Swaps (horse)

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Swaps
Sire Khaled
Grandsire Hyperion
Dam Iron Reward
Damsire Beau Pere
Sex Stallion
Foaled 1952
Country United States
Colour Chestnut
Breeder Rex C. Ellsworth
Owner Rex C. Ellsworth
Silks: Red, Black Triangle front & back , Red and Black Cap.
Trainer Mesh Tenney
Record 25:19-2-2
Earnings $848,900
Major wins
San Vicente Stakes (1955)
Santa Anita Derby (1955)
Kentucky Derby (1955)
Californian Stakes (1955)
American Derby (1955)
Broward Handicap (1956)
Sunset Handicap (1956)
American Handicap (1956)
Argonaut Handicap (1956)
Hollywood Gold Cup (1956)
Washington Park Handicap (1956)
Awards
United States Horse of the Year (1956)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1966)
#20 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
Life-size statue at Hollywood Park Racetrack
Interred - Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs
Swaps Stakes held at Hollywood Park Racetrack
Horse (Equus ferus caballus)
Last updated on October 5, 2006

Swaps (March 1, 1952 – November, 1972) was a California bred American thoroughbred racehorse. He was the son of Khaled, a stallion imported from the Aga Khan's stud in Europe. Swaps goes back to the immortal Man o' War, via his dam, Iron Reward, through the Triple Crown winner, War Admiral. In the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by Blood-Horse magazine, Swaps ranks 20th.

Contents

[edit] Racing career

Trained by Mesh Tenney (who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991), bred and owned by the once cowhand Rex Ellsworth, Swaps won his first 1955 start, the San Vicente Stakes . In May 1955, he won the Kentucky Derby under jockey Willie Shoemaker, beating the heavily favored east coast star, Belair's Nashua, under Eddie Arcaro.[1] Arcaro was quoted before the race that Summer Tan was the primary threat, which manifested the east-west division between the Swaps-Nashua camps.[2] This rivalry culminated in a famous match race later that year.

Continuing after the Derby, Swaps broke records all over the country at various distances, on turf and on dirt, and often under heavy weight. (In the end, he broke or equaled six different track records.) Nashua followed up the Derby with wins in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. With much interest in a match race between Nashua and Swaps looming, a deal between the camps was reached for the colts to meet at Chicago's Washington Park on August 31, 1955. Swaps tuned up with a win in the prestigious American Derby, setting a 13⁄16 mile course record of 1:543⁄5 on the turf. However, the day before the scheduled match race, Swaps re-injured his foot on a wet track.[1] Nashua broke alertly under Arcaro, and he gained a tactical advantage on the lead.[3] Arcaro's tactic forced Shoemaker with Swaps to get the worst of the poor footing. Nashua drew clear in the stretch to win easily. Nashua went on to earn 1955 U.S. Horse of the Year honors.[1] Swaps did not race for the rest of the year as his foot healed again.

Although occasionally troubled by the hoof after the recovery, Swaps generally performed well. At the age of four, Swaps was named Horse of the Year by Turf and Sport Digest after beating Nashua by 78 votes to 45,[4] and topping a similar poll organised by Triangle Publications.[5] William H.P. Robertson wrote in his "History of Thoroughbred Racing in America" that Swaps' summer of 1956 was "The most amazing exhibition of speed in history."[citation needed]

[edit] Racing Highlights

at 3:

  • 1st - San Vicente Stakes
  • 1st - Santa Anita Derby
  • 1st - Kentucky Derby front-running effort with a time of 2:014⁄5, 2/5 off the track record;
  • 1st - Will Rogers Stakes (by 12 lengths; first race in which Swaps was the betting favorite; favored in all subsequent races)
  • 1st - Californian Stakes (new world record for 81⁄2 furlongs with time of 1:402⁄5, "almost casually")
  • 1st - Westerner Stakes (front-running effort, "drew out at will" in the stretch to open a 10-length lead, won by 6 lengths after being eased at odds of 1-20; win betting only for a five-horse field)
  • 1st - American Derby on turf (front-running effort "under restraint"; new course record, equalled American record; win and place betting only for a six-horse field)
  • 2nd - Match race with Nashua

at 4:

