1, 1938, at Stamford Park racetrack in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The Fall Highweight Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually near the end of November at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. Currently run at a distance of 6 furlongs, it is open to horses three years of age and older under handicap conditions. The race was given its current Grade III status in 2009 by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
Blue Man was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the Preakness Stakes.
The East View Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. It is restricted to fillies bred in the State of New York. Run in December, the race is contested on dirt over a distance of 1+1⁄16 miles.
Douglas Allan Dodson was a Champion jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.
Ruperto Donoso was a jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing best known for riding Phalanx to victory in the 1947 Belmont Stakes. He also rode Gilded Knight to a second-place finish in the 1939 Preakness Stakes.
The Bahamas Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in January at Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida. A seven furlong race on dirt, it was the first important test of the calendar year for newly turned three-year-olds. The race was used by prospective U.S. Triple Crown contenders as a stepping stone to the Everglades and Flamingo Stakes at the Hialeah track. Reflected Glory (1967) and Pistols and Roses (1992), swept all three events.
My Dad George was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was foaled in Kentucky in 1967. Bred by George Cavanaugh & Associates, he was sired by Dark Star and was a grandson of Royal Gem. He was out of a Skytracer mare Mabekky. My Dad George is best remembered for winning the grade 1 Florida Derby and finishing second in the $200,000 grade 1 1970 Preakness Stakes to Personality.
The Scarsdale Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race open to horses age three and older first run on October 16, 1918, over a mile and seventy yards on dirt at Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York.
The Chesapeake Stakes was an important American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses of either sex contested on dirt over a distance of a mile and one-sixteenth at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Run from 1920 until the track closed after the 1950 edition, the race usually run in late April race was a last major prep before the Kentucky Derby. For owners who had not nominated their horse for the Derby it was a chance to test their horse's ability against some of the best three-year-olds in the country, a number of which they would undoubtedly encounter in the ensuing Preakness Stakes.
