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Firenze
In 1884, a small bay filly was foaled at Daniel Swigert’s Spendthrift Farm. Purchased by James Ben Ali Haggin for $2,600 as a yearling, she would never grow beyond fifteen hands in height. Yet she would go on to be considered the best of Haggin‘s runners by many Turf historians, even though his stable later included the great Salvator. Her name was Firenze (sometimes seen as “Firenzi”), and she would prove to be one of the greatest race mares of the late nineteenth century or, for that matter, of all time. Firenze was sired by Glenelg, winner of the 1870 Bowie Stakes at four-mile heats and defeated in the 1869 Belmont Stakes solely because owner August Belmont I had elected to win with his stablemate Fenian. Sold to Milton H. Sanford at the conclusion of his racing career, Glenelg was led the American general sire list in 1884, 1886, 1887, and 1888. The horse who interrupted Glenelg’s string of sire championships in 1885, Virgil, was Firenze’s maternal grandsire. At one point serving as a buggy horse, Virgil lived to sire three Kentucky Derby winners in Vagrant (1876), Hindoo (1881), and Ben Ali (1886). Firenze’s dam Florida was a full sister to Hindoo, who sired one of Firenze’s great rivals, Hanover; Firenze and Hanover were, thus, “first cousins” in human terms. Firenze came along in a vintage crop, that of 1884. Other members of the crop included the unbeaten juvenile champion Tremont, who won thirteen races in a span of ten weeks before breaking down; champion three-year-old male Hanover, later a four-time leading sire; and the incredibly tough Kingston, who won more races than any other entire male in American racing history, was the leading American money winner at the time of his retirement, and later led the American sire list twice. Firenze did not make her first racecourse appearance until August 2, 1886 at Saratoga, winning her debut by three lengths. She next ran second to her stablemate Milton in the Criterion Stakes at Monmouth while conceding him weight (she was topweight for the race) and ran sixth in the Free Handicap Sweepstakes, also against males and under top weight, before picking up two wins and a second at the Gravesend meeting. She closed out her season in new York by winning the Autumn Stakes and the Nursery Stakes. At three, Firenze won the Ladies’ Stakes and the Gazelle Stakes before running third of three to Hanover and Kingston in the seven-furlong Swift Stakes, a distance really a little too short for her. Firenze then won the Mermaid Stakes, Monmouth Oaks, and Free Handicap Stakes in succession before trying Hanover again in the 1-1/2 mile Champion Stakes. Although the distance was more to the filly’s liking, Hanover won by three lengths, with Firenze taking second over the five-year-old Volante by ten lengths. Firenze then won the West End Hotel Stakes at Monmouth and ran second by a scant nose to Laggard in the Omnibus Stakes over a very heavy track, with Hanover a short head further back in third. The effort exhausted Firenze, who ran third in the Pocahontas Stakes five days later and was reportedly ill afterwards. Firenze got six weeks’ rest before making a start in the Hunter Stakes on October 11, 1887. Still very thin from her illness – according to Walter Vosburgh, her hip bones were so prominent that a hat could have been hung on them – the little filly nonetheless won easily and two days later took Hanover’s measure by three lengths “in a canter” in the 1-3/4 mile Jerome Stakes. Hanover, granted, had been sorely over-raced by the Dwyer Brothers during the summer and was not the colt he had been in the spring, but with a months’ rest he had nonetheless recovered sufficiently to win the Second Special Stakes over older horses at Gravesend and to run an impressive ten-furlong trial before the race. Five days after the Jerome, Firenze ran second to Kingston in the Oriole Handicap and finished her three-year-old campaign with another second, this time in the Citizens’ Stakes. Clearly the champion three-year-old filly of 1887, she had won eight of fourteen starts with six placings and had earned $23,230 that season. At four, Firenze won thirteen of 22 races but finished third to Elkwood and Terra Cotta in the race Haggin wanted most to win, the Suburban Handicap. Nonetheless her victories included the Monmouth Cup, defeating Elkwood; the Champion Stakes, defeating Kingston; the Freehold Stakes, defeating The Bard while setting a new track record for 1-1/2 miles; the Great Long Island Stakes in two straight nine-furlong heats; and the Monmouth Handicap, Battle Stakes, Average Stakes, Manhattan Handicap, Harvest Handicap, Free Handicap Sweepstakes, Handicap Sweepstakes, and Firenze Stakes. She won $34,836 during 1888, making her four-year-old campaign the most lucrative of her career. Firenze won twelve of 21 starts at five although she proved unable to concede six pounds (122 to 116) to Hanover in the 1-1/2 mile Coney Island Cup; he won by eight lengths, “pulled double,” and Firenze obtained only partial revenge in the New York Jockey Club Handicap by running second to Raceland with Hanover third. Her stakes victories for the year came in the Knickerbocker Handicap, Monmouth Cup, Firenze Stakes, Navesink Handicap, New York Handicap, Omnium Handicap, and an unusual two-horse walkover in the Freehold Stakes – Firenze, who had been declared to win, walking over first with her stablemate Kern walking over for second money. Still in the racing wars at age six, the tough mare won seven of her fourteen starts with three placings but again failed to capture the Suburban Handicap, finishing sixth under 126 pounds, one less than her victorious stablemate Salvator and two less than topweighted Raceland. However, she broke her own track record for 1-1/2 miles while winning the Coney Island Cup at the old Coney Island track with the great Isaac Murphy in the saddle. She also won the Knickerbocker Handicap for a second straight year and finished first in the Coney Island Stakes but was disqualified. She traded decisions with Tenny in the Eatontown Stakes (which he won) and Freehold Stakes and won the Free Handicap Sweepstakes under 128 pounds, conceding as much as 26 pounds to male rivals. She also took the Twin City and New York Handicaps and a Handicap Sweepstakes at Linden Park in New Jersey. Her earnings for the year amounted to $14,720. At seven, Firenze won a sweepstakes at Monmouth Park limited to horses “who are maidens thus far this year”; such was her reputation that she was banned from the betting, the bookies taking bets solely for second place. She won and followed up with a victory in the Champion Stakes on August 13. In her last race, the New York Handicap on September 13, she was assigned 130 pounds and ran third behind De Muth (119) and Frontenac (102-1/2), finishing in distress; on pulling up, she was discovered to have five or six cuts on her legs and was retired to be bred to Salvator the following spring. She had won two of three starts in her last season for earnings of $4,810. Her overall race record was 82 starts, 47 wins, 21 seconds, and 9 thirds for $112,586 according to the American Racing Manual. (Goodwin’s Turf Guide, the other major racing publication of the day, gives her earnings as $112,471.) Firenze was inducted into the National Museum Racing Hall of Fame in 1981. To the day he died, James McLaughlin, who frequently rode the great mare, maintained that she was the best mare he had ever seen in a lifetime that spanned the careers of Miss Woodford (whom McLaughlin also rode), Imp, Artful, Beldame, Pan Zareta, and Regret, all themselves members of the Hall of Fame. As a broodmare, Firenze produced three foals by Salvator, three by *Goldfinch, one by *Darebin, and one by *Watercress, and became the third dam of 1920 Kentucky Derby winner Paul Jones. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
