Criminal Type
Encyclopedia
Criminal Type was an American
Champion
Thoroughbred
racehorse
. He won two Eclipse Awards in 1990.
, he was bred at the famed Calumet Farm
in Lexington, Kentucky
and owned in partnership with Jurgen K. Arnemann. He was sired by Alydar
out of the mare Klepto, making him a half-brother to the Eclipse Award
winning turf mare Estrapade and the Italian Group One
winner Isopach. It was perhaps because of the success of his siblings on turf that he was originally sent to be trained in Europe.
. There, racing on grass
, Criminal Type was a winner at age two, but after a poor three-year-old season he was brought back to the United States and turned over to trainer
D. Wayne Lukas
.
In 1990, at age four, Criminal Type began to show promise on the U.S. dirt tracks, then at age five he won seven of eleven races entered and earned two Eclipse Award
s including the most prestigious award of all, the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year
. Criminal Type won four consecutive Grade 1 races: The Pimlico Special
, the Metropolitan Handicap
, the Hollywood Gold Cup
, and the Whitney Handicap
. In his wins, Criminal Type defeated 1989 Horse of the Year, Sunday Silence
, eventual 1991 Horse of the Year, Black Tie Affair
, U.S. Outstanding Sprint Horse
Housebuster
, and winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Male Horse
and Hall of Famer, 1989 Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer
. Other quality horses vanquished by Criminal Type include Opening Verse, Lively One, Ruhlmann, and Flying Continental. Criminal Type was the last champion to run in the Calumet Farm
devil's red and blue colors.
, Criminal Type was retired to stand at stud
at Calumet Farm where he sired two graded stakes race
winners before he was sent in 1993 to a breeding farm in Japan. Criminal Type was the broodmare sire of 2003 Travers Stakes winner, Ten Most Wanted. Criminal Type died in Japan at age twenty on March 9, 2005 from a ruptured stomach
. He had been scheduled to be returned to America as a pensioner at Old Friends Equine in Kentucky.
in the early 1990s, including the alleged killing of Criminal Type's sire, Alydar
for insurance proceeds. A Federal judge in the Houston Division of Texas found Calumet and its President not responsible for the payment of the insurance pay-out on Alydar.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Champion
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
. He won two Eclipse Awards in 1990.
Background
A descendant of NearcoNearco
Nearco was an Italian bred Thoroughbred racehorse described by Thoroughbred Heritage as "one of the greatest racehorses of the Twentieth Century" and "one of the most important sires of the century." He was not only unbeaten, winning 14 races at distances from 5 furlongs to 1 mile 7 furlongs ,...
, he was bred at the famed Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...
in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
and owned in partnership with Jurgen K. Arnemann. He was sired by Alydar
Alydar
Alydar was a chestnut colt and an American thoroughbred race horse who was most famous for finishing a close second to Affirmed in all three races of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a feat not achieved before or repeated since.-Racing career:Trained by John M...
out of the mare Klepto, making him a half-brother to the Eclipse Award
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
winning turf mare Estrapade and the Italian Group One
Conditions races
Conditions races are horse races where the weights carried by the runners are laid down by the conditions attached to the race. Weights are allocated according to; the sex of the runners, with female runners carrying less weight than males; the age of the runners, with younger horses receiving...
winner Isopach. It was perhaps because of the success of his siblings on turf that he was originally sent to be trained in Europe.
Racing career
He was first sent to race in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. There, racing on grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
, Criminal Type was a winner at age two, but after a poor three-year-old season he was brought back to the United States and turned over to trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
D. Wayne Lukas
D. Wayne Lukas
Darrell Wayne Lukas is a former educator who became one of the most successful horse trainers in American Thoroughbred horse racing history and a U.S...
.
In 1990, at age four, Criminal Type began to show promise on the U.S. dirt tracks, then at age five he won seven of eleven races entered and earned two Eclipse Award
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
s including the most prestigious award of all, the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year
Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year
The American Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. It has been awarded since 1887 to the horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year is deemed the most outstanding....
