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Cicada
In 1939, Christopher T. Chenery bought a yearling filly by 1926 Kentucky Derby winner Bubbling Over at the dispersal of Edward Simms’ stock. The filly, later named Hildene, cost Chenery only $750 but could not earn back even that modest price on the racetrack; in eight starts, she managed to place third once for earnings of $100. Defective vision inherited from her sire may have been a factor in Hildene’s poor racing performance, for she later went completely blind. Fortunately for Chenery, Hildene proved as great a bargain as a broodmare as she had been a bust as a racehorse. Among her progeny were 1950 Horse of the Year Hill Prince, champion juvenile male First Landing, and stakes winners Prince Hill, Third Brother, and Mangohick. Hildene also produced multiple stakes producer First Flush and a minor winner named Satsuma. Although Satsuma had managed only one win from eight starts, her status as a half sister to Hill Prince (First Landing would come along later) was good enough reason to retain her for the broodmare band of Chenery’s Meadow Stable on her retirement. Her first two foals were winners by Bryan G. and *Mahmoud, and her third, also by Bryan G., was Cicada. A son of *Blenheim II, Bryan G. was far from a great horse but was tough and honest, winning fourteen races from 62 starts. His best season was as a four-year-old, when he won the Questionnaire Handicap, Westchester Handicap (setting a new track record), Aqueduct Handicap, and Pimlico Special. As a stallion he was a disappointment, getting only five stakes winners, but in Cicada, he sired one of the all-time greats. Given the limited racing careers of both Satsuma and Hildene, he must be credited with much of Cicada’s toughness and soundness. Trained by J. H. “Casey” Hayes throughout her career, the little bay (she stood 15.2 hands) made her first start in February of 1961 in a three-furlong baby race at Hialeah. She did not win but got her maiden victory the following month at Gulfstream Park, where she took a maiden race on March 17. From there, she ended up winning ten of sixteen juvenile starts including a string of six straight stakes (Schuylerville, Spinaway, Matron, Astarita, Frizette, and Gardenia) to finish out the season. During her six-victory streak, Cicada took the measure of every other important runner among the juvenile fillies of 1961. In the Schuylerville, she took command on the stretch turn to win by one and one-half lengths from Sorority Stakes winner Batter Up. She won the Spinaway by a neck over Pontivy and the Matron by three and one-half lengths over Jazz Queen with Pontivy third. The late-maturing Firm Policy mounted a stiff challenge in the Astarita, but Cicada won by a head while conceding her six pounds and then defeated her again in the Frizette, albeit by a diminishing half-length. The one and one-sixteenth mile Gardenia, which was run in deep mud, sealed the divisional championship as Cicada won by ten lengths over Narola and the Selima Stakes winner, Tamarona. Cicada’s other stakes trophies were earned in the Blue Hen Stakes at Delaware Park and the National Stallion Stakes (filly division) at Belmont. Her campaign set a new record of $384,676 for earnings by a juvenile filly, and she was weighted atop the Experimental Free Handicap for juvenile fillies at 118 pounds. Cicada began her three-year-old campaign on February 7, 1962 by winning a six-furlong overnight race at Hialeah over the good older mare Seven Thirty. Her next start was the Columbiana Handicap, also against older females. Although she did not win, she finished a good second to Smashing Gail, whose other wins that year included the Correction and Colonial handicaps. After a win in another allowance race against older mares, Cicada went to the Florida Derby and in a roughly run race was just beaten by Ridan, juvenile champion the previous year and one of the best three-year-old colts of 1962. After such a tough start to her three-year-old campaign, Cicada must have found it quite a break to return to her own division, where she stayed for her next four starts. She won the Oaks Prep with such ease that she might well have run in the Kentucky Derby if her stablemate Sir Gaylord had broken down a day earlier. As it was, he broke down on the day of the Kentucky Oaks, and Cicada’s feed had already been reduced in preparation for her scheduled race that day. Most racehorses learn quickly that a light breakfast means they will be asked to run later in the day, and the filly’s connections decided that it would put too much mental stress on the filly to withdraw her from the Oaks and have her race the next day instead. Cicada won the Kentucky Oaks without incident and in retrospect