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Stromboli
As a member of Fair Play’s small first crop – the future three-time champion sire had but six foals of 1911 -- Stromboli helped establish his sire’s reputation for siring both soundness and ability. Like many of the Fair Plays, however, he developed rather slowly as a racehorse. Although he quickly developed a reputation as having real speed, he won only four of ten races as a juvenile of 1913, none of any great importance. He was clearly no match for the season’s champion juvenile, his fellow gelding Old Rosebud, who handed him twelve pounds and a two-length beating in the Flash Stakes. Stromboli showed definite improvement at three, though it took him until the fall of his sophomore season to find his best form. He started nineteen times at three and won eleven, including the Saranac, Jerome, Manhattan, and Baltimore handicaps. In the last-named race he took the measure of another great gelding in Roamer, setting a track record for one and one-sixteenth miles at Laurel into the bargain, but he finished well behind Roamer in the Travers Stakes and the Washington Handicap, helping seal Roamer’s position as the top three-year-old of 1914. At four he was better still, accounting for the Metropolitan, Suburban, Kings County, Old Bay Autumn, and Bowie handicaps among his seven victories from seventeen starts. He was still not quite the equal of Roamer, however, who defeated him in the Queens County, Brookdale, Merchants and Citizens’, and National handicaps and again in the Saratoga Cup while consistently conceding him weight. Nonetheless, Stromboli had established himself as not only a consistent performer but a versatile one: blessed with enough speed to equal the Pimlico track record for six furlongs in the Fall Serial Handicap, he stayed well enough to miss the track record for one and three-quarters miles by only two-fifths of a second a few days later in the Bowie Handicap. Stromboli was not as consistent at five, winning but three of his twelve races. However, his wins were all big ones: the Saratoga Handicap under 121 pounds, with such top horses as Friar Rock, The Finn, Regret, Ed Crump, and *Chicle in the beaten field; the Belmont Park Autumn Handicap, in which he defeated leading handicapper *Short Grass; and the Municipal Handicap, in which he defeated Roamer while in receipt of one pound. He also placed in the Metropolitan, Suburban, and Champlain handicaps while conceding weight to the winners. At six, the old horse seemed to have lost a step but was still good enough to take the Kings County Handicap from 1915 champion three-year-old male The Finn with only a four-pound concession and the Schuylerville Handicap from a moderate field as his lone victories from six starts, carrying 124 pounds in each; he also ran second in the Toboggan Handicap. The following year, Stromboli was only able to win twice in moderate races, and he seemed to be losing form gradually throughout the year before finally breaking down due to ankle trouble. Following his breakdown, trainer Sam Hildreth bought him from Belmont for $1000 with the intent of using the gelding, a great favorite of his, as his personal saddle horse. Stromboli spent 1919 and 1920 in the paddocks, and the inflammation in his tendons and ankles slowly subsided. He probably could have been used for riding by 1920, but here chance took a hand, for Hildreth found himself with a back condition that prevented riding. Stromboli remained at rest, and his legs continued to strengthen to the point that Hildreth by late 1920 began thinking that Stromboli could actually race again. A choking episode nearly ended the comeback plans and Stromboli’s life, but quick action by a veterinarian saved the horse, and Hildreth began conditioning him with the idea of a return race in mind. The veteran trainer’s friends laughed, figuring that Hildreth was letting his personal liking for a hopeless cripple bias his thinking about the horse’s chances, but Hildreth shrugged off the ribbing and continued bringing his beloved “Stromy” along slowly and surely. Stromboli went to the post for the first time in two years at the 1921 summer Belmont meeting in a mile conditions race. Some of Stromboli’s rivals had not even been foaled when the old campaigner was at the top of his game, but after receiving a great hand during the post parade. Stromboli shot straight to the front when the tape went up and stayed there throughout the race, running the distance in 1:37-4/5 under 123 pounds. He raced again against a solid overnight field three or four days later, ran second by a nose, and then outsprinted a set of his juniors over six and one-half furlongs, carrying 127 pounds. That was it for Stromboli’s comeback; his ankles were starting to get sore again, and Hildreth retired him for good – but not before having the last laugh on those who had thought him crazy for paying $1000 for a broken-down cripple. © 2005 by Avalyn Hunter |
