Sir Barton: The first ever legend to lift the title of Triple Crown
Being the pioneer to accomplish the ace title of The Triple Crown in 1919, Sir Barton holds a great name and fame in the world of horseracing. He lived from 1916 to 1937, but the marks he left on the pages of the sport history are glowing with full resplendence.
The son of Star Shoot out of Lady Sterling was foaled in the spring of 1916 at Hamburg Place, Lexington. The Place was owned by John E. Madden who bred the colt.
Sir Barton grew up by carrying the prestigious legacy of his father who was a son of Isinglass, the winner of the English version of Triple Crown.
Thus, the urge to earn the high-value conquest had been running though his blood since the very first day of his life.
When his career was just two-year-old, the legendary colt was sold to a Canadian Naval Commander John Kenneth Levison Ross who took him in his newly-built stable.
Ross appointed Harvey Guy Bedwell especially to train Sir Barton. Bedwell was well-versed in training techniques as he had been in this field since the age of thirteen.
Interestingly, Sir Barton was a very reserved sort of animal who used to show arrogance and anger towards other horses and the people who were not familiar to him.
Bedwell applied the crux of his whole experience to train the colt in such a way as he turned to be a potential participant in the 1919 season of the Triple Crown.
Finally, the day came when Sir Barton was lined-up among some of the big names of the contemporary world for running in Kentucky Derby, the opening race of the crown.
Among his worthy rivals included Eternal, Under Fire and his stable mate Billy Kelly.
Ross placed a bet of $50,000 on his maverick colt’s victory as the owner was extremely sure that Sir Barton would bring his money back.
The colt was driven by Johnny Loftus. From the beginning of the race to the finish line, Sir Barton ran daringly and stunned all by crossing the boundary strap ahead of all. This five-length clean victory perked up the morale of the winner to a great extent.
After a gap of just four days, Sir Barton went on to win the Preakness Stakes by a margin of four lengths.
This triumph was such an impressive and fascinating that The Baltimore Sun wrote, “He was bred in old Kentucky, Where the meadow's grass is blue, And he was trained in Maryland, The whole winter through. He won the Derby in the mud, Which proved his speed
was true, And now he's won the Preakness, Sir Bart, hats off to you!"
Sir Barton delivered an outstanding run in the third and last race of the event known as Belmont Stakes. He again convincingly beat Eternal to win the contest.
Thus, he became the first ever American horse to win all three races of the Triple Crown.
Overall, the gifted colt participated in 31 races during his professional career. He won 13 and earned runner-up ranks in 6 ones. He earned $116,857 as prize money.
At last, the sun of Sir Barton’s life set on October 30, 1937. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1957 and the Blood-Horse magazine listed him among the top 100 horses of the 20th century.
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