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I started the Sir Barton Project five years ago as I worked on Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown because I wanted to share Sir Barton and his era, especially those tidbits that I knew would not be a part of the final product. From this project’s inception in the summer of 2013 to now, Sir Barton and his story have taken me on quite a ride and I’m forever grateful for the opportunity. He will continue to occupy a special place in my heart and I will continue to advocate for him as opportunities arise.

In 2020, I began my second full-time writing project, this time to chronicle the lives and careers of our second and third Triple Crown winners, Gallant Fox and Omaha. Over at the Foxes of Belair blog, I will continue to share what I learn about the history of this sport as it relates to Belair Stud and its two Triple Crown winners among its many champions. In 2021, I will be shifting my writing to that site. The Sir Barton Project will remain and I may occasionally update as Sir Barton related topics arise.

To every reader of this blog, I thank you for the time you’ve taken to visit and read more about Sir Barton and his era of racing. I hope you will join me at Foxes of Belair in 2021. You also can find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at both @thesirbarton and @foxesofbelair on all three platforms.

In a year that has been marked by the challenges of COVID-19 and more, giving back is more important than ever. The following is a list of equine-related non-profits that benefit both horses and people, including backstretch workers, jockeys, and more. If you are looking to give this year, I hope you will visit each of these charities and help them continue their missions to help across equine industries.

Blue Grass Farms Charities — https://www.bgfcky.org/

Blue Grass Farm Charities works in the Lexington, KY area to provide health and human services to people working in the many facets of the racing industry around the Bluegrass.

The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation — http://www.tjcfoundation.org/

The TJC Safety Net provides financial relief and assistance to members of the Thoroughbred industry and their families.

Kentucky Horse Council — https://kentuckyhorse.org/

The KHC develops programs for all breeds in the state of Kentucky. They cover all aspects of the various equine industries within the Bluegrass, from legislation to health and welfare to training and education.

Happy Trails Therapeutic Riding Center, Inc. — http://www.happytrailstrc.org/

Located in New Market, AL, Happy Trails provides riding lessons for students of all ages and all abilities. They are especially geared toward riders with special needs, including autism and other disabilities.

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation — https://www.grayson-jockeyclub.org/

The GJCRF provides funding for veterinary research at universities around the world. The goal is to encourage research that benefits all breeds of horses, including vaccines for equine illnesses and new treatments for a variety of equine ailments.

Pennsylvania Racehorse Rehoming, Rehabilitation & Rescue (PARR) — http://www.paracehorse.org/

PARR provides aftercare options for racehorses and horse in training in Pennsylvania. They offer adopters the opportunity to find a horse that matches their goals and needs and provides rehabilitation services for horses that come into their program.

Thoroughbred Aftercare Association — https://www.thoroughbredaftercare.org/

The TAA accredits aftercare programs in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico as well as distributes donations to 74 accredited aftercare programs. They set the standard for aftercare for Thoroughbreds, certifying organizations that can retrain, rehome, or retire horses within much of North America.

Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farms — https://www.oldfriendsequine.org/

A fan favorite, Old Friends provides permanent homes to Thoroughbreds who have completed their racing and stud careers. Housing some equine celebrities, the money raised through tours and other initiatives allows Old Friends to take in a number of former racehorses, from Breeder’s Cup Classic winners to claimers who gave it their all each time they took the track.

Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund — https://pdjf.org/

The PDJF relies solely on donations and fundraisers to provide financial assistance to jockeys who have suffered catastrophic on-track injuries. Their injuries leave them without the means to support themselves and their families while also requiring lifelong care.

Belmont Childcare Association — https://www.belmontchildcare.org/

The BCCA provides childcare and educational opportunities for the children of parents employed on the backsides of Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course. They are especially focused one early childhood learning for these children to prepare them for elementary school and beyond.

Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs — https://www.backsidelearningcenter.org/

The BLC provides educational opportunities and community enrichment for all of Churchill Downs’s backside workers and their families. They provide everything from preparing for a GED to learning English to connecting employees and their family members with local resources.

