Free House (horse)
Encyclopedia
Free House was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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...

 that Blood-Horse Publications
Blood-Horse Publications
Blood-Horse Publications is an American multimedia publishing house focused on horse-related magazines.Blood-Horse Publications is located in Lexington, Kentucky. Their book-publishing arm is Eclipse Press...

 called one of the best California-bred horses of all time. A descendant of Nearco
Nearco
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 ,...

 through both his sire and dam, he was bred and raced by John Toffan & Trudy McCaffery
Trudy McCaffery
Trudy V. McCaffery was a prominent Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder in California who served on the Board of Directors of the Edwin J...

. In 1997 Free House was the dominant three-year-old in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 racing, winning the San Felipe Stakes
San Felipe Stakes
The San Felipe Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. The San Felipe is a Grade II event open to three-year-old horses. Normally held in mid-March, it is raced at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on dirt and currently...

 and the most important Grade I Santa Anita Derby
Santa Anita Derby
The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $1 million. Inaugurated in 1935, it is considered the most important West Coast stepping-stone to the Kentucky Derby...

, both times defeating Silver Charm
Silver Charm
Silver Charm is an American Champion Thoroughbred race horse. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Gary Stevens, Silver Charm will be remembered most for winning the 1997 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in the Triple Crown....

.

1997 U.S. Triple Crown

In 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...

, the first leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series, bettors
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...

 sent Free House off as a more than 10:1 sixth choice behind favorites Captain Bodgit
Captain Bodgit
Captain Bodgit is a millionaire American Thoroughbred racehorse who is a multiple grade one stakes winner. He is best known for his "flying" closing finishes in the first two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown races in 1997...

, the Florida Derby
Florida Derby
The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt...

 and Wood Memorial Stakes
Wood Memorial Stakes
The Wood Memorial Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Jamaica, New York. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 9 furlongs on dirt....

 winner, and Silver Charm
Silver Charm
Silver Charm is an American Champion Thoroughbred race horse. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Gary Stevens, Silver Charm will be remembered most for winning the 1997 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in the Triple Crown....

, the second choice. Free House started the Derby on the outside in post position thirteen. The gray colt raced at or near the lead until the final furlong when Silver Charm and Captain Bodgit caught him and he finished third.

In 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...

, Free House beat third-place finisher Captain Bodgit and fourth place Touch Gold
Touch Gold
Touch Gold is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known as the winner of the Classic Belmont Stakes in which he ended Silver Charm's bid for the U.S.Triple Crown....

 but in a head-to-head stretch drive, finished second by less than a head to Silver Charm. In the Belmont Stakes, by the time the horses reached the top of the stretch, Silver Charm and Free House were once again racing head-to-head but Touch Gold came on with a tremendous drive to win the race, denying Silver Charm the Triple Crown with Free House finishing third.

After the Triple Crown series, Free House again finished third to Touch Gold, this time in the Haskell Invitational Handicap
Haskell Invitational Handicap
The Resorts Casino & Hotel Haskell Invitational is an American Grade I race for thoroughbred horses. In 1968, the Board of Directors of Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey honored its former President and Chairman Amory L. Haskell with the Amory L. Haskell Handicap, a race for older...

 at Monmouth Park. On his return to racing in California, he won the 1997 Swaps Stakes
Swaps Stakes
The Swaps Stakes is a race for Thoroughbred horses run annually at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. The race is open to three-year-old horses willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt. A Grade II event, it carries a purse of $350,000.Run in mid July, this race is...

 over Deputy Commander
Deputy Commander (horse)
Deputy Commander was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Crystal Springs Farm near Paris, Kentucky, he was a son of North American Champion sire Deputy Minister and out of the Grade 1-winning turf mare, Anka Germania who captured the 1988 Sword Dancer Invitational over subsequent...

. In 1998, as well as a victory in the Grade III Bel Air Handicap, Free House beat Gentlemen
Gentlemen (horse)
Gentlemen is a Thoroughbred racehorse who was the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt in Argentina and then raced successfully in the United States....

 and Touch Gold to win the Grade I Pacific Classic Stakes
Pacific Classic Stakes
The Pacific Classic Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for runners aged 3-year-old or up run at the classic American distance of a mile and a quarter...

. Back on the track as a five-year-old in 1999, he won the San Antonio Handicap
San Antonio Handicap
The San Antonio Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of February at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California...

 then later in the year scored the biggest win of his career in the Santa Anita Handicap
Santa Anita Handicap
The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up , and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during the winter racing season...

, defeating arch rival Silver Charm.

Retired from racing, in 2000 Free House stood 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 Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall, California
Bonsall, California
Bonsall is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. The population was 3,982 at the 2010 census, up from 3,401 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bonsall is located just east of Oceanside and Camp Pendleton....

 where he had to be euthanized
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...

 following a July 19, 2004 accident that fractured his skull. In his brief stallion
Stallion (horse)
A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded .Stallions will follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck, as well as a somewhat more muscular physique as compared to...

career, he led California's first-crop list in 2003 by progeny earnings and notably sired multiple stakes winner House of Fortune.
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