Silver Spoon (horse)

Silver Spoon
Sire	Citation
Grandsire	Bull Lea
Dam	Silver Fog
Damsire	Mahmoud
Sex	Filly
Foaled	1956
Country	United States
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Owner	C. V. Whitney
Trainer	Robert L. Wheeler
Record	27 Starts: 13 – 3 - 4
Earnings	$313,930
Major wins
	Santa Anita Derby ( (1959); Cinema Handicap (1959); Santa Susana Stakes (1959); La Centinela Stakes (1959); Santa Ynez Stakes (1959); Santa Margarita Handicap (1960); Vanity Handicap (1960); Santa Maria Handicap (1960) ; Milady Handicap (1960); Santa Monica Handicap (1960)
Awards
	TRA American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly (1959)
Honours
	U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1978)
	Last updated on September 10, 2008

Last updated June 04, 2019

Silver Spoon (March 6, 1956 - January 1978) was a multiple stakes winning American Thoroughbred race horse.

A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level is then assigned to the race, based on statistical analysis of the quality of the field in previous years, provided the race meets the minimum purse criteria for the grade in question. In Canada, a similar grading system is maintained by the Jockey Club of Canada. Graded stakes races are similar to Group races in Europe but the grading is more dynamic in North America.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "hot-blooded" horses that are known for their agility, speed, and spirit.

Background

Silver Spoon was a daughter of Triple Crown winner Citation. Citation was by Bull Lea, the foundation sire of Calumet Farm. Silver Spoon's dam, Silver Fog, carried the blood of Equipose, Blenheim, Man o' War, Broomstick, Peter Pan, and a host of others.

Citation was an American Triple Crown-winning Thoroughbred racehorse who won 16 consecutive races in major stakes race competition. He was the first horse in history to win one million dollars.

Bull Lea was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is best known as the foundation sire responsible for making Calumet Farm one of the most successful racing stables in American history. In their article on Calumet Farm, the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, Kentucky wrote that Bull Lea was "one of the greatest sires in Thoroughbred breeding history."

Calumet Farm is a 762-acre (3.08 km²) Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegrass, a well-known horse breeding region. Calumet Farm has a record history of Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown winners and throughout its history of over 87 years, it has produced some of the greatest Thoroughbred horses of all time.

Silver Spoon was a big chestnut filly with four white stockings, standing 16 hands one inch tall, and weighing 1,135 pounds. As a foal, she injured her hip and forever after walked with a pronounced hesitation or "hitch" in her gait.

Racing career

Her first race was an $8,000 claiming event for two-year-olds at Belmont Park. There were no takers. Ridden by Eldon Nelson, she won by six lengths.

Belmont Park is a major Thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. Opened 114 years ago on May 4, 1905, it is operated by the non-profit New York Racing Association, as are Aqueduct and Saratoga Race Course. The group was formed in 1955 as the Greater New York Association to assume the assets of the individual associations that ran Belmont, Aqueduct, Saratoga, and the now-defunct Jamaica Race Course.

Glen Eldon Nelson was an American jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing who competed primarily at tracks on the East Coast of the United States and who is best known for winning the 1972 Preakness Stakes.

Sent to California, Silver Spoon dominated her division, going undefeated in a six-race winning streak. Winning both the Santa Susana Stakes now called the Santa Anita Oaks and the Santa Anita Derby, she became one of only two fillies ever to do so. The other was the winner of the 1988 Kentucky Derby: Winning Colors. In the Santa Anita Derby, she took the race against colts. With her ears pricked, she romped home by two and a half lengths against that year's eventual Preakness Stakes winner, Royal Orbit. This was the win that convinced her connections to enter her in the 1959 Kentucky Derby. The only filly to start in the race between the years 1945 to 1980, she came in a respectable fifth, three and a half lengths behind the winner, Tomy Lee. A few months later, back on the West Coast, she soundly beat Tomy Lee in the Cinema Handicap. In the Cinema, she conceded 9 pounds to the runner-up. In the press, Silver Spoon was hailed as the best filly since the war.

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second-most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Santa Anita Oaks is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Open to three-year-old fillies willing to race 8.5 furlongs on the dirt. The race is a Grade I event with a current purse of $400,000 and has been a prep race to the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, including the Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Mother Goose Stakes.

The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is currently run at a distance of 1 ¹⁄₈ miles on the dirt and carries a purse of $1 million. It is one of the final prep races on the official Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Honors

In the 1959 voting for Champion three-old-filly, the Thoroughbred Racing Association voted for Silver Spoon,^[1] but in the rival Daily Racing Form poll she was beaten by 85 points to 73 by Royal Native.^[2]

The American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a female horse in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971.

The Daily Racing Form (DRF) is a tabloid newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race horses as a statistical service for bettors on horse racing in North America.

In the year she died, 1978, Silver Spoon was inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame. She is buried at the Gainesway Farm, once part of the C.V. Whitney Farm, beside her equals, among them Winning Colors.

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1951 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. In 1955, the museum moved to its current location on Union Avenue near Saratoga race course, at which time inductions into the hall of fame began. Each spring, following the tabulation of the final votes, the announcement of new inductees is made, usually during Kentucky Derby Week in early May. The actual inductions are held in mid-August during the Saratoga race meeting.

Gainesway Farm is an American Thoroughbred horse breeding business in Lexington, Kentucky. It was originally called Greentree Farms.

Breeding record

As a broodmare, Silver Spoon gave birth to seven foals. One was the stakes-winning Inca Queen by Hail to Reason.

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References

↑ "In racing". Vancouver Sun. December 1, 1959. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
↑ "Sword Dancer unanimous choice". Montreal Gazette. November 29, 1959. Retrieved 2012-07-14.

Silver Spoon’s pedigree, stats, and photo
Silver Spoon at the Hall of Fame
"The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America," by William H.P. Robertson, Bonanza Books, New York

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[1] "In racing". Vancouver Sun. December 1, 1959. Retrieved 2012-07-14.

[2] "Sword Dancer unanimous choice". Montreal Gazette. November 29, 1959. Retrieved 2012-07-14.