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame — https://www.racingmuseum.org/

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame seeks to preserve and promote the history of Thoroughbred racing in the United States and to recognize the sport’s most famous and accomplished figures, both human and equine. You can support the NMRHOF through donations, a membership, or the purchase of a brick for the Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Courtyard.

As the year winds down and the calendar begins its inevitable shift to a new year, holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah give us the chance to celebrate the bounty of the year and share it with friends and family. This year’s celebration may be socially distanced, but don’t let it deter you from finding that special something for the special someone in your life. If you’re of the horsey sort or know someone who is, here are my choices for finding fabulous goodies to gift in 2020.

Continue reading “Jennifer’s Horsey Gift Guide 2020” →

I realized yesterday that not only has it been some time since I posted here, but I have a number of media appearances I haven’t shared here. So, without further ado, behold a series of posts where I share with you the links to these chances to talk all things Sir Barton with some of horse racing’s best media professionals.

Let’s start with the Can Do podcast with the wonderful Bill Duncliffe. We had so much to talk about that we ended up with two episodes!

https://www.perfectapodcastnetwork.com/can-do-with-bill-duncliffe/index

A Zoom presentation for the Equine History Collective on Sir Barton’s life and career.

In case you missed it… EHC Digital Event: Jennifer Kelly, “Revisiting History: Sir Barton 100 Years Later”

A fun chat with John Engelhardt about Sir Barton’s career.

https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/115276/wp-welcomes-writer-jennifer-kelly-and-radio-host-ralph-siraco

The amazing Carly Kate invited me on her podcast celebrating equine authors of all stripes:

https://www.carlykadecreative.com/blog/episode-51-on-establishing-yourself-as-an-expert-the-triple-crown-deadlines-with-jennifer-s-kelly-equestrian-author-spotlight-podcast

An interview with Marie D. Jones of Sports as Told By a Girl

Interview with Jennifer Kelly, Author of “Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown.”

My interview with the alumni magazine for The University of Alabama in Huntsville:

https://www.uah.edu/news/people/uah-alumna-jennifer-kelly-chronicles-the-life-of-sir-barton-first-triple-crown-winner-in-a-new-book

My hometown newspaper, The Madison Record

https://themadisonrecord.com/tag/jennifer-kelly/

The announcement of Foxes of Belair

Upcoming Book Will Focus On Lives Of Gallant Fox And Omaha

An interview with Lee Roop of The Huntsville Times

https://www.al.com/news/2019/05/meet-sir-barton-the-first-horse-to-win-the-triple-crown.html

A nice article on Champions of the Track:

https://www.champsofthetrack.com/post/author-jennifer-kelly-preserves-history-of-sir-barton-on-100th-anniversary-of-1st-triple-crown

A delightful book review from The Turf Board:

Book Review: Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown

A fun appearance on Horses in the Morning:

Sir Barton & the Making of the Triple Crown and Jamie’s Horsemanship Clinic for July 3, 2020 by Kentucky Performance Products

A great chat with the Winchester Star (Virginia)

https://www.winchesterstar.com/book-focuses-on-triple-crown-winning-horse-that-retired-in-clarke-county/article_b95337a5-662e-5b8c-8a11-cd9429444279.html

A profile of Sir Barton from the Louisville Courier-Journal

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/horses/kentucky-derby/2019/05/01/sir-barton-triple-crown-legacy-remains-mystery-most/3416112002/

Frank Mitchell’s kind words on the book:

https://fmitchell07.wordpress.com/2020/01/27/the-drama-and-excellence-of-sir-bartons-classic-victories-from-a-century-ago-are-vividly-retold/

The fun and funny guys Andrew Champagne and J.D. Fox invited me on their show:

The immense privilege of being on my local NPR station, WLRH:

https://wlrh.org/News/local-author-shares-story-history-making-horse

After splashing through the mud beneath the Twin Spires, Loftus guided Sir Barton over to the winner’s circle, where a uniformed attendant draped a blanket of greenery and roses over his withers. His groom stood by his head, slipping the cupped hood off so that the crowd could see their new champion in full. On a gray day, the burnished chestnut had only a cascade of white down his elegant face to interrupt the coppery coat. Was he blowing from the effort? Or had it felt like a workout, a joyful gallop around the track leading the herd home?

