Prairie Bayou (March 4, 1990 – June 5, 1993) was an American

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 ...

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

racehorse owned and bred by Loblolly Stable of

Lake Hamilton, Arkansas Lake Hamilton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Garland County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,135 at the 2010 census. It is named after Lake Hamilton, one of the are ...

. Named for a bayou between

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

and Hot Springs in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, he was sired by Little Missouri and out of the

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...

Whiffling. Owned by Loblolly Stable, after Prairie Bayou's success on the racetrack, including the 1993

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 () o ...

, Calumet Farm purchased Whiffling in foal to Danzig for $1,050,000 at the 1994 Keeneland November Sale.

Early racing career

At age two Prairie Bayou won a maiden race and an allowance race. He went on to place second in his next two starts in stakes races. He finished as the runner-up in both the Inner Harbor Stakes and the Pappa Riccio Stakes. As a three-year-old he really began to show promise. He won the

Count Fleet Stakes The Count Fleet Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run at Aqueduct Racetrack, located in Jamaica, New York, at the beginning of January each year. It is the first stakes race of the year run in New York City for three-year-olds. Nam ...

and the

Whirlaway Stakes The Whirlaway Stakes is a race for Thoroughbred horses held in February at Aqueduct Racetrack. The Whirlaway Stakes is open to three-year-olds willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles (8.5 furlongs) on the dirt. It is an ungraded event offer ...

at Aqueduct in the first quarter of 1993. In March Prairie Bayou won the Spriral Stakes at

Turfway Park Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located within the city limits of Florence, Kentucky, about south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The track conducts live Thoroughbred horse racing during two meets each year—Holiday (December), ...

. In April he won the grade one

Blue Grass Stakes The Blue Grass Stakes, currently the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes due to sponsorship by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. The race is ru ...

Keeneland Race Course Keeneland Association, Inc. is an equine business based in Lexington, Kentucky. It includes two distinct divisions: the Keeneland Race Course, a Thoroughbred racing facility, and Keeneland Sales, a horse auction complex. It is also known for i ...

. Leading up to the 1993 Kentucky Derby, Prairie Bayou was made the betting favorite for the Derby, as well as for the other two Triple Crown races, Prairie Bayou was ridden by jockey Mike Smith. A come-from-behind horse, in the Derby he was caught far back in the large field for most of the race. In the final quarter, the gelding had to move to the far outside in order to make a strong stretch run that earned him a second-place finish behind

Sea Hero Sea Hero (foaled March 4, 1990 – July 12, 2019) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1993 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes. Beginning in 2011, Sea Hero was the oldest living winner of the Kentucky Derby unt ...

Preakness Stakes and Death

Prairie Bayou came back to win the

, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown, but then broke down in the Belmont Stakes and was euthanized. Mike Smith, the jockey aboard Prairie Bayou, leaped off the horse as he broke down, and was unable as a result to pull him up and avoid further injury.New York Daily News He is buried at Longfield Farm near Goshen, Kentucky.

Pedigree

References

External links

Prairie Bayou's pedigree and partial racing stats
{{Preakness Stakes Winners 1990 racehorse births 1993 racehorse deaths Horses who died from racing injuries Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Preakness Stakes winners Eclipse Award winners American Grade 1 Stakes winners Thoroughbred family 1-x