Prairie Bayou was an American 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...

 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...

 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...

 owned and bred by Loblolly Stable

Loblolly Stable

Loblolly Stable was a Thoroughbred horse breeding and racing stable in Lake Hamilton, Arkansas owned by businessman John Ed Anthony and his former wife Mary Lynn. The stable's first top runner was Cox's Ridge who won important races in 1977 and 1978 and went on to become an excellent sire...

 of Lake Hamilton, Arkansas

Lake Hamilton, Arkansas

Lake Hamilton is a census-designated place in Garland County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the 'Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 2,135 at the 2000 census...

. Named for a bayou

Bayou

A bayou is an American term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river , or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to creeks that see level changes due to tides and hold brackish water which...

 between Little Rock

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...

 and Hot Springs

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...

 in Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, he was sired by Little Missouri

Little Missouri (horse)

Little Missouri was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.Bred in Kentucky by Mrs. Maxwell Wood, Little Missouri was owned and raced by John Ed Anthony's Loblolly Stable of Lake Hamilton, Arkansas...

 and out of the mare

Mare (horse)

A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...

 Whiffling. Owned by Loblolly Stable, after Prairie Bayou's success on the racetrack, 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...

 purchased Whiffling in foal to Danzig

Danzig (horse)

Danzig was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is best known as a leading sire. He was purchased for $310,000 by Henryk de Kwiatkowski at the 1978 Saratoga Yearling Sale...

 for $1,050,000 at the 1994 Keeneland November Sale

Keeneland Sales

The Keeneland Sales is an American Thoroughbred auction house in Lexington, Kentucky founded in 1935 as a nonprofit racing/auction entity on 147 acres of farmland west of Lexington, which had been owned by Jack O. Keene...

.

Early racing career

At age two Prairie Bayou won a maiden race and an allowance race. He went on to place second in his next two starts in stakes races. He finished as the runner-up in both the Inner Harbor Stakes and the Pappa Riccio Stakes. As a three year-old thing really began to show promise. He won the Count Fleet Stakes

Count Fleet Stakes

The Count Fleet Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run at Aqueduct Racetrack, located in Jamaica, New York, at the beginning of January each year...

 and the Whirlaway Stakes

Whirlaway Stakes

The Whirlaway Stakes is a race for Thoroughbred horses held in February at Aqueduct Racetrack. The Whirlaway Stakes is open to three-year-olds willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt. It is an ungraded event offering a purse of $100,000 added...

 at Aquect in the first quarter of 1993. In March Prairie Bayou won the Spriral Stakes at Turfway Park

Turfway Park

Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located just outside the city limits to the north of Florence, Kentucky, about 10 miles south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati...

. In April he won the grade one Blue Grass Stakes

Blue Grass Stakes

The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, currently sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is an American Grade 1 horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in mid April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky....

 at Keeneland Race Course. Leading up to the 1993 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...

, Prairie Bayou was made the betting favorite for the Derby, as well as for the other two Triple Crown races, Prairie Bayou was ridden by jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 Mike Smith. A come-from-behind horse, in the Derby he was caught far back in the large field for most of the race. In the final quarter, the colt had to move to the far outside in order to make a strong stretch run that earned him a second-place finish behind Sea Hero

Sea Hero

Sea Hero is an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 1993 Kentucky Derby as an almost 13:1 longshot. It marked the first Derby win for jockey Jerry Bailey and for 71-year-old trainer MacKenzie Miller...

.

Preakness Stakes

Prairie Bayou came back to win 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...

, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown, but then broke down in 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...

 and was 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...

. He is buried at Longfield Farm near Goshen, Kentucky

Goshen, Kentucky

Goshen is a city in Oldham County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 907 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Nestled along the banks of the Ohio River, Goshen is located at ....

.

Pedigree