Paul T. Adwell (June 5, 1915 – October 22, 2001) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer best known for winning the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series in 1976. Between 1964 and 1991, Paul Adwell won 278 races at

Arlington Park Arlington International Racecourse (formerly Arlington Park, the name was Arlington Park Jockey Club from as soon as 1948 up to 1955) was a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago regi ...

racetrack in

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. During his career, he trained 18 stakes winners. In July 1974, Adwell and stable owner Gene Cashman attended the

Fasig-Tipton The Fasig-Tipton Company, Inc. is an American auction house for Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses. Founded in 1898, it is the oldest auction company of its kind in North America. The company has offices in Lexington, Kentucky, Elkton, Maryla ...

yearling Yearling may refer to: *Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old *''The Yearling ''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...

sales in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. They narrowed their selection to two yearling colts they liked but, unable to decide which one to buy, they flipped a coin and were the successful bidder on

Elocutionist Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...

By May 1976, the three-year-old Elocutionist had won the important Arkansas Derby and was Adwell and Cashman's first ever starter 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 ...

. Jockey John Lively rode their colt to a third-place finish in the Derby behind winner Bold Forbes who had been the yearling Adwell and Cashman did not buy at the auction as a result of the coin flip. In the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () on ...

, Bold Forbes and Derby runner-up,

Honest Pleasure {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Honest Pleasure , image = , caption = , sire = What a Pleasure , grandsire = Bold Ruler , dam = Tularia , damsire = Tulyar , sex = Stallion , foaled = 1973 , country = United States , colour = D ...

set a torrid pace as they battled for the lead. A patient John Lively kept Elocutionist within striking distance then in the stretch passed the tiring leaders to win by three and a half lengths

Scheduled to run in the third leg of the Triple Crown, a week before the race Paul Adwell announced the colt had suffered an injury to his right foreleg and would not run in the

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 ...

Elocutionist never raced again. Paul Adwell continued training Thoroughbreds until retiring in the early 1990s. He died in 2001 from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

at the age of eighty-six at a nursing home in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

References

May 16, 1976 ''St. Petersburg Times'' article on Paul Adwell and Elocutionist

Paul Adwell's obituary at Bloodhorse.com
1915 births 2001 deaths Deaths from Alzheimer's disease American horse trainers Sportspeople from Hot Springs, Arkansas Deaths from dementia in Arkansas {{US-horseracing-bio-stub