Citation: Five and Six-Year-Old Season

  After a one year break from racing, Citation returned to the racetrack in 1950 to win a six furlong(1320 yards) race at Santa Anita. In his next race, he met his rival, Noor. In every race the two entered, world records were broken and the two vied against each other to come out victorious. One of the greatest rivalries in racing history had begun.

 In the Golden Gate Mile, Citation defeated Noor, setting a new world record of 1:33 3/5, a record that stood until 1966. However,  Noor, who was carrying 110 pounds, ran the Santa Anita Handicap in world record time, defeating Citation, who carried 132 pounds. He once again defeated Citation in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, running a 2:52 4/5 two and three-quarters mile, a record that still stands today. Citation raced him two more times that season in the Forty-Niners Handicap and the Golden Gate Handicap. Both times he lost to Noor, who ran the tracks in world record time.  It seemed as if Big Cy was becoming a forgotten has-been.

 By the end of the season, Citation had won two races, place second to Noor six times, and second to Roman Inn once.

 If that season was bad, then his next season was worse by far. Warren Wright's(owner) dying wish had been that Citation would become the first millionaire equine, so he would not be retired before Wright's dream came true.

  Citation came third in his next two races, then ran out of money for the first time in his career after losing the Hollywood Premiere Handicap. His prospect of failing seemed further emphasized when he lost the Argonaut Handicap. However, just when things were beginning to look impossible, everyone's hopes were buoyed by Citation's successful runs in the Century Handicap and the American Handicap. Suddenly, things didn't seem so impossible.

Citation, the great racehorse(photo credit).

 In his next race, the final of his career, Citation raced against Bewitch, the first horse to hand him defeat, in the Hollywood Gold Cup. He won, becoming the first equine millionaire, and Bewitch earned $462,605, more than any other mare.

 Afterwards, Citation, along with Coaltown and Bewitch, retired to Calumet farms. Not only was Citation a Triple Crown winner, Horse of the Year, and the richest equine, but he also had the honor of being the first equine to be painted by Richard Reeves. He sired Preakness winner Fabius and champion filly Silver Spoon, to name a few. Then, on August 8, 1970, Citation, the great champion, passed away. He was buried next to his sire and dam, Bull Lea and  Hydroplane II.

 

Citation: Three-Year-Old Season

  In 1948, Citation began his three-year-old season in a six furlong(1320 yards) race, beating an older horse from his home stable, Armed, the previous Horse of the Year, by one length. The two were next entered in the Seminole Handicap, and Citation once again defeated the more experienced horse. People couldn't believe that a young would defeat older horses so early in the season.

 Next, Citation won both the Everglades Stakes and the Flamingo Stakes. However, when his regular rider, Al Snider,  was killed in a fishing accident and Eddie Arcaro took his place, Citation lost for the second time. The Chesapeake Trial Stake's track was slick and muddy, so Arcaro was afraid to push the young horse too hard. Consequently, Citation placed second to a horse known as Saggy. Later, in the Chesapeake Stakes, Citation came back for revenge, and Saggy placed eleventh.

 Then came the Kentucky Derby. Almost everyone expected one of the horses from Citation's stable,  Calumet, to win, but the question was, which one? Many believed that Coaltown would, and Citation would not come out victorious. They would soon see for themselves how wrong they really were.

 Right out of the gates, Coaltown, Citation's rival, took the lead. It wasn't until the half mile point, when  Coaltown was leading by six lengths, did Citation make his move, easily passing his rival for a win of three and half lengths.

 In the Preakness Stakes, Citation's win was even more amazing than the last. He led from starting to finish, winning by five and a half lengths, with Vulcan's Forge second. Then Big Cy ran in the Jersey Stakes, easily winning by eleven lengths, which, to many people's surprise, did not scare off competition for the Belmont.

 At that time, everyone knew that Citation had speed, but his stamina was questionable. No one expected a 1948 Triple Crown winner. After all, many horses win both the Derby and the Preakness but fail to grab the final jewel of the Crown: the Belmont Stakes, a grueling, mile and a half race that requires a special combination of both speed and stamina, something people thought Citation lacked. Even so, surprises do happen, and Big Cy was ready to surprise.

 Everyone's expectations faded in nothingness as Citation made his move, winning by eight lengths and tying Count Fleet's record of 2:28 1/5. Citation had effortlessly snatched the Triple Crown!

 Citation later injured his hip in the Chicago Stars and Stripes Handicap, but he returned to the racetracks just two weeks later in top form, winning both the American Derby and the Sysonby Mile. Even though some still believed that he lacked stamina, their doubts were clashed a few weeks later when Citation won the two mile long Jockey Club Gold Cup by seventh lengths. He made 1947 Preakness winner Phalanx and champion mare Conniver look like amateurs! He then won the mile and five sixteenths Empire Gold Cup.

 No one dared to race Citation in the Pimlico Special, so Citation automatically took the prize money. Then he headed west, winning two races, including the Tanforan Handicap in track record time.

 By the end of the season, Citation had won 27 races out of 29 lifetime starts, and had earned $865,150, as well as the 1948 Horse of the Year award. What a horse!

 Unfortunately, he developed osselet, and type of osteo-arthritis that effects the fetlock. Because of that, he had to sit out one season, giving Coaltown the 1949 Horse of the Year award.

Citation: Two-Year-Old Season

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.

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.