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Busher
The last champion to carry Colonel E. R. Bradley’s famous green-and-white silks, Busher was as regally bred as anyone could ask. From the second crop of 1937 Triple Crown winner War Admiral, she was produced from Baby League, a daughter of 1926 Kentucky Derby winner Bubbling Over and the fabulous matron *La Troienne. Physically, Baby League was a good complement to War Admiral, who stood no more than 15.2 hands; Olin Gentry in later years described Baby League as “a big, beautiful mare, but wild as a hawk.” It was perhaps Baby League’s temperament – or possibly some unsoundness inherited from her sire – that limited her to a modest race record of one win from eleven starts. Busher was the second foal of her dam, whose first was a 1941 filly by 1935 Triple Crown winner Omaha. The War Admiral filly was small and did not impress at the Idle Hour yearling trials, but farm manager Olin Gentry sw enough potential to rank her among the first three fillies of the 1942 crop at Bradley’s Idle Hour Stock Farm. She was trained for her juvenile season by former Idle Hour contract jockey Jimmy Smith, who had ridden champions Blue Larkspur and Baba Kenny and was willed the right to use the Idle Hour colors of green and white on Colonel Bradley’s death – colors later carried by Smith’s good stakes winner Jay Fox. Busher ran her first race on May 30, 1944, defeating twelve other maidens over 4-1/2 furlongs at Belmont. She did not race again for two months, apparently more due to Colonel Bradley’s failing health than any problems of her own. Then 85 years old, Bradley no longer went to the races anywhere but Belmont, where a special glass cubicle had been built for him at the top of the Turf and Field Club to shield him from crowds and the weather. That year, the Saratoga meeting was run at Belmont while repairs were being made at the old Spa. Busher made her second start at the Saratoga-at-Belmont meeting, winning an overnight race by four lengths at odds of 8-1. It was the last time she would ever go off at such long odds, and she was 8-5 for her next start, the Spinaway Stakes. She ran fourth behind Price Level, Ace Card, and Safeguard with no apparent excuse, but bettors dismissed her performance as too bad to be true and installed her as favorite for the Adirondack Handicap. Apparently the handicappers also threw out her race in the Spinaway as Busher was the second highweight at 123 pounds behind Ace Card (126 pounds). Busher won by two lengths from War Date (114 pounds) as Ace Card took her turn to throw in a clunker. Busher tuned up for the Matron Stakes in a six-furlong dash four days before the main even and was not quite up to giving the very quick Nomadic eleven pounds, losing by a head in a sizzling 1:08-3/5. The race was apparently just the tightener Busher needed, however, as she rebounded in the Matron to defeat Twosy by a neck with Price Level third and Nomadic fourth. Busher was then shipped to Laurel Park, where she won the 1-1/16 mile Selima Stakes by three lengths to complete her campaign with five wins and one second from seven starts for earnings of $60,300. She was voted the divisional champion and topped the Experimental Free Handicap for two-year-old fillies with 119 pounds. In a surprising move, Busher was sold to movie mogul Louis B. Mayer im March of her three-year-old season. Ordinarily, Bradley would never have sold such a filly, for he was a wealthy man and did not need the money that a sale would bring; he raced his horses purely for sport. But his health was continuing to fail, and he was in fact beginning the process of dispersing his racing stock. Another factor influencing Bradley’s decision to sell his star filly to Meyer may have been the racing blackout of 1945. Decreed by Director of War Mobilization and Redirection James Byrnes as a means of helping the war effort (though other major sports were allowed to continue unhindered save by the loss of many star athletes to military service), horse racing was shut down from January 2, 1945 through May 8, when the Germans surrendered. Now trained by George Odom, Busher made her three-year-old debut on May 26, 1945, in a six-furlong overnight race, which she won by five lengths. A week later she won off by seven lengths against her own sex in the Santa Susana Stakes, then overcame interference from Quick Reward in the San Vicente Handicap against males to win by a length. Two weeks later, Busher started favorite for the Santa Anita Derby, but in a rare lapse of judgment, Hall of Fame jockey Johnny Longden allowed her to drift off the rail after she had taken the lead going around the last turn. Bymeabond, getting seven pounds on the scale from the filly, slipped through the opening and beat Busher by half a length. That neither the bettors nor the handicappers had lost any faith in Busher with her defeat could be seen in her next race, the Santa Margarita Handicap. Assigned co-highweight of 126 pounds with five-year-old Happy Issue (who had trounced males the preceding year in the Hollywood Gold Cup), Busher won easily by one and one-half lengths from her older stablemate Whirlabout. Busher then shipped to Chicago, where she carried topweight of 126 pounds to win the Cleopatra Handicap easily by four and one-half lengths. That set her up nicely for the Arlington Handicap, where at a weight assignment of 113 pounds she was being asked to give weight by the scale to older males over ten furlongs. She won easily by nearly five lengths over another three-year-old, the good Calumet colt Pot o’ Luck. Busher went back to her own sex for her next race, the nine-furlong Beverly Handicap, but got a rude reception from four-year-old Durazna. A champion in her own right (she had been co-champion with Twilight Tear as a two-year-old) and carrying 116 pounds to 128 on Busher, Durazna won over lightly weighted Letmenow (102 pounds) with Busher three and one-half lengths away in third place. After a talked-about match race with the best Eastern three-year-old filly, Gallorette, fell through, Busher squared accounts with Durazna by winning a one-mile match race at Washington Park in which both fillies carried 115 pounds. The daughter of War Admiral then sealed Horse of the Year honors by defeating Armed by one and one-half lengths in the Washington Park Handicap. In that performance, she set a new track record of 2:01-4/5 for the 1-1/4 miles while conceding the Calumet gelding four pounds by the scale. Busher shipped back to California for her next race, where she failed by a head to concede Quick Reward eleven pounds in the Will Rogers Handicap. However, her $6,000 second money made her the world’s leading money-winning mare, and two weeks later she avenged herself on both Quick Reward and Bymeabond by winning the Hollywood Derby, conceding both colts two actual pounds. Her final race of the season was in the Vanity Handicap against older fillies and mares, and she won with ease. She was an unanimous choice in the polls as best three-year-old filly, best three-year-old of either sex, best handicap filly or mare, and Horse of the Year. Busher did not race at all at four and made only one start at five, finishing fifth of six in an overnight race on January 2, 1947. Whether due to physical or mental problems, the fire had clearly gone, and she was retired. Her final tally was fifteen wins, three seconds, and one third from 21 starts for earnings of $334,035. As a broodmare, Busher produced four unraced fillies and one colt, Jet Action, who proved a good runner and sired five stakes winners before dying young in 1964. One of Busher’s daughters, Popularity (by *Alibhai), was the second highest-priced yearling filly of 1951 at $55,000 and later produced three stakes winners, but Busher’s primary legacy has been through Jet Action, whose daughter Fair Charmer became the second dam of the great Seattle Slew. Busher herself died on March 22, 1955, and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1964. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
