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Sir Barton
If ever there has been a forgotten champion in horse racing, Sir Barton is it. Sandwiched between the durable and beloved Exterminator and the brilliant Man o’ War on the timeline of American racing history, today Sir Barton is remembered almost solely as the answer to the trivia question, “Who was the first American Triple Crown winner?” Yet there was far more to his career than that.
One of five Kentucky Derby winners either bred or co-bred by John E. Madden at his famous Hamburg Place, Sir Barton was sired by five-time leading American sire *Star Shoot out of the Hanover mare Lady Sterling, whose other produce included 1908 American champion juvenile Sir Martin and Lady Doreen, dam of 1924 American co-champion three-year-old filly Princess Doreen. Madden bred the colt in partnership with V. A. Gooch. The future champion was sold to Commander J. K. L. Ross for $10,000 while racing at the 1918 Saratoga meeting. Throughout his career, Sir Barton was never an easy horse to manage. Like many of the get of *Star Shoot, he had tender feet that required constant attention. That might not have been so bad had he not been a muscular sort requiring a lot of stiff work to keep in shape. Not only was he hard on his own feet (which, in turn, were probably a factor in his irascible disposition), but he was hard on his stablemates, several of which ended up being burned out from being used to press the pace during Sir Barton’s workouts. Ross’ trainer, H. G. “Hard Guy” Bedwell, was able to partly solve the foot problem by putting felt pads between the colt’s shoes and his hooves, but getting Sir Barton to put in the amount of work he needed to stay fit remained a problem throughout the horse’s career. At two, Sir Barton gave little indication that he might become a major talent. After five unplaced races, his one bright moment as a juvenile was in the Futurity Stakes, in which he ran a surprising second to Dunboyne. All the attention was on the stable star, Billy Kelly, who won fourteen of seventeen starts and a juvenile and wound up rated by most observers as the co-champion of the 1918 two-year-olds along with Eternal. Sir Barton was still a maiden when he was entered in the 1919 Kentucky Derby, and he was not expected to win; his job was to serve as a pacemaker for Billy Kelly. Ridden by champion jockey John Loftus, Sir Barton made the lead all right, but instead of quitting after a mile or so, he raced on and easily scored by five lengths over his stablemate. The 1919 Preakness was run only four days after the Derby, and Sir Barton shipped to Pimlico immediately following his victory celebration. Despite Sir Barton’s impressive performance at Churchill Downs, most people were inclined to write off his Derby victory as a fluke. It was not; Sir Barton won by four lengths. His next conquest was the Withers Stakes, ten days after the Preakness. Sir Barton completed his sweep of the nation’s most important spring and early summer races for three-year-olds by winning the Belmont Stakes in new American record time of 2:17-2/5 for a mile and three-eighths. The rest of the season had more of an up-and-down quality. Sir Barton won the Maryland Handicap under an impressive 133 pounds and two of the Pimlico Fall Serial weight-for-age races but lost the Dwyer Stakes to Purchase while conceding him nine pounds and finished third in the Havre de Grace Handicap and the Pimlico Autumn Handicap. Nonetheless, Sir Barton finished the year with eight wins and five placings from thirteen starts and was the leading money earner among horses of all ages. Racing historians generally rank him not only as the American champion three-year-old male of 1919 but as the consensus Horse of the Year. Even while Sir Barton was racking up his impressive record, however, a shadow was looming in the form of a spectacular juvenile named Man o’ War. The following year, while Sir Barton battled it out in the handicap division, his charismatic rival swept through ten victories against his fellow three-year-olds, setting records left and right and winning the hearts of fans across the country. Sir Barton was not racing badly; if he was not so dominant as he had been the year before, he still won the Dominion Handicap under 134 pounds; beat the doughty Exterminator while giving him three pounds in the Saratoga Handicap and set a new track record of 2:01-4/5 for ten furlongs into the bargain; and, in a desperate drive under 133 pounds, defeated Gnome (115 pounds) by a nose for the Merchants’ and Citizens’ Handicap while setting a new American record of 1:55-3/5 for a mile and three-sixteenths. But as good as he was, Sir Barton simply could not compete in fans’ hearts with the flashier Man o’ War; as one sports writer put it, “What that nag [Sir Barton] needs is a course in charm school.” Finally, a match was arranged between the two over a mile and a quarter at Canada’s Kenilworth Park. The location was primarily at the insistence of Commander Ross, a Canadian resident, but it was a bad choice from Sir Barton’s point of view; the track was notoriously hard. (Colonel Matt Winn was also greatly disappointed; he had been willing to offer as much as $100,000 to have the match staged at Churchill Downs, but his telegraphed offer arrived after Ross and Man o’ War’s owner, Samuel Riddle, had already agreed to the match at Kenilworth.) The prize was $75,000, winner take all, plus a gold cup valued at $5,000. As Canadian law forbade match racing, a third horse, Wickford, was officially entered in the race, but he was scratched on the morning of the race, leaving the field to the two giants. The issue was never really in doubt. Although Sir Barton was coming into the match race off four straight victories, there were suspicions that he was over the top; in any event, few believed that he was really in the same league with Man o’ War at weight for age even had he been in peak form. The hard track further compromised his chances, and it is a tribute to Sir Barton’s great courage that he never quit during the race despite what must have been considerable pain from his tender feet. But his efforts were futile. Man o’ War assumed the lead within the first fifty yards, lengthened it throughout, and came home seven lengths in front despite hard restraint to the roars and cheers of the crowd. Sir Barton, left behind in his dust, was all but forgotten. And that proved an omen for the rest of Sir Barton’s life. He never won again, finishing his career with thirteen wins and eleven placings from thirty-one starts for earnings of $116,857. At stud, he was generally rated a great disappointment. His one runner of real quality was Easter Stockings, winner of the 1928 Kentucky Oaks and generally considered the co-champion three-year-old filly of that year with Man o’ War’s daughter Bateau. Eventually, Sir Barton wound up serving as a stallion for the Army Remount with a stud fee as low as $5.00. He died in 1937 in Wyoming, far removed from the Kentucky Bluegrass and his glory days in 1919, and was buried on the Laramie, Wyoming ranch of his last owner, Dr. J. B. Hyland. Yet Sir Barton was not entirely forgotten, entering the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1957. And his remains were later moved to the Washington Park racetrack near Douglas, Wyoming, where, once again, America’s first Triple Crown winner could be part of the racing world of which he was once king. Text © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter Artwork © 2006 by Pat DeLong. Used by permission and may not be copied or distributed in any form without the express permission of Pat DeLong. For information regarding purchases, reproductions, or licensing, please contact Pat DeLong at patdelongart@aol.com. |
