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Whirlaway
A Time To Remember
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Whirlaway,
1938
Blenheim II - Dustwhirl, by Sweep
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For a time at the beginning of his three-year-old campaign,
it appeared that the future triple crown winner, was not going to make
delivery on the promises he had given at two.
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The finish photograph of the 1941 Saranac
Handicap
in which War Relic (top) seemed to be closest to the
wire but actually Whirlaway (nearest camera) was the winner.
Under a microscope, what appeared as a hoof print on the track
was actually Whirlaway's flaring nostril.
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My sincere thanks to The Thoroughbred Record
for permission to share their material that those new to the sport of racing may also re-live the moment.
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AudioŠ
WHIRLAWAY
1941 Kentucky Derby - stretch run.
Wait
for download 352 KB's |
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.In the Derby Trial,
he refused to maintain a straight course, and he was
defeated, although he did recover after bearing out and
was gaining on the winner, Blue Pair, at the end. He had
now run out on two occasions. On both of these he was
ridden by Calumet's contract jockey Wendell Eads, a boy
still fresh from the apprentice ranks. For the Kentucky
Derby, Ben Jones obtained the services of Eddie Arcaro,
under contract to Greentree Stable, but granted permission
to ride for Calumet when Greentree did not have a
competing horse.
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Arcaro was introduced to
his mount during morning work hours in an unusual
manner. To find out whether his new rider could prevent
the colt from veering to the outside, Jones, astride a
fat stable pony, planted himself a few feet out from the
rail and told Arcaro to ride Whirlaway through the hole.
As the jockey later described his feelings, "I
couldn't see enough room, but I thought if the old man
was game enough to sit there, I'd be game enough to try
it." He tried it, and made it..
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The jockey was startled again in the
paddock just before the Derby when Jones, mumbling
something about, "I'll fix that so-and-so,"
yanked out a knife --but he used it only to cut away the
inside cup from Whirlaway's blinkers, thus providing the
colt with unrestricted vision out of his left eye.
Jone's decision was not so impulsive as it appeared to
be, because early that morning he had confided his plan
to two newspaper reporters.
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The 1941 Kentucky Derby was a memorable
race in more ways than one. Both his recent conquerors,
Our Boots and Blue Pair, were in the field, but
Whirlaway nevertheless was a lukewarm favorite, with the
Santa Anita Derby winner, Porter's Cap, second choice.
It was testimony to the Calumet colt's popular appeal,
the flair he had -- once he decided to run -- that made
him appear invincible, and no race was more illustrative
of "Mr. Longtail's" special personality than
the one he ran the afternoon of May 3, 1941.
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Dispose, winner of the Flamingo, led for
the first mile, but when Whirlaway launched his drive
from fourth place it was all over but the ticket
cashing. His tail (which lacked not more than an inch of
touching the ground when he stood still) streaming
behind him, ran the final quarter in a fantastic
:23 3/5 seconds to win by eight lengths as Staretor,
longest shot on the board at 36-1, was second by a neck
over Market Wise, the early contenders having given up.
The winner's final time of 2:01 2/5 broke the former
track record set by Twenty Grand ten years before, and
Whirlaway was not once touched with the whip--Arcaro was
looking over his shoulder in the final yards for
competition that never materialized.
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With Arcaro again in the saddle,
Whirlaway was an easy winner by five and a half lengths
in the Preakness, after which Eads rode him to a victory
against the older horses Mioland, Hash and Your Chance
in an allowance race of May 20 -- an unusual preparation
for the Belmont Stakes. The latter was merely a workout
for the Calumet comet, as only three rivals challenged
him in the 1 1/2-mile contest; after piling up a
seven-length lead before the race was half over, Arcaro
took Whirlaway in hand and they sauntered home to win
the Triple Crown.
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With no apparent opposition in sight from
active horses, Whirlaway began running against history
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