Extraordinary Photo File 
Citation
 1945
Bull Lea-Hydroplane II, by Hyperion

My sincere thanks 
 to The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America for permission to excerpt their article -- that those new to the sport of racing may also re-live the moment.

Extraordinary Picture File
From the personal collection of Bill Miller

 Jockey Eddie Arcaro and Citation
at Tanforan in December 1948

. . . certainly, no three-year-old 
ever compiled a comparable record.
 In action from early February until mid-December, making twenty starts --an exceptionally heavy campaign for a stakes horse -- Citation lost just one race, 
but put together a string of fifteen successive victories (ultimately, extended to sixteen), longest winning streak in the history of modern racing.

In 1948 he won at distances 
ranging from 6 furlongs to 2 miles; over fast, good, sloppy, heavy and muddy tracks; 
ridden by three different jockeys, at nine different tracks in seven different states -- Florida, Maryland, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and California.

It was inevitable that Citation,
at the corresponding stage of his career, 
be compared to Man o' War, and it is axiomatic that such comparisons are futile.

Running time -- a deceptive yardstick under the best of circumstances--in the case of horses who raced twenty-eight years apart, offers no basis for valid comparison. 
Man o' War ran with steel horseshoes over tracks that were in general slower than the surfaces Citation negotiated with aluminum plates. 
Man o' War shattered a number of records, Citation shaved a few--but they were horses of different types. 
"Big Red" was a gay, ebullient giant who squandered the energy with which he had been so copiously endowed; 
Citation was a slick, relentless running machine, of calm, efficient disposition, evidently content just with getting the job done.

In 1920, when Man o' War was king, 
only 4,032 race horses saw action during the season; 
by 1948, the year of Citation, this number had increased to 20,254 potential challengers for the crown. 
Both horses could run fast and far, carrying the weights assigned 
in their time. Competent judges can be found to advance the merits of either one over the other.

On way to be saddled for a new world record of 
1-mile in 1:33.3

.

July 14, 1951: 
In his last race, Calumet Farm's six-year-old Citation won
the Hollywood Gold Cup by four lengths, and became racing's first
millionaire horse.

July 20, 1951: 
Six-year-old Citation, the first Thoroughbred to earn
 $1 million, was retired.

July 28, 1951: 
Citation, then the world's leading money-winning
Thoroughbred, was paraded before a crowd of 28,000 at Arlington Park in his
last public appearance at a track before being retired to stud.