Count Fleet
Encyclopedia
Count Fleet was born and died at Stoner Creek Stud farm in Paris, Kentucky
, United States
. He was a Thoroughbred racehorse and Triple Crown
champion in 1943.
Sired by 1928 Kentucky Derby
winner Reigh Count
and out of a mare named Quickly, by Haste. Count Fleet was owned by the wife of John D. Hertz
(1879-1961), best known for the rental car company
bearing his name. John Hertz initially did not think much of Count Fleet and contemplated selling him until jockey Johnny Longden
convinced him to keep the colt.
and ridden by future Hall of Fame
inductee Longden, as a two-year-old Count Fleet started off slowly, losing several times before getting his first win. He gained respect with his six-length victory in the Champagne Stakes
, in which he set a new track record, then followed this up by beating the best horses in the country in the Pimlico Futurity, where he equaled the track record. In the Walden Stakes, he ran away from the field, winning by more than thirty lengths. At season's end, he had won 10 of his 15 races while never being out of the money, a performance that earned him the two-year-old championship honors. He was assigned 132 lbs. on the 1942 Experimental Free Handicap, the highest impost ever.
As a three-year-old, Count Fleet dominated North American racing, never losing a race. Leading up to the Kentucky Derby
, he won the important Wood Memorial but injured himself in the process. He recovered to take the Derby, the United States' most prestigious race, by three lengths, then went on to Baltimore, Maryland, where he dominated the Preakness Stakes
, taking that one by eight lengths. He won the Withers Stakes
before heading to Elmont, New York
for the Belmont Stakes
where he captured the Triple Crown by scoring a 25-length victory, a record margin that stood until 1973. When the season ended, Count Fleet was voted Champion Three Year Old and named American Horse of the Year.
Rather than risk serious injury, Count Fleet did not race as a four-year-old after it was discovered that he had injured his leg.
having won 16 of 21 races and went on to enjoy great success as a sire
. His offspring numbered 38 stakes winners, including Kentucky Derby
winner Count Turf
, Belmont Stakes
winners Counterpoint
and One Count
, Horse of the Year champions, and a Champion Three Year Old Filly. Count Fleet's daughters produced superhorse Kelso
, 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair
, the Canadian star filly Ice Water
, and multiple Grade I stakes winner Tompion
. Another daughter, Sequence, mated with 1955 Preakness and Belmont winner Nashua
to produce Gold Digger, dam of the influential modern sire Mr. Prospector
. His daughter Virginia Water was mated with Princequillo
to produce Milan Mill, the dam of the great British racer Mill Reef
.
Count Fleet died on December 3, 1973 and was buried at Stoner Creek farm in Paris, Kentucky.
.
In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Count Fleet was ranked #5.
Paris, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,183 people, 3,857 households, and 2,487 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,222 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 84.23% White, 12.71% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.16%...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was a Thoroughbred racehorse and Triple Crown
United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...
champion in 1943.
Sired by 1928 Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
winner Reigh Count
Reigh Count
Reigh Count was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1928 Kentucky Derby and the 1929 Coronation Cup in England....
and out of a mare named Quickly, by Haste. Count Fleet was owned by the wife of John D. Hertz
John D. Hertz
John Daniel Hertz, Sr. was an American businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner, and philanthropist.-Biography:...
(1879-1961), best known for the rental car company
The Hertz Corporation
Hertz Global Holdings Inc is an American car rental company with international locations in 145 countries worldwide.-Early years:The company was founded by Walter L. Jacobs in 1918, who started a car rental operation in Chicago with a dozen Model T Ford cars. In 1923, Jacobs sold it to John D...
bearing his name. John Hertz initially did not think much of Count Fleet and contemplated selling him until jockey Johnny Longden
Johnny Longden
John Eric Longden was an American Hall of Fame jockey. He was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England but his father wanted to build a better life for his family so in 1909 emigrated to Canada, settling in Taber, Alberta. By 1912 Longden Sr. had saved enough money to send for his wife and young son...
convinced him to keep the colt.
Racing record
Trained by Don CameronGregory Duncan Cameron
Gregory Duncan "Don" Cameron was an American Thoroughbred horse trainer who won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1943.A native of California, Don Cameron served as an aviator in the United States Military during World War I. Working in the Thoroughbred horse racing industry, he trained for various owners...
and ridden by future Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
inductee Longden, as a two-year-old Count Fleet started off slowly, losing several times before getting his first win. He gained respect with his six-length victory in the Champagne Stakes
Champagne Stakes (USA)
The Champagne Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old horses. The race is run at a distance of one mile on the dirt at Belmont Park in October each year. It is nested exclusively by colts....
, in which he set a new track record, then followed this up by beating the best horses in the country in the Pimlico Futurity, where he equaled the track record. In the Walden Stakes, he ran away from the field, winning by more than thirty lengths. At season's end, he had won 10 of his 15 races while never being out of the money, a performance that earned him the two-year-old championship honors. He was assigned 132 lbs. on the 1942 Experimental Free Handicap, the highest impost ever.
