digitaLmbuL’s FiLes

     It often has been said that the foal crop of 1954 was the finest of the 20th century. Bold Ruler was foaled at Claiborne Farm that year and, although he offered brilliant speed before he ever ran, he would have no monopoly on important races when he came to the track. Although voted Horse of the Year in two polls, he was not a unanimous champion in the polls of any division except sprint, but having seen all the top contenders of that vintage crop race on many occasions, I would agree with horsemen who maintain that he was the most talented of all at almost any distance. The foals of that year included Gallant Man, Round Table, and Calumet Farm’s stablemates, Iron Liege and Gen. Duke, Clem, King Hairan, Greek Game, and many others. Riding work for Ben and Jimmy Jones of Calumet Farm at that time, I became well-acquainted with all of them, but I stood in awe of Bold Ruler. Almost 20 years after he retired from racing, I would have the pleasure of training 10 foals from his last two limited crops, and four of these were graded stakes winners, while three others were stakes-placed. Aside from that, he was the leading sire of the country on many occasions and, of course, was the sire of Secretariat among other champions.

      With a coat as dark-brown as a seal and with only a trace of white on a right-hind pastern, Bold Ruler displayed a small white star on a head with the slightest suggestion of a Roman nose. He was not endowed by masses of muscle as many sprinters are, but he stood 16 hands, one and a half inches, with strength through the depth of his quarters and girth. Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps had acquired his dam, Miss Disco, a daughter of Discovery, from Alfred G. Vanderbilt for $25,500, and produced Bold Ruler by a cover to imported Nasrullah.

      As a 2-year-old, Bold Ruler was precocious and won his first five starts, including the Youthful and Juvenile stakes, but before he had even broken his maiden, he had ripped off quarters in 22 seconds flat during morning training. It was undoubtedly due to his blazing speed that he was injured and missed racing and training for three months during that summer.

      By the end of the year, he had won two more races, including the Belmont Futurity, beating Greek Game, the best from the West and the nation’s leading money-winning juvenile. But when stretched out to a mile-and-a-sixteenth in the rich Garden State Stakes, Bold Ruler was rank, and failed to sustain his speed, finishing unplaced to Calumet Farm’s Barbizon, the eventual Juvenile Champion. Ignoring this disappointment and the re-emergence of a nagging soreness, Bold Ruler was returned to New York, where he was obviously off form and finished last in the Remsen Stakes, also at a mile and one-sixteenth.

      Moving to Florida for winter racing, he benefited from a brief rest and continued to blister the track in morning workouts for trainer James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, while his principal competitors trained by the patient and conservative team of Ben and Jimmy Jones, masters of Calumet, gathered their resources. Within the Calumet stable, to replace Garden State winner Barbizon who had become wind-broken after a protracted bout with a respiratory infection, were two sons of Bull Lea: Gen. Duke and Iron Liege. Iron Liege had won three straight and had beaten his stablemate in a prep race when setting a track record at a mile-and-a-sixteenth.

      When he made his first 3-year-old start, Bold Ruler beat Iron Liege and Gen. Duke, and equaled the track record at seven furlongs in winning the Bahamas Stakes under 126 pounds. This became the first race of a great rivalry. Gallant Man, a beautifully bred imported son of Epsom Derby winner, Migoli, was unplaced in this race, the first of several encounters with Bold Ruler.

      The Everglades Stakes developed into a torrid battle from the start between Iron Liege and Bold Ruler. Gen. Duke, not far back, stalked them patiently, and then was able to prevail over Bold Ruler by a head, with Iron Liege finishing a tired third. But the pace-killing tactics were unsuccessful in the Flamingo Stakes at a mile and one-eighth, and Bold Ruler hung on to beat a fast-closing Gen. Duke by a neck, setting another track record.

      Bold Ruler skipped the Fountain of Youth Stakes, in which Gen. Duke and Iron Liege finished first and second, respectively. But the Wheatley-Calumet rivalry continued in the Florida Derby. In preparation, four days before the race, Bold Ruler worked six furlongs in an incredible one minute, nine and three-fifth seconds. Iron Liege again executed perfectly the role he was assigned in dictating the pace. Bold Ruler battled him until the final strides, where Gen. Duke caught them both, with Bold Ruler finishing second by a head. The time, one-fifth faster than Bold Ruler’s Flamingo, was a new world record.

      The rivalry between Bold Ruler and Gen. Duke was unfortunately to end with this race; Gen. Duke was injured on the eve of the Kentucky Derby and never raced again. Bold Ruler, in the meantime, moved north to New York where he managed a head victory in the Wood Memorial, this time over Gallant Man, setting yet another track record.

