If there was ever a horse that had to overcome long odds and a longer run of plain bad luck on the way to becoming a champion, it would have to be Bold Venture.
Foaled in Kentucky in 1933, he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in 1936, and by 1939 had found a home at Robert Kleberg's King Ranch here in Texas. Even without those big wins, his place in history would be secure as he remains the first and so far only Kentucky Derby winner to sire two Kentucky Derby winners. But it was a rough and rocky road getting there.
In the hands of trainer Max Hirsch, Bold Venture seemed to be haunted by a string of plain old bad luck for all of his juvenile campaign. At Arlington Park to prep the Arlington Futurity, the colt tripped over the outer rail on his way to the post in an allowance race. He suffered several deep cuts but was allowed to compete anyway, and ran fourth. The Futurity itself proved even worse, when the start was delayed for 10 minutes after Bold Venture bolted out of the gate, tossed his rider, and ran for a nearly mile before he was finally caught. He was still allowed to run, but finished 30 lengths back. Shipped to Saratoga to prepare for the Hopeful Stakes, Bold Venture was raced three times in an eight-day span, winning two of them in a field that included a little horse named Seabiscuit. In the Hopeful, he found tough going and little luck in the congested field, and finished ninth in the field of 17.
Then while being shipped to Belmont Park, the rail car in which he was being transported caught fire. A groom managed to hold the horse’s head out an open door and avoided suffocation that claimed two other of Hirsch’s horses in the same car. Then a virus soon knocked Bold Venture out of all of the other lucrative fall events, and Hirsch decided to call it a year. It had been a rough one.
But on opening day of the 1936 New York racing season Bold Venture was back, under l8-year-old apprentice Ira "Babe" Hanford. He coasted to a four-length victory in the season opener, and with the Kentucky Derby just 16 days away, Hirsch soon decided to head straight to Churchill Downs.
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The track was fast, but the break was a mess. Jockey Hanford said it looked like a bowling ball hitting pins. As soon as the gates opened, the favorite Brevity was knocked to his knees, the third favorite Granville stumbled and threw his rider, Indian Broom was trapped in a scrum of racing horses. Bold Venture was bumped on both sides. As the mess began sorting itself out, Hanford kept Bold Venture to the outside and out of trouble, reached the front of the field with three furlongs left and held off a challenge by the heavy favorite to win his first stakes race by a head.
But while owner Morton Schwartz collected the $37,700 prize money, jockey Hanford was one the three riders who collected 15-day suspensions for rough riding. The suspension meant Hanford had to sit out the Preakness two weeks later. His replacement aboard Bold Venture was George "The Iceman" Woolf, who rode Bold Venture to a photo-finish win by a nose after yet another bad bumpy start. Then the hard luck gremlin struck again. Following a workout at Belmont Park, Bold Venture was found to be lame. Attempts to return him to racing proved unsuccessful, so owner Morton Schwartz took the horse back to Kentucky to stand at stud. In 1939, King Ranch owner Robert Kleberg brought Bold Venture here to Texas where he sired a pair of top-class racehorses: Assault, the 1946 U,S. Triple Crown champion, and Middleground, winner of the 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Both were King Ranch homebreds trained by Max Hirsch. Bold Venture died in 1958 at age twenty five. A rough and bumpy road indeed, but sometimes that's how legends are made.
Foaled in Kentucky in 1933, he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in 1936, and by 1939 had found a home at Robert Kleberg's King Ranch here in Texas. Even without those big wins, his place in history would be secure as he remains the first and so far only Kentucky Derby winner to sire two Kentucky Derby winners. But it was a rough and rocky road getting there.
In the hands of trainer Max Hirsch, Bold Venture seemed to be haunted by a string of plain old bad luck for all of his juvenile campaign. At Arlington Park to prep the Arlington Futurity, the colt tripped over the outer rail on his way to the post in an allowance race. He suffered several deep cuts but was allowed to compete anyway, and ran fourth. The Futurity itself proved even worse, when the start was delayed for 10 minutes after Bold Venture bolted out of the gate, tossed his rider, and ran for a nearly mile before he was finally caught. He was still allowed to run, but finished 30 lengths back. Shipped to Saratoga to prepare for the Hopeful Stakes, Bold Venture was raced three times in an eight-day span, winning two of them in a field that included a little horse named Seabiscuit. In the Hopeful, he found tough going and little luck in the congested field, and finished ninth in the field of 17.
Then while being shipped to Belmont Park, the rail car in which he was being transported caught fire. A groom managed to hold the horse’s head out an open door and avoided suffocation that claimed two other of Hirsch’s horses in the same car. Then a virus soon knocked Bold Venture out of all of the other lucrative fall events, and Hirsch decided to call it a year. It had been a rough one.
But on opening day of the 1936 New York racing season Bold Venture was back, under l8-year-old apprentice Ira "Babe" Hanford. He coasted to a four-length victory in the season opener, and with the Kentucky Derby just 16 days away, Hirsch soon decided to head straight to Churchill Downs.
[insert film clip]
The track was fast, but the break was a mess. Jockey Hanford said it looked like a bowling ball hitting pins. As soon as the gates opened, the favorite Brevity was knocked to his knees, the third favorite Granville stumbled and threw his rider, Indian Broom was trapped in a scrum of racing horses. Bold Venture was bumped on both sides. As the mess began sorting itself out, Hanford kept Bold Venture to the outside and out of trouble, reached the front of the field with three furlongs left and held off a challenge by the heavy favorite to win his first stakes race by a head.
But while owner Morton Schwartz collected the $37,700 prize money, jockey Hanford was one the three riders who collected 15-day suspensions for rough riding. The suspension meant Hanford had to sit out the Preakness two weeks later. His replacement aboard Bold Venture was George "The Iceman" Woolf, who rode Bold Venture to a photo-finish win by a nose after yet another bad bumpy start. Then the hard luck gremlin struck again. Following a workout at Belmont Park, Bold Venture was found to be lame. Attempts to return him to racing proved unsuccessful, so owner Morton Schwartz took the horse back to Kentucky to stand at stud. In 1939, King Ranch owner Robert Kleberg brought Bold Venture here to Texas where he sired a pair of top-class racehorses: Assault, the 1946 U,S. Triple Crown champion, and Middleground, winner of the 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Both were King Ranch homebreds trained by Max Hirsch. Bold Venture died in 1958 at age twenty five. A rough and bumpy road indeed, but sometimes that's how legends are made.