{{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Malicious , caption = , sire =

Omar Khayyam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar Khayyam ( fa, عمر خیّام), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, an ...

, grandsire =

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

, dam = Ridicule , damsire =

Black Jester Black Jester (1911–1928) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, best known for winning the Classic St Leger Stakes in 1914. The colt won nine times from twenty-three races in a track career which lasted from 1913 until October ...

, sex =

Gelding A gelding is a castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer and better-behaved, makin ...

, foaled = 1927 , country =

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, colour =

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

, breeder = Mrs. E. Turk , owner = Mrs. E. Turk , trainer = Lonnie Coperhaver , record = 185: 32-?-? , earnings = $14,755 , race = Olympic Club Handicap , honours = Guest appearance - 1939 San Francisco World's Fair , updated= December 21, 2007 Malicious (foaled 1927) was a

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

race horse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

sired by the winner of the 1917

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 ...

, out of Ridicule (by Black Jester). He began racing at the age of two and continued to compete until he was thirteen years old. During that time, he made 185 starts on virtually every

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also u ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

as well as

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Agua Caliente Racetrack Agua means water in Spanish. Agua may also refer to: Places * ''Agua de Dios'' (God's water), a municipality in Colombia * Volcán de Agua, a stratovolcano located in Guatemala Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Agua'' (film), a 2006 Argentin ...

. He won 32 times. Malicious was an $800 claimer. Owned by Mrs. E. Turk, he was trained for several years by Lonnie Coperhaver, known as the "King of the Gypsies." Malicious was a closer who often came from far back to win. People started calling him "

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

's Two-Mile Champion," and then the press discovered him. Running at the same time as

Seabiscuit Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse ...

, Malicious was also the center of adoring fans. He made a personal appearance at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

's 1939

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

, had people promoting merchandise in his name, and was interviewed on the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

. To ensure that people would stay for a full day's racing,

Santa Anita race track Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

would include a two-miler as its last race of the day for Malicious to run in. Morton Cathro, a retired newspaperman, wrote of seeing Malicious in the last days of his career: "As a teenager in the autumn of 1939, this writer witnessed a series of Saturday marathons at

Bay Meadows Bay Meadows was a horse racing track in San Mateo, California from 1934 until 2008, in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. History Built on the site of an old airfield, Bay Meadows Racecourse was the longest continually operating t ...

for top routers. Old Malicious showed up for the Nov. 11 finale, the four-mile Thornton Stakes. The weary road warrior, who hadn't started since that spring at Santa Anita, made his patented late surge to gain fourth in a blanket finish. That was his final race in the U.S. On Jan. 28, 1940, at age 13, one of the toughest iron horses of all time closed out his gallant career—a marathon in itself—by running second at Agua Caliente. His final paycheck was $100; his legacy, a claimer's place in the pantheon of sound, stout-hearted stakes horses—and in the hearts of a devoted public." Malicious earned a total of $14,755.

References

The pedigree of Malicious
1927 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 2-g Racehorses trained in the United States Racehorses bred in California