probably fared much better there than she would have in the Derby. That she had the class to run with the best colts, she had proved in the Florida Derby, but throughout her career, she never won at more than nine furlongs. Cicada’s next victory, the Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park, brought her bankroll up to $494,163, breaking the all-time female earnings record of $462,605 set by Calumet Farm’s champion filly Bewitch. The win was not without some drama as Cicada survived a foul claim by runner-up Tamarona, who finished a length and a half to the rear. Cicada next won the nine-furlong Mother Goose Stakes but missed sweeping the Triple Tiara in the ten-furlong Coaching Club American Oaks by a half length to Bramalea, with Firm Policy a nose back in third place. Cicada went into the Delaware Oaks looking for her revenge against Bramalea, but both fillies went down in a shocking upset to a rank outsider named North South Gal. Cicada then tried the ten-furlong Delaware Handicap under 114 pounds but lost by a head to Seven Thirty (120 lbs) after leading by three lengths at the mile mark; the top pair finished seven lengths in front of the third-place runner. After a third place finish in the Alabama Stakes behind Firm Policy and Lincoln Center, Cicada ran up the track behind Jaipur and Ridan in the Travers Stakes. Cicada did not reappear until September 22, when she started for the historic Beldame Stakes. At nine furlongs and under weight for age, Cicada defeated the good older mare Shirley Jones by one and one-half lengths, breaking Kelso’s Aqueduct track record into the bargain with a clocking of 1:48-1/5. Firm Policy, Bramalea, Primonetta, Linita, Waltz Song, Rose O’Neill, Tamarona, and Seven Thirty were all in the beaten field. Cicada next went to New Jersey to win the Jersey Belle Stakes by 5-1/2 lengths but the following week ran fourth in the Vineland Handicap behind Tamarona, who was getting thirteen pounds. Cicada finished the year by running fifth to Royal Patrice in the Ladies Handicap over a sloppy track after leading for the first mile. Cicada finished her sophomore campaign with 8 wins and 6 placings from 17 starts and seasonal earnings of $298,167. She was a clear-cut choice as the champion three-year-old filly of 1962. Cicada could have honorably retired to the paddocks at that point, but Meadow Stable elected to keep campaigning the filly at four in hopes of making her the first filly or mare to top a million dollars in earnings. Once again, Cicada began a new year’s racing at Hialeah in February, winning the Columbiana Handicap over Royal Patrice and Old Hat. She next ran a shocking fifth behind Pocosaba in the Black Helen Handicap and lost the Suwannee River Handicap by about a length to Old Hat while conceding nine pounds. Cicada next shipped to New York to win the seven-furlong Distaff Handicap under 125 pounds over Pocosaba (119) and Royal Patrice (120), but caught a buzzsaw in her next race in the form of Firm Policy. Fresh off equaling the mile track record at Aqueduct, Firm Policy (125 lbs) won the Top Flight Handicap by four and one-half lengths over Tamarona (111) with Cicada (128) third. But Cicada got back to the winner’s circle in the Vagrancy Handicap, in which she carried 127 lbs and won by three and one-half lengths. She next took the Sheepshead Bay Handicap under 128 pounds, holding off Nubile (109) by a neck. Saddled with 128 pounds again for the Delaware Handicap, Cicada failed by a half length to catch Waltz Song (116). It was the hickory-tough little filly’s last start; before she could race again, she injured a stifle and was retired having won four of eight starts that season for earnings of $100,481. She was once again voted champion of her division but was admittedly aided by Firm Policy’s not having held her spring form. Cicada was bred to Sir Gaylord in 1964 but came up barren and was put back into training. She made her last start on October 15, running fourth in an overnight race, and was promptly retired again, this time for good, with total earnings of $783,674. She was bred again to Sir Gaylord in 1965 and produced Juvenile Stakes winner Cicada’s Pride in 1966. Five other foals followed in a broodmare career hampered by frequent barrenness, but no others earned black type, and none of her daughters proved important as broodmares. Nonetheless, Cicada deserves to be remembered among the great ones for her class and consistency, becoming the first filly to win consecutive championships as a two-, three-, and four-year-old since championship voting was inaugurated in 1936. She was elected to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1967 and died in 1981. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
