Louis C. Feustel (January 2, 1884 – July 7, 1970) was an American
Thoroughbred horse racing
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in t ...
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
trainer best known as the trainer of
Man o' War
Man o' War (March 29, 1917 – November 1, 1947) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is widely regarded as the greatest racehorse of all time. Several sports publications, including ''The Blood-Horse'', ''Sports Illustrated'', ESPN, and ...
.
The August Belmont Years
Born in
Lindenhurst, NY, Feustel was only ten years old when he began working in the horse racing industry as a stable hand. At age twenty-four he became a professional trainer. He had a long association with
August Belmont Jr., working as a lad at his stable and rising to the position of foreman. and head trainer. In 1913, Feustel conditioned Belmont's colt
Rock View to
American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse The American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971.
The award originated in 1936 when both ''Turf & Sport ...
honors with wins in several major races including the
Brooklyn Derby and the
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to internation ...
.
In 1914, August Belmont began winding down his racing operations and sold off a number of his runners. When the United States entered
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the sixty-five-year-old August Belmont Jr. joined the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
. While overseas he decided to liquidate his racing operations and Louis Feustel went out on his own, racing horses for himself before going to work as the head trainer for
Sam Riddle's Glen Riddle Farm
Glen Riddle Farm was a large horse farm in Berlin, Maryland in the United States. Located on what today is Route 50 between Ocean City and Berlin, it was owned by a wealthy textile businessman Samuel D. Riddle who named it for his home town Glen ...
. Prior to the 1918
Saratoga auction of the Belmont horses, Feustel had urged Sam Riddle to purchase a yearling son of an August Belmont horse he was very familiar with named
Fair Play
Fair play or Fairplay usually refers to sportsmanship.
Fair play or Fairplay may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fair Play'' (1925 film), an American silent film
* ''Fair Play'', a 1972 TV movie starring Paul Ford
* ''Fair Play'' (2014 film), a Czech ...
. Riddle, however, was not impressed enough by the young horse and balked at buying until his wife put added pressure on him.
Man o' War
Riddle's reluctant purchase was named Man o' War and Louis Feustel prepared the colt for the 1919 racing campaign at training facilities in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. The trainer brought him along slowly and after making his debut in mid year, Man o' War won nine of his ten starts and earned
American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt The American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971.
The award originated in 1936 when the ''Daily Racing F ...
honors. In his three-year-old season, under Feustel's handling Man o' War won all ten of his starts. The term
Triple Crown
Triple Crown may refer to:
Sports Horse racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)
** Triple Crown Trophy
** Triple Crown Productions
* Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Trip ...
did not come into use until 1930 and in February 1920 Sam Riddle announced that Man o' War would not make the long train journey south to run in the
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...
. However, they won the
Preakness Preakness may refer to:
* The Preakness or Preakness Stakes, an American flat thoroughbred horse race held in Baltimore, Maryland
* Preakness (horse), an American thoroughbred racehorse from Preakness Stables
* Preakness, New Jersey, a section of W ...
in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, and set a new record in winning
Elmont, New York's Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...
. In addition, he set records at New York tracks while winning the
Dwyer, the
Lawrence Realization and
Withers Stakes
The Withers Stakes is a Graded stakes race, Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three years old horses over the distance of miles on the dirt scheduled annually in February at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York (state), New York. T ...
. At the end of the year, Man o' War was retired to
stud
Stud may refer to the following terms:
Animals
* Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding
** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred
Arts and entertainment
* Stud (band), a British progressive rock group
* The Stud (bar), a gay ba ...
.
His1920 earnings helped Louis Feustel become that year's
leading money-winning trainer in the United States. Following its formation, both Feustel and the horse would be inducted in the
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 1955, the museum moved to its current location on Union Av ...
and in the
, Man o' War was ranked Number one.
Later life
Relations between Louis Feustel and Sam Riddle became strained and near the end of June 1921 he made arrangements with his old employer, August Belmont, Jr., who had rebuilt his racing and
horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in ...
business, to prepare his
yearlings for racing. Although Feustel won the May 1922 Newtown Stakes and Richmond Handicap with Sam Riddle's horses, by the end of the year he was once again training all of the August Belmont, Jr. stable. In 1924, Feustel conditioned
Ladkin
{{Infobox racehorse
, horsename = Ladkin
, image =
, caption =
, sire = Fair Play
, grandsire = Hastings
, dam = Lading
, damsire = Negofol
, sex = Stallion
, foaled = 1921
, country = United States
, color = Chestnut
, breeder = ...
to his historic win in the
International Special No. 2 over the
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an superstar,
Epinard. August Belmont, Jr. died that year and Feustel was once again out on his own. In the latter part of the 1920s he began conditioning horses for
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
,
Bernard Ritter and in the 1930s he trained a successful racing stable for Mrs. Elizabeth Graham Lewis.
A serious automobile accident in February 1943 kept Louis Feustel out of racing for several months and in 1950, after forty-two years training horses, he retired. He and his wife eventually made their home in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
. Following his wife's death, in the late 1960s Feustel was living with a son in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
.
Louis Feustel died on July 7, 1970, at age eighty-six.
References
Biography of Louis Feustel at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feustel, Louis
1884 births
1970 deaths
American racehorse trainers
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
People from Maryland
People from Lindenhurst, New York