      Even in the absence of Gen. Duke, with Bold Ruler, Gallant Man and Iron Liege apparently in top form, the stage was set for the Kentucky Derby to be another dramatic event. And dramatic it was, despite, as jockey Eddie Arcaro feared after the Wood Memorial, Bold Ruler suffering from hard races and comparably hard training. The Derby confirmed Arcaro’s opinion that Bold Ruler had a problem because he was rank and bore out badly on both turns, subsequently finishing fourth.

      Gallant Man, in the meantime, sound and courageous, suffered the distraction of his jockey, Bill Shoemaker, who momentarily quit riding when he misjudged the finish line. Whether this hesitation affected the result, we’ll never know, but Shoemaker also was gallant in taking the blame, while Iron Liege under Bill Hartack took the Derby from him by the shortest of noses.

      It is possible that Arcaro’s attempt at slowing Bold Ruler down had caused him to lug out in the Derby, but the problem was evidently resolved for the Preakness; he forced the pace, running freely, and won by two lengths from Iron Liege. The long rivalry between these two was to end here, as Iron Liege suffered an injury when beating Clem in the Jersey Stakes at Garden State in his next start, and never returned to top form.

      However, the saga of Bold Ruler and Gallant Man was to continue in June, with the distance-loving Gallant Man winning the Belmont Stakes and breaking the American record for the distance, while Bold Ruler, again compromised by his speed, faded to third. Once again, suffering from an exhausting campaign, he was put on the shelf.

      Upon his return in September, he won two more races, including the Jerome Handicap at a mile. But once more, he suffered defeat to Gallant Man at a mile and a quarter, finishing third in the Woodward Stakes. As a result of this loss, skeptics suspected that Bold Ruler was just a headstrong miler or just a sprinter who could “carry the grandstand.” He was hardly to dispel this belief when he won the one-mile Jerome Handicap (130 lbs.), and five days later the Vosburgh Handicap (130 lbs.) against older horses at only seven furlongs, breaking a 50-year-old track record.

      Then, at middle distances, he won the Queens County (133 lbs.) against older horses, and the Benjamin Franklin Handicap (136 lbs.) by 12 lengths. But his stamina was still in question against the best and, in view of the successes of Gallant Man, and the recent accomplishments of Round Table (which, although finishing third in the Kentucky Derby, had since gone on a binge of 11 straight wins all across the country), the 3-year-old championship and Horse of the Year honors were yet to be decided. So with all three in attendance, the Trenton Handicap run at a mile and a quarter at Garden State would be the definitive race.

      Intimidated by the reputation of the three titans, good horses declined the issue, and the field was reduced to only four entrants. Those who witnessed Bold Ruler as he came out of his stall that day can testify that he was sore and, in an effort to warm him up, he was galloped once around the track under exercise rider Tommy Quinn before going to the paddock to be saddled for the race.

      If discomfort inhibited his speed, however, it was not evident when Arcaro gave him his head from the start and permitted him to breeze to an easy lead. The stage was set for a late charge from either or both of Gallant Man and Round Table, which by the top of the stretch had moved to within easy striking distance. But if Bold Ruler lacked stamina, it was obvious then and forever after that he could be compromised only by the influence of a “rabbit” and on this day there was none. Bold Ruler drew off through the stretch without urging to win by two and a half lengths. Gallant Man prevailed over Round Table for second place.

      Bold Ruler was elected Horse of the Year by two of four polls, while three of the four elected him Best Three-year-old. Round Table was to receive the remaining votes in each of these categories.

      Infirmity delayed Bold Ruler’s return to racing until May of the following year, 1958, when he won the Toboggan and Carter handicaps carrying 133 and 135 pounds, respectively. He then finished second in the Metropolitan Mile to Gallant Man, but under 135 pounds — he gave 5 pounds to his old rival in this, their final meeting.

      Bold Ruler next won the Stymie Handicap at a mile and one eighth by five lengths (133 lbs.), the Suburban at a mile and a quarter (134 lbs.), spotting second place Clem 25 pounds, and the mile and a quarter Monmouth Handicap (134 lbs.). He made his final start under an impost of 136 pounds in the Brooklyn Handicap but finished lame and unplaced, giving the winner, Cohoes, 21 pounds.

      Ironically, Bold Ruler was voted best sprinter only in 1958, the voters apparently forgiving him for winning more races beyond a mile than at the shorter distances. They evidently ignored the fact that he never carried less than 133 pounds at all distances throughout the entire year. He was retired to stud at Claiborne Farm where he continued to write his name into the record books.

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