As a three-year-old, Count Fleet dominated North American racing, never losing a race. Leading up to the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
, he won the important Wood Memorial but injured himself in the process. He recovered to take the Derby, the United States' most prestigious race, by three lengths, then went on to Baltimore, Maryland, where he dominated the Preakness Stakes
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
, taking that one by eight lengths. He won the Withers Stakes
Withers Stakes
The Withers Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds willing to compete one mile on the dirt. Held at Aqueduct Racetrack every year at the end of April , it is a Grade III event, and offers a purse of $150,000...
before heading to Elmont, New York
Elmont, New York
Elmont is an unincorporated census-designated place located in the northwest corner of the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City...
for the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
where he captured the Triple Crown by scoring a 25-length victory, a record margin that stood until 1973. When the season ended, Count Fleet was voted Champion Three Year Old and named American Horse of the Year.
Rather than risk serious injury, Count Fleet did not race as a four-year-old after it was discovered that he had injured his leg.
Stud record
Count Fleet was retired to studStud (animal)
A stud animal is a registered animal retained for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species usually imply that the animal is entire—that is, not castrated—and therefore capable of siring offspring...
having won 16 of 21 races and went on to enjoy great success as a sire
Sire
Sire may refer to:* Father, the counterpart of a dam, particularly in animal breeding. See also stallion* James W. Sire, author on worldviews* Sire Records, a record label* Sire Advertising, an advertising agency...
. His offspring numbered 38 stakes winners, including Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
winner Count Turf
Count Turf
Count Turf was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known as the winner of the 1951 Kentucky Derby. He is one of only two equine families where three generations have won the Kentucky Derby. His grandsire Reigh Count won the 1928 Derby and then his sire Count Fleet won it in 1943. Count Fleet...
, Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
winners Counterpoint
Counterpoint (horse)
Counterpoint was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Sired by 1943 U.S. Triple Crown champion Count Fleet, as a yearling he injured an ankle bone severely enough that his racing future was put in doubt...
and One Count
One Count
One Count was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Owned and bred by Walter M. Jeffords, Sr., and raced by his wife, Sarah, he was a son of the 1943 U.S. Triple Crown Champion, Count Fleet.-Racing career:...
, Horse of the Year champions, and a Champion Three Year Old Filly. Count Fleet's daughters produced superhorse Kelso
Kelso (horse)
Kelso was an American thoroughbred race horse considered among the best racehorses of the 20th century. In the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by The Blood-Horse magazine Kelso ranks 4th, behind only Man o' War , Secretariat and Citation...
, 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair
Lucky Debonair
Lucky Debonair was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1965 Kentucky Derby. He was bred by owners Dan and Ada Rice of Wheaton, Illinois at their Danada Farm satellite operation on Old Frankfort Pike near Lexington, Kentucky, a property that once was part of the legendary...
, the Canadian star filly Ice Water
Ice Water (horse)
Ice Water was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. Owned and regally bred by George Gardiner, she was the daughter of Gardiner's unraced filly Seiches who was a daughter of the 1948 U.S. Triple Crown champion, Count Fleet...
, and multiple Grade I stakes winner Tompion
Tompion
Tompion was an American Thoroughbred race horse owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney. Immaculately bred, Tompion was the son of the Hall of Fame horse Tom Fool. His damsire was Count Fleet, the 1943 U.S. Triple Crown champion.Trained by Robert L...
. Another daughter, Sequence, mated with 1955 Preakness and Belmont winner Nashua
Nashua (horse)
Nashua was an American-born thoroughbred racehorse, perhaps best remembered for a 1955 match race against the horse that had defeated him in the Kentucky Derby.Nashua's sire was the good, but temperamental, European champion Nasrullah...
to produce Gold Digger, dam of the influential modern sire Mr. Prospector
Mr. Prospector
Mr. Prospector was a thoroughbred racehorse foaled in Kentucky, whose descendants have been dominant in the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. He won half of his 14 career races.-Background:...
. His daughter Virginia Water was mated with Princequillo
Princequillo
Princequillo was a Thoroughbred racehorse conceived in France and born in Ireland. He is known for his performances in long-distance races and his successes as a sire.-Background:...
to produce Milan Mill, the dam of the great British racer Mill Reef
Mill Reef
Mill Reef was a Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was bred in the United States but was trained in the United Kingdom throughout his racing career which lasted from 1970 to 1972. Mill Reef won twelve of his fourteen races and finished second in the other two...
.
Count Fleet died on December 3, 1973 and was buried at Stoner Creek farm in Paris, Kentucky.
Honors
In 1961, Count Fleet was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of FameNational Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
.
In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Count Fleet was ranked #5.