CITATION (HORSE)

'Citation' (April 11, 1945 - August 8, 1970) was an American thoroughbred horse-racing Triple Crown champion.
Owned and bred by Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, Citation was a bay colt, the son of Bull Lea and the mare, Hydroplane. Trained by Horace A. "Jimmy" Jones, he was ridden by Al Snider. Citation won his first start as a two-year-old at Havre de Grace, Maryland. For the year he would race nine times, winning eight of them and earning $155,680. Citation was the first horse to win US $1 million.
Citation started the 1948 racing season by defeating stable mate Armed, who had been voted thoroughbred racing's 1947 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. After winning the Flamingo Stakes, jockey Al Snider drowned while fishing off the Florida Keys. Trainer Jones hired Eddie Arcaro, one of Snider's friends. Even though Jimmy Jones was Citation's trainer, the colt ran in the Kentucky Derby under his father's name to allow Ben Jones to tie the record for the most number of Derby wins by a trainer. Ridden by Arcaro, Citation won the Kentucky Derby by 3 ½ lengths and Arcaro gave the widow of former jockey Al Snider a share of his Derby purse money. [1] Citation was then sent to Baltimore where he won the Preakness Stakes by 5 ½ lengths. From there he won the Jersey Derby before going to Elmont, New York and becoming the 8th Triple Crown winner by capturing the Belmont Stakes. By the end of that season, the three-year-old horse had a career record of 27 victories and two seconds in 29 starts. For his performances, Citation was voted Horse of the Year honors.
Injuries kept Citation from racing in 1949 but he came back to race in 1950 and won the Golden Gate Mile Handicap. However, he lost several other races in what was for him a mediocre campaign. He started the 1951 season with three poor performances in a row but came back to win his final three starts, capping off his career with a victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup that made him thoroughbred racing's first millionaire.
Citation retired during the 1951 racing season, his accomplishments amongst the best in the history of American racing. As a sire at Calumet Farm he produced a number of noteworthy offspring including Hall of Fame filly Silver Spoon and 1956 Preakness Stakes winner, Fabius.
In 1959, Citation was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He died on August 8, 1970 at the age of 25. He is buried in the horse cemetery at Calumet Farm.
The memory of Citation was honored after his death when Dwayne Wallace, Chairman of Cessna Aircraft Company selected the name Citation for the new business jet Cessna was designing. [2] Hints of Citation's legacy can be found in the jet's logo in the form of a horseshoe background. Even today, pictures of Citation line the hallways of Cessna's buildings.

Contents

Ranking

Pedigree

Sources

References

Ranking

In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Citation was ranked #3.

Pedigree

Sources

''Adapted from the article Citation (horse), from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.''

References

★ Citation's pedigree

★ Citation's Kentucky Derby

★ Every horse that has ever participated in a classic: Kentucky Derby, Preakness, or Belmont

★ Georgeff, Phil. ''Citation: In a Class by Himself'' (2003) Taylor Trade Publishing ISBN 0-87833-292-8

★ Citation at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

★ Citation's offspring at the Triple Crown database by Kathleen Irwin and Joy Reeves