Twenty Grand 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...

 race horse. Owned and bred by Helen Hay Whitney's

Helen Hay Whitney

Helen Julia Hay Whitney was an American poet, writer, racehorse owner/breeder, socialite, and philanthropist. She was a member by marriage of the prominent Whitney family of New York.-Biography:...

 Greentree Stable

Greentree Stable

Greentree Stable, in Red Bank, New Jersey, was a major American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm established in 1914 by Payne Whitney of the Whitney family of New York City. Payne Whitney operated a horse farm and stable at Saratoga Springs, New York with his brother Harry Payne...

, Twenty Grand was a bay colt by St. Germans out of Bonus.

Racing career

Trained at age three by James G. Rowe, Jr.

James G. Rowe, Jr.

James Gordon Rowe, Jr. was an American Thoroughbred horse trainer.The son of U.S. Hall of Fame trainer, James G. Rowe, Sr., in 1929 he took over from his father as head trainer for Harry Payne Whitney's Brookdale Farm. After Whitney died, James Rowe, Jr. went to work for Helen Hay Whitney's...

 and ridden by jockey Charley Kurtsinger, Twenty Grand raced against very strong opponents in 1930 and 1931 when he was part of what the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

newspaper called the "big four" in racing which included Jamestown

Jamestown (horse)

Jamestown was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred and raced by George D. Widener, Jr., an Exemplar of Racing and someone described by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune newspaper as "one of thoroughbred racing's most respected horsemen." Bred in Kentucky, Jamestown's racing success...

, Mate

Mate (horse)

Mate was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1931 Preakness Stakes. From modest parentage, he was bred and raced by Albert C...

, and Equipoise

Equipoise (horse)

Equipoise was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse, a chestnut bred in the United States by Harry Payne Whitney and owned by his son, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney...

. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/457623722.html?dids=457623722:457623722&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+22%2C+1931&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=CHICAGO+TO+SEE+3+YEAR+OLD+TURF+CHAMP+CROWNED&pqatl=google Twenty Grand won the 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....

, 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...

, 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...

, Dwyer Stakes

Dwyer Stakes

The Dwyer Stakes is an American Grade II stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred racehorses held annually at Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, Long Island, New York. Run in early July, it is open to three-year-old horses and is raced over a distance of 1 1/16-miles on dirt...

, Travers Stakes

Travers Stakes

The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...

, Saratoga Cup, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup

Jockey Club Gold Cup

The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers Stakes is of the...

.
In his only blemish of the year Twenty Grand just missed the Triple Crown

Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

 finishing second to Mate

Mate

Mate may refer to one of the following meanings based on the generic dictionary definitions of the word:* One of a pair of animals involved in mating* Mate , a colloquialism used to refer to a friend* A naval officer:...

 in the Preakness

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...

. In the gate he went off as the post time favorite at 3:2. Mate his stablemate was sent to the front early followed by Clock Tower. As Twenty Grand tried to pass the leaders on the clubhouse turn he was bumped badly by Clock Tower. Twenty Grand was knocked off his stride but recovered gamely. Down the back strech and around the final turn he made up ground on Ladder and Mate. His jockey Charlie Kurtsinger chose the rail and went inside but he was blocked by his own tiring stablemate Mate. After the interference Mate held on to win and Twenty Grand placed second by a half length. His performances in 1931 earned him retrospective American Horse of the Year honors.

After twenty five races, of which he won fourteen, finished second four times and third three times, Twenty Grand was retired to stud but proved to be sterile.

In 1957, he was elected to the National Museum of Racing and 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...

. In the Blood-Horse ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Twenty Grand ranked number 52.