In the wee hours of the following morning, he walked through the dark to the waiting car, his hooves clopping on the ramp up into the stall that would be his home for the coming journey. How many of them yawned as the wiry man oversaw their efforts? He wasn’t called “Hard Guy” for nothing: did he snap at them if they tarried? Did he pat the noses of his charges, maybe even manage a smile for his Kentucky Derby winner? Did H.G. Bedwell tick down his checklist of what needed to be done once they arrived? Had he already worked out a strategy for Wednesday’s race? It was the Preakness after all, with its $25,000 purse waiting.

The train wound its way from Kentucky to Maryland, from the Bluegrass to the home of the blue crab. Did the horses sway in their stalls, lulled by the ambient motion of the train over the steel tracks? Did they know they were off to their next test, another meeting at the barrier? As they slid into Pimlico, were they tired from their journey or were they ready to run? For his part, Sir Barton seemed “as proud as a peacock and did not seem a bit sore after his win of the Derby on Saturday.” (Washington Herald, May 13, 1919). Did he walk into his stall aware that all of their eyes were on him?

On a warm late spring day, with the sun shining down on the crowd of thousands, he lined up at the barrier with eleven others, standing toward the middle of the undulating crowd of horses. When the start came, his feet were the fastest, finding the front and not allowing another horse to get near him. He flashed under the wire, triumphant and unprecedented: he was the first to win the Kentucky Derby AND the Preakness Stakes. After his show, he returned to the ovation of the thousands, Loftus tipping his cap to the thunderous hands of the race’s witnesses. Commander Ross and H.G. Bedwell beamed, posing with the vaunted Woodlawn Vase for the cameras. Loftus beamed, his young face untouched by the Pimlico dirt this day.

In the background, a man climbed up to the Pimlico weathervane, paint cans in hand, and splashed the Preakness with Ross orange and black, a visible reminder of history made this day, May 14, 1919.

 

On this day in 1916, Lady Sterling gave birth to a golden chestnut colt with a wide blaze, a son of Star Shoot that destined to make history three years later. One hundred and four years later, let’s celebrate Sir Barton’s birthday with twenty-six fun facts about our first Triple Crown winner.

1. Both Star Shoot and Lady Sterling both were blind or nearly blind at the time of Sir Barton’s conception.
2. Sir Barton was named for Sir Andrew Barton, the Scottish privateer whose letter of marque allowed him to attack ships from enemy nations and then potentially keep their cargo.
3. Trainer H.G. Bedwell would tease Sir Barton whenever the horse stuck his head out of his stall. The trainer would slap the colt on the muzzle and Sir Barton would try to catch his hand. This led to the horse’s tendency to grab for people when they got too close.
4. Star Shoot died in November 1919 at age 21. Lady Sterling died in 1920 at age 21. Sir Barton died on October 30, 1937 at age 21.
5. Sir Barton set a track record in the 1920 Saratoga Handicap. He ran the mile and a quarter in 2:01 4/5. Man o’ War duplicated that time in the Travers Stakes that same year.
6. Sir Barton set a world record for 1 3/16 miles in the 1920 Merchants and Citizens Handicap. His time was 1:55 3/5.
7. Sir Barton and Man o’ War met in a match race at Kenilworth Park in Windsor, Ontario on October 12, 1920. The Educational Film Corporation set up fourteen cameras to film the race in its entirety, combining that with pre-race footage of both horses. The resulting film was called The Race of the Age and was shown in theatres across the United States.
8. After his retirement in 1921, Sir Barton stood for one season at Commander J.K.L. Ross’s Maryland farm before his sale to Audley Farm near Berryville, VA. Brothers Montfort and B.B. Jones wanted Sir Barton to head their new breeding operation.
9. Sir Barton is buried in Washington Park in Douglas, WY. How the heck did our first Triple Crown winner end up in Wyoming? Read Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown to learn all about it!
10. Sir Barton’s April 26th birthday is not the latest of our thirteen Triple Crown winners. War Admiral was born on May 2nd.

