On April 11, 1945, a bay colt was born at Warren Wright's Calumet Farm, the most successful thoroughbred stable in American history. His sire is Bull Lea, who had raced under Calumet's blue and red colors before becoming a stud horse, and his dam is Hydroplane II, daughter of the English champion Hyperion.
Two years later, Citation began his racing career at the time when most horses at the track came from his home stable, Calumet Farms. Some of these horses included the filly Bewitch, Citation, and his rival Coaltown, who would compete against Citation for championship honors.
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| A picture of Citation(click here for original). |
On April 22, he won a race for two-year-olds, called a maiden race, by one length. Then he went on to break Arlington Park's track record for five furlongs(1,100 yards) and to win his first stake race, the Washington Park's Elementary Stakes. He only lost one race that season. In the Washington Park Futurity, his stablemate Bewitch, who had not lost a race that season, beat him, setting the new track record of 1:10 2/5. Some speculate that Citation had held back to prevent breaking Bewitch's streak, since he certainly wasn't pushing himself to the limits. Nobody really knows.
Next he won the 1947 Futurity Trial Stakes, and then gave Bewitch her first defeat in the Belmont Futurity. After that, he won his final race of the season, the Pimlico Futurity, and was rewarded divisional championship honors. Of the nine races he had won that year, he had only lost one race, which is pretty good.
But no one knew how great he really would become.
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