  • 1st - LA County Fair Handicap (came from behind and drew away "under wraps")
  • 1st - Broward Handicap (new world record for 1 mile 70 yd with time of 1:393⁄5, carrying 130 lb., conceding at least 15 pounds to all rivals; had "mouth open" due to snug hold early and was eased late)
  • 2nd - Californian (jockey Shoemaker "shut down" Swaps with less than 1/16 mile to go and a 4 length lead. Porterhouse got up for the surprise win)
  • 1st - Argonaut Handicap (new world record for 1 mile with time of 1:331⁄5, replacing former record by Citation)
  • 1st - Inglewood (new World record for 81⁄2 furlongs with time of 1:39 flat, carrying 130 lb.; mile split was 1:323⁄5, 3/5 faster than his own world record)
  • 1st - American Handicap (equalled Noor's world record of 1:464⁄5 for 11⁄8 miles, carrying 130 lb.; conceded 19 lb. to runner-up Mister Gus; win betting only for a five-horse field)
  • 1st - Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (new track record of 1:583⁄5 for 11⁄4 miles, lowering previous mark by a full second, carrying 130 lb.; win betting only despite a seven-horse field)
  • 1st - Sunset Handicap (new track and world record for 15⁄8 miles with time of 2:381⁄5, lowering previous track record by 22⁄5 seconds, carrying 130 lb.; front-running effort "under stout restraint, eased in the last sixteenth of a mile)
  • 7th - Arch Ward Memorial Handicap (well-beaten on a soft turf course apparently unsuitable to his sore condition)
  • 1st - Washington Park Handicap (new track record of 1:332⁄5 for a mile carrying 130 lb.; six furlong split was 1:074⁄5, 2 full seconds faster than the track record)

[edit] The End of a Career

In October, training for the Washington, D.C. International at Laurel Park, he fractured his leg in two places in his left rear cannon bone, then a week later banged his leg in his stall, breaking his cast, and extending the fractures into his pastern joint.[1] Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, the trainer of Nashua, sent him a special sling from Belmont. He hung in it for weeks needing round the clock attention.[citation needed] In November 1956, he beat the odds and jogged away from his cast and sling.[1]

[edit] At Stud

Swaps began at stud at Rex Ellsworth's farm, moving to John Galbreath's Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Kentucky after a season.[1] His last five seasons were at Spendthrift Farm.

Swaps sired several dozen offspring, including 35 stakes winners.[1] Among his offspring, Chateaugay won the 1963 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, while Affectionately (out of the great racing mare Searching) is ranked no. 81 in The Blood-Horse magazine list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century.

A bronze of Swaps with jockey Bill Shoemaker stands at the Hollywood Park Clubhouse entrance gardens.[citation needed] Dedicated July 1, 1958, its design and setting was created by Millard Sheets and the sculpture by Albert Stewart. Swaps was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1966.[citation needed] In November 1972, he was euthanized at the age of 20.[1] He was buried in the Lions Circle at Green Gates Farm, but his remains were eventually moved to the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.[citation needed]

(See Blood-Horse magazine's June 10, 2006 issue for a long article on Swaps's racing career)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h K.H. (25 October 2000). "Swaps". In Inc Staff Blood-Horse. Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century. Eclipse Press. pp. 86–89. ISBN 978-1-58150-024-0. 
  2. ^ Bill Christine (August 31, 2005) "A Day That Was Hard to Match" (Los Angeles Times) Retrieved 2011-10-04
  3. ^ Christine 2005 p. 2 Retrieved 2011-10-04
  4. ^ "Swaps Top Horse". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. 1956-12-19. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7alkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FW8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=4973,2736084&dq=swaps+horse-of-the-year&hl=en. Retrieved 2012-02-27. 
  5. ^ "Swaps Top Horse Of Year In Poll". Los Angeles Times. 1956-11-28. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/436919212.html?dids=436919212:436919212&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+28%2C+1956&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=SWAPS+TOP+HORSE+OF+YEAR+IN+POLL&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2012-02-27. 

[edit] Other sources

[edit] External links

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Legend - ₩ = Triple Crown Winners, ♥ = Filly
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