100 years ago, 1920 — The Maryland state legislature was considering the Burke Measure, also known the Burke-Janney law, creating the Maryland Racing Commission and putting racing in the state of Maryland under more state oversight. Once the bill passed, the state’s racetracks — Havre de Grace, Bowie, Pimlico, and Laurel — shared 100 racing days a year and were required to pay $6,000 a day in taxes to the state.

Read more about that in Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown, chapter 11.

75 years ago, 1945 — Racetracks in the United States were dark on orders of the War Department. In England, however, Ascot was open, leaving American soldiers wondering why the Brits were able to race when racing here had been closed for the duration.

Read more in the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 3, 1945.

50 years ago, 1970 — Peter Fuller’s pursuit of Dancer’s Image’s share of the 1968 Kentucky Derby purse continues in Kentucky.

Read the article in the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 3, 1970.

The dark, dank trenches of France behind him, imagine your doughboy stepping off a ship onto American soil. For the first time in many months, he is back in his own country, but he can’t come home to you just yet. Instead, he reports to his unit’s headquarters and finds himself surrounded by frantic doctors and nurses trying to squelch an epidemic.

In the late fall of 1918, as the Great War was winding down and American soldiers were boarding ships back to the United States, they brought with them an unwelcome gift: a new and more virulent strain of the Spanish flu. The previous spring had seen an outbreak of the same flu, but the intervening months had mutated the virus into something more deadly, striking the young and healthy as it spread among soldiers and then civilians so quickly that it overwhelmed cities.

In 1918, the horse racing world was much smaller than it is today. By the fall, events like the Kentucky Derby and Saratoga’s late summer meet had already come and gone, but meets at Latonia in northern Kentucky and Laurel in Maryland were at the mercy of measures that governments had to take to stem the tide of this deadly epidemic.

No, No, You Can’t Go

By early October, newspapers were awash in reports about the outbreak of this new strain of the flu, detailing the rise in cases as well as the measures being taken to treat those stricken. Wartime policies had prevented the spread of information about the virus’s movements until it was too late in some areas. The city of Philadelphia had gone ahead with a parade celebrating Liberty Bonds, which the government had sold to help fund the war effort. Days later, a spike in reported flu cases were a direct result of that decision.

That realization led local authorities in both Maryland and Kentucky to limit public gatherings in that crucial first part of October. That meant that both Laurel and Latonia would have to wait. This delayed a number of stakes races, including the match race between two-year-olds Billy Kelly and Eternal that was to decide the best juvenile of the year. The Daily Racing Form updated readers on the latest regarding each meet, optimistically reporting each time the ban might be lifted.

Sound Familiar?

Finally, the bans were lifted in late October, allowing each meet to go forward. Both were delayed by two or three weeks, but racing resumed nevertheless and quickly returned to normal. The Spanish flu would linger for another six months, with another outbreak in the spring of 1919. By that point, the virus had again evolved to a less serious version, marking the end of a nightmarish epidemic in the United States. No corner of the country had been untouched by the Spanish flu: even President Woodrow Wilson endured his own case as he prepared to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

Our ability to diagnose viral infections and understand how they spread is years from where it was a century ago. This knowledge means that we know what we need to do to deal with an epidemic like the COVID-19, including something unprecedented for most of us: the cancellation or postponement of our favorite sports. While we wait for the First Saturday in September and mourn the loss of familiar joys, let us remember that racing eventually returned to normal in 1918 and that will happen again in 2020.

Little Sir Barton and I loaded up the swaggin’ wagon (i.e., my minivan) for my first series of appearances in support of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown. My first stop was the Southern Kentucky Book Fest (SOKYBF) in Bowling Green, Kentucky on April 26th & 27th. I then skipped up to Louisville for Fan Fest at the Kentucky Derby Museum and rounded out this first part of this promotional swing with a presentation as part of the Kentucky Proud Evening program at the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service office in Lexington.

Continue reading “Bookin’ It Bluegrass-Style: Book Tour Part I” →

Whew! It has been a whirlwind month! I am woefully behind on posting here. I have had a number of events to celebrate the publication of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown with more to come! I will do a write-up of those events soon, but, in the meantime, I appeared on Winning Ponies with John Engelhardt last night. You can listen to that interview here:

https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/115276/wp-welcomes-writer-jennifer-kelly-and-radio-host-ralph-siraco