. Criminal Type won four consecutive Grade 1 races: The Pimlico Special
Pimlico Special
The Pimlico Special is an American thoroughbred horse race held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland in mid May. It is raced on dirt over a distance of 1³/16 miles . The race is currently open to horses age three and older and offers a purse of $250,000.The Pimlico Special was first run in...
, the Metropolitan Handicap
Metropolitan Handicap
The Metropolitan Handicap, frequently called the "Met Mile," is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the last week of May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is contested on dirt over a distance of one mile .The Met Mile was first...
, the Hollywood Gold Cup
Hollywood Gold Cup
The Hollywood Gold Cup is an American Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions...
, and the Whitney Handicap
Whitney Handicap
The Whitney Handicap is an American Grade 1 handicap race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of 1⅛ miles. In 2007, the Breeders' Cup Ltd...
. In his wins, Criminal Type defeated 1989 Horse of the Year, Sunday Silence
Sunday Silence
Sunday Silence was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, earning distinction as 1989 American Horse of the Year over American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse Easy Goer. He was foaled in 1986, sired by Halo out of Wishing Well by Understanding. Though he was registered as a dark bay/brown, he was in...
, eventual 1991 Horse of the Year, Black Tie Affair
Black Tie Affair
Black Tie Affair was a thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by American businessman Stephen D. Peskoff, he was out of the mare Hat Tab Girl and sired by Miswaki, who also sired Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea and who was a two-time Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland.Black Tie...
, U.S. Outstanding Sprint Horse
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Sprint Horse
The American Champion Sprint Horse award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor. Created in 1947, in 1971 it became part of the Eclipse Awards program and is awarded annually to the top horse in sprint races usually run at a distance of under one mile)....
Housebuster
Housebuster
Housebuster was an American thoroughbred Stallion racehorse. He was sired by graded stakes race winner Mt. Livermore out of the Great Above mare, Big Dreams....
, and winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Male Horse
Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Male Horse
The American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971....
and Hall of Famer, 1989 Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer
Easy Goer
Easy Goer was an American Champion Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse, famous for earning American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors in 1988, and defeating 1989 American Horse of the Year Sunday Silence in the Belmont Stakes by 8 lengths. The victory deprived Sunday Silence of the Triple Crown...
. Other quality horses vanquished by Criminal Type include Opening Verse, Lively One, Ruhlmann, and Flying Continental. Criminal Type was the last champion to run in the Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...
devil's red and blue colors.
Stud career
After suffering an injury in the Woodward StakesWoodward Stakes
The Woodward Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race and is one of the premier races for older thoroughbred horses in the United States. Named for prominent racehorse owner, George Nicholas Woodward, it is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt for a purse of $750,000.The Woodward was run as a handicap in...
, Criminal Type was retired to stand at stud
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
at Calumet Farm where he sired two graded stakes race
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
winners before he was sent in 1993 to a breeding farm in Japan. Criminal Type was the broodmare sire of 2003 Travers Stakes winner, Ten Most Wanted. Criminal Type died in Japan at age twenty on March 9, 2005 from a ruptured stomach
Stomach
The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
. He had been scheduled to be returned to America as a pensioner at Old Friends Equine in Kentucky.
Hall of Fame nominee
Criminal Type has been a regular nominee to the Horse Racing Hall of Fame, but has yet to be named a finalist for induction. Many believe that Criminal Type has been overlooked by the Hall of Fame due to the scandals that engulfed Calumet FarmCalumet Farm
Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...
in the early 1990s, including the alleged killing of Criminal Type's sire, Alydar
Alydar
Alydar was a chestnut colt and an American thoroughbred race horse who was most famous for finishing a close second to Affirmed in all three races of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a feat not achieved before or repeated since.-Racing career:Trained by John M...
for insurance proceeds. A Federal judge in the Houston Division of Texas found Calumet and its President not responsible for the payment of the insurance pay-out on Alydar.