Whirlaway

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This article is about the racehorse. For the eponymous horse race, see Whirlaway Stakes. For the Tadpoles album, see Whirlaway (album).
Whirlaway
Whirlaway Handicap at Fair Grounds Race Course
(1973–2004)
Last updated on 11 February 2021

Whirlaway (April 2, 1938 – April 6, 1953) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fifth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also won the Travers Stakes after his Triple Crown sweep to become the first and only horse to win all four races.

Whirlaway was sired by English Derby winner Blenheim, out of the broodmare Dustwhirl. Whirlaway was bred at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Trained by Ben A. Jones and ridden by Eddie Arcaro, Whirlaway swept the Triple Crown in 1941. He holds the record for the longest winning margin in the Kentucky Derby with fellow Triple Crown winner Assault, as they both won the Derby by 8 lengths. Whirlaway was widely known as "Mr. Longtail" because his tail was especially long and thick and it would blow far out behind him during races, flowing dramatically in the wind.[1]

He was voted the

American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in 1940 by Turf & Sports Digest magazine. The rival Daily Racing Form award was won by Our Boots. Whirlaway was named American Horse of the Year by the Daily Racing Form and Turf & Sport Digest in both 1941, the year he won the Triple Crown, and 1942, the year Shut Out
won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont.

Background

Jimmy Jones, son of the colt's trainer, recalled that "Whirlaway was a creature of habit. You had to create habits for him. So we created the habits we wanted him to do." Whirlaway was regarded as having a "quirky" personality.[2] The champion colt had a habit of "bearing out," drifting toward the middle of the racetrack, during the latter part of his races and losing as a result. In preparations for the Kentucky Derby, this had been such a problem that trainer Ben A. Jones fitted the colt with a full-cup blinker over his right eye. In Whirlaway's final workout before the Derby, Jones cut a small hole in the blinker so that the horse had a tiny field of vision. Jones positioned himself ten feet off the inner rail and told jockey Eddie Arcaro to ride the horse through that space. Whirlaway was able to see his trainer, Arcaro was able to keep him on a straight path, and Whirlaway won the Kentucky Derby by tying the current (as of 2018) record margin of 8 lengths.[3]

Racing record

Trained by Ben A. Jones and ridden by Arcaro, Whirlaway won the

U.S. Triple Crown in 1941. He also won the Lawrence Realization Stakes and the Travers Stakes that year; Whirlaway is the only horse ever to win both the Triple Crown and the Travers, sometimes referred to as a "superfecta".[4] He was voted the Horse of the Year in 1941, beating Alsab by 96 votes to 91 in a poll conducted by the Turf and Sport Digest magazine.[5] A year later, Whirlaway repeated his win in the poll, beating Alsab with 76 votes to his rival's 45.[6]

Arcaro was the sole rider for Whirlaway in all of his 3-year-old victories, but dismounted for most of the 1942 season, when he served a long suspension for racing infractions. Jockey

match race at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.[9]
Although Whirlaway closed strongly through the stretch, Alsab lasted by a nose as both horses flew home through the stretch run. Whirlaway was named Horse of the Year for 1942 after defeating Alsab in a subsequent race and having 12 wins for the year to Alsab's 9.

Woolf, who had previously won the

Louisiana Handicap at the Fair Grounds Race Course. The newly formed Thoroughbred Racing Association
staged this event as a war-relief effort.

Whirlaway entered stud at Calumet Farm in the spring of 1944 at age six. Among his best offspring were Scattered (winner of the Coaching Club American Oaks); Whirl Some (Selima Stakes), Dart By (All American Handicap) and Whirling Bat[10] (winner of the 1951 Louisiana Derby). In August 1950, Calumet Farm leased Whirlaway to French breeder Marcel Boussac, who stood the horse at his breeding farm, Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard. Boussac purchased Whirlaway from Calumet in September 1952.[11] The stallion died at Boussac's French stud in 1953.[12]

Whirlaway was elected to the

top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th century, he was No. 26. Whirlaway has a race named in his honor at Saratoga Race Course
.

Breeding

Pedigree of Whirlaway
Sire
Blenheim

brown 1927

Blandford

brown 1919

Swynford John o'Gaunt
Canterbury Pilgrim
Blanche White Eagle
Black Cherry
Malva

brown 1919

Charles O'Malley Desmond
Goody Two-Shoes
Wild Arum Robert Le Diable
Marliacea
Dam
Dustwhirl

Chestnut 1926

Sweep

brown 1907

Ben Brush Bramble
Roseville
Pink Domino Domino
Belle Rose
Ormonda

ch. 1916

Superman Commando
Anomaly
Princess Ormonde Ormondale
Ophirdale

See also

References

  1. ^ "History of Belmont Stakes Racing Festival | Belmont Stakes | Belmont Stakes".
  2. ^ http://www.horsecollaborative.com/see-tail-know-whirlaway/ [dead link]
  3. ^ "Margins" (PDF). Churchill Downs Incorporated. 2013. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  4. ^ "2016 Travers Stakes at Saratoga: August 27". www.saratogaracetrack.com. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Whirlaway cops honor for year". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1941-12-09. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  6. ^ "Whirlaway is again winner of Horse of Year Crown". Calgary Herald. 1942-12-16. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  7. ^ New York Times July 5, 1942 article titled "34,728 See Upset" Retrieved July 18, 2018
  8. ^ "Champion Smashes Track Mark To Win". New York Times, Section Sorts, page 24. 1942-07-16. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  9. ^ Lawrence Journal-World – September 21, 1942
  10. ^ "Whirling Bat Horse Pedigree".
  11. ^ Thoroughbred Record 27 September 1952
  12. ^ Thoroughbred Record, 11 April 1953
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