Citation
Among racing purists, and those with the objectivity to look beyond the losses he suffered at the end of his career, Citation''s accomplishments during the course of his racing career are mighty, perhaps the mightiest American racing has ever produced. Blessed with the twin virtues of genuine speed and staying power, along with a killer's instinct that simply willed him past some foes and broke others' hearts, Citation represented Calumet Farm and the Jones boys at their zenith.
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During the course of his racing career, Calumet patriarch Warren Wright died and trainer Ben Jones slowly began handing over more responsibility to his son, Jimmy. Even though Calumet still had five of its eight Kentucky Derby victories ahead of them when Citation won in 1948, the victory was, arguably, Calumet's conquest of Mt. Everest.
When Citation finally retired in mid-1951, he was racing's first and, to that point, only millionaire. But the way he went about scaling that peak both clouded and enhanced his status. A series of close, crushing losses to Noor in California in 1950, followed by three straight poor performances to start the 1951 season, greatly diminished the mighty numbers he had posted in his first two seasons of racing, when he lost just twice.
But racing was never easy for Citation after his three-year-old season. Injuries kept him off the track for all of 1949, and Wright's dying wish that Citation become racing's first millionaire meant the horse stayed in training as a six-year-old when perhaps retirement was the better option. Given all that, Citation still found the inner resolve to shake off the losses and win his final three starts, capping off his campaign with a victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup, which insured his millionaire's status.
Citation was the product of another genius bloodlines pairing by Wright. Wright's Bull Lea, a less than successful Triple Crown runner himself (eighth in the 1938 Kentucky Derby as the 2.90-to-1 second choice) was turning into the foundation sire at Calumet, and Wright decided to try a little foreign bloodstock with the son of *Bull Dog. Wright purchased Citation's dam, *Hydroplane II, from Lord Derby in the spring of 1941 and transported her to the United States via the Pacific route, which was more time-consuming but a better alternative to having a U-boat send the mare's ship to the bottom of the Atlantic with a torpedo.
On April 11, 1945, Hydroplane II foaled a bay colt who went to Jimmy Jones's division in Maryland in the spring of 1947 to begin his racing career.
Jones was in no hurry to develop the colt. Whereas Whirlaway started his two-year-old season late (on June 3, 1940) and ran often (16 times), Citation would be brought along quicker, making his first start on April 22 at Harve de Grace, winning a 4-1/2-furlong race by a half-length, but would be sent out just nine times. The colt needed to win four straight races to start his career before the stable would even try him in a stakes race, the Elementary Stakes at Washington Park on July 30. He won by two lengths and the Jones boys began to take notice. He would lose his next start, to two-year-old filly stablemate Bewitch in the Washington Park Futurity on August 16. But he would finish the year with victories in the Belmont Futurity and Pimlico Futurity, wrapping up the season with eight wins in nine starts and earnings of $155,680. When the Experimental Free Handicap came out at the end of the year, Citation was highweight at 126 pounds, while Bewitch was the highweighted filly at 121 pounds.
For everything he accomplished as a two-year-old, his three-year-old season would exceed it to the tenth power. Citation began the year with victories over older horses-that's right, older horses-in a pair of races at Hialeah Park. One of his victims in both races was stablemate Armed, who had been honored as racing's Horse of the Year in 1947. Citation would add the Everglades Handicap and Flamingo Stakes to his list of triumphs, taking his winning streak to seven races, before Jimmy Jones took the colt back to Maryland to continue his Triple Crown preparations.
Before making his next start, however, his jockey, Al Snider, was lost in the Everglades during a fishing trip. Jones made the decision to put the already legendary Eddie Arcaro on board for his next race, the Chesapeake Trial on April 12 at Harve de Grace. Racing in the mud with a brand new jockey and dropping down from 1-1/8 miles to six furlongs, Citation was unable to make up any late ground on a colt named Saggy, whom he had easily defeated in the Flamingo. Saggy won by a length. He would go on to sire 1961 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Carry Back, but his most notable accomplishment over the years remained the fact he was the only horse to defeat Citation during a span that lasted two years, five months, and ten days.
Citation wouldn't be challenged again the rest of the year, winning 15 starts (including a walkover in the Pimlico Special) by a combined 57-3/4 lengths. In the Kentucky Derby, just five opponents, including speedy stablemate Coaltown, dared face him. Citation spotted Coaltown six lengths in the opening half-mile, then ran him down and won by 3-1/2 lengths. Even though Jimmy Jones was Citation's trainer, the colt ran in the Derby under Ben Jones's name, allowing him to tie trainer H. J. "Derby Dick" Thompson's record of four Kentucky Derby winners.
By the time the Preakness rolled around, Coaltown was absent, Jimmy Jones was the trainer of record again, and Citation had the race all to himself, sprinting to the front and winning by 5-1/2 lengths over Vulcan's Forge. With a four-week break between the Preakness and Belmont, Jones chose to give him a race in between, as Citation won the Jersey Derby by 11 lengths. On June 12, over a fast track at Belmont, Citation became racing's eighth-and Calumet's second-Triple Crown winner, leading all the way to post an eight-lengths triumph over Better Self in the Belmont Stakes.
Citation would win nine more starts in 1948, including the walkover in the Pimlico Special. By the time his three-year-old career ended, Citation had 27 victories and two seconds in 29 starts, with earnings of $865,150, just over $50,000 short of Stymie's all-time record.
But an osselet on his left front ankle and tendon injuries kept him out of racing in 1949. On January 11, 1950, Citation won in his first race in exactly 13 months, taking an allowance race by 1-1/2 lengths to extend his winning streak to a record 16 races. The five-year-old made eight more starts in 1950, winning once and finishing second the other seven times. The losses included four to the talented *Noor, several of them heartbreaking. In the Santa Anita Handicap on February 25, Citation lost to *Noor by 1-1/4 lengths while carrying 132 pounds, 22 more than his vanquisher. In his final start of the year, the June 24 Golden Gate Handicap, Citation lost to *Noor again, this time by three lengths. But this time, *Noor was spotting the Triple Crown winner weight, 127-to-126.
Warren Wright died in 1950 after having asked the Jones boys to keep Citation in training long enough to break the $1-million mark. At the start of the year, Citation had $938,630 in earnings, but his first three starts-third-place finishes in a pair of allowance races and a fifth in the Hollywood Premiere Handicap-netted the aging legend just $830. Citation would finish second in his next start, the Argonaut Handicap on May 30 at Hollywood Park, extending his losing streak to a career long six starts. But Citation would never lose again, winning the Century and American Handicaps and the Hollywood Gold Cup. His last two victories came at the expense of Bewitch, his stablemate and nemesis earlier in their careers. The Hollywood Gold Cup was worth $100,000 to Citation, taking him to $1,085,760. With that, the horse was retired to stud at Calumet. His stud career produced several notable runners, including 1956 Kentucky Derby runner-up Fabius, but never any runners who came close to accomplishing what he did. Citation died on August 8, 1970, at the age of 25.
