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Old Rosebud
Time dims the memory of many a great campaigner, and Old Rosebud has been no exception. Yet in his day, he was one of the most remarkable racehorses ever seen on the American turf. His trainer, Frank Weir, called him “the fastest horse I ever trained or saw“ -- no light praise, given that Weir had previously trained the great sprinter Roseben -- and although his opinion may have been biased, there was certainly reason for it. Old Rosebud was the first of five Kentucky Derby winners bred by the famous John E. Madden, and was foaled at Madden’s farm, Hamburg Place. He was from the first crop of the good sire Uncle and was produced from the Himyar mare Ivory Bells, whose dam Ida K. had been a top-flight racer. Weir bought the youngster as a yearling for only five hundred dollars, gelded him for unknown reasons, then sold a majority interest to Churchill Downs treasurer Hamilton C. Applegate, whose family ran a distillery that produced “Old Rosebud” whiskey -- hence the horse’s name. Modern juveniles generally do not make their first starts before May or June of their two-year-old seasons, but Old Rosebud didn’t wait nearly that long. Making his first start on February 9, 1913, in the Yucatan Stakes at the old Juarez track in Mexico, Old Rosebud won easily. He went on to make thirteen more starts at two, winning eleven, before pulling up lame with ankle trouble after a victory in the United States Hotel Stakes at the Saratoga meeting. In between, he won the Harold Stakes and the Cincinnati Trophy at Latonia, won the Flash Stakes at Saratoga, and set four consecutive new track records for five furlongs at Douglas Park over a period of thirteen days. Although he missed the major fall races due to his injury, Old Rosebud was still acknowledged as the season’s champion juvenile. Old Rosebud made his 1914 debut in a one-mile race at Lexington and, although the going was very heavy, won by six lengths under restraint. He was next pointed to the Kentucky Derby – not as prestigious then as today, but since his majority owner, Applegate, was Churchill Downs’ treasurer, the choice of target was hardly a surprise. Old Rosebud’s presence gave a solid shot in the arm to the Derby’s prestige, and Churchill Downs general manager Colonel Matt Winn was determined to make the most of it. Heavy rains in the days preceding the Derby threatened to leave the track a sea of mud, but in a heroic effort, the Churchill Downs track superintendent and his crew went out with buckets on Derby morning and literally sponged the track into good condition. Old Rosebud did not let their effort down, producing one of his best races to win by eight lengths and set a new track record that would stand for sixteen years. However, he bowed a tendon in his next start, the Withers Stakes, and finished unplaced. The speedy gelding would not be seen on the track again for nearly three years. In accordance with standard treatments of the time for a bowed tendon, Weir had him blistered and fired, then turned him out for several months. The gelding showed signs of improvement after his long rest but bowed again while in training in early 1915 at Tijuana. Once again the luckless Old Rosebud was blistered, fired, and turned out. When he returned to Weir’s barn that summer, he was broken to harness so that he could be worked without putting weight on him, but to no avail; he remained lame. At that point Wade McLemore intervened, stating that time and rest would do a better job than more firing and offering to allow Old Rosebud to be turned out on his Texas ranch. Weir took McLemore up on the offer, and Old Rosebud got an extended vacation that lasted through most of 1916. Confined to a wire-fenced paddock that gave the horse enough room to move about and exercise but not enough to get up high speed, Old Rosebud was forced to rest his fragile legs and eventually returned to soundness. When he resumed training in late 1916, horsemen wondered if he could possibly be as good again as he had been before the injury. The answer was an unequivocal yes. Racing twenty-one times in 1917 -- a hard campaign for any horse, let alone one returning from a major breakdown -- Old Rosebud won fifteen races, setting three track records and equaling another. His campaign earned him consensus honors as the season’s best runner of any age in a year that also featured the excellent three-year-olds *Omar Khayyam and *Hourless. Old Rosebud’s chief rival in 1917 was his fellow gelding Roamer, who had taken advantage of Old Rosebud’s absence to earn plaudits as champion three-year-old male and acknowledged Horse of the Year in 1914 and champion handicap male the following two years. The pair met seven times, with Old Rosebud winning three, Roamer winning two, and other horses winning the remaining two encounters. Roamer was giving Old Rosebud weight in two of the latter’s victories, but Old Rosebud had the better record overall and was conceding weight to Roamer both times when Roamer won. Unfortunately, Old Rosebud concluded the year with another breakdown. In hindsight, the old warrior should have been retired permanently, but he returned to the races at age eight after another long turnout in Texas. Once again, he was subjected to a punishing campaign for a horse returning from a long layoff and serious injury, starting thirty times. He won nine times, but all of his races were in overnight events. The following year, he was clearly on a downward spiral, winning only one race from eight starts. He started twice at age ten, winning once in claiming company before once again pulling up lame. Old Rosebud went back to the track on May 6, 1922, finishing second in a claiming race against horses that could not have warmed him up when he was in his prime. Eleven days later, in a six-furlong claiming race at New York’s old Jamaica racetrack, he broke down for the last time. Several veterinarians were called in over the next several days, but none could offer any hope of recovery. Six days after his last injury, on May 23, 1922, Old Rosebud was finally humanely destroyed. Here, if ever, was a horse who deserved a better fate. Old Rosebud started eighty times all told, winning forty and placing in another twenty-one, and was elected to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1968. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
