{{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Roamer , image = Roamer 4100326791 bd33c9cefc o

, caption = Roamer mounted by Thomas McTaggart in 1913 , sire = Knight Errant , grandsire = Trenton , dam = Rose Tree II , damsire =

Bona Vista Bona Vista (1889–1909) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old he won the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom Downs. As a three-year-old he won the Newmarket Racecourse, Newmarket Biennial Stakes, before winning th ...

, 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 = 1911 , 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 =

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, breeder =

Runnymede Farm Runnymede Farm is an American horse breeding farm located outside Paris, Kentucky on U.S. Route 27, the Paris-Cynthiana Road. It is said to be the longest continuously running Thoroughbred horse farm in Kentucky, established in 1867 by American ...

(Clay Brothers) , owner = The Clay Brothers
Andrew Miller , trainer = A. J. Goldsborough , record = 98: 39-26-9 , earnings = $98,828 , race= Saratoga Special Stakes (1913)
Carter Handicap (1914)

Brooklyn Derby The Dwyer Stakes is an American Grade III stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred racehorses held annually at Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, Long Island, New York. Run in early July, it is open to three-year-old horses and is raced over a ...

(1914)
Huron Handicap (1914)
Midsummer Stakes (1914)

Municipal Handicap The Municipal Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race for horses of either sex age three and older. It was held at Morris Park Racecourse in The Bronx, New York from inception in 1895 through 1904 when the racetrack closed. It was then r ...

(1914)

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 ...

(1914)

Washington Handicap The Washington Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland. Open to horses age three and older, it was contested on dirt over a distance of a mile and a quarter (10 furlongs). At one ...

(1914)

Brookdale Handicap The Brookdale Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid summer from 1887 through 1910 at Gravesend Race Track in Brooklyn, New York and from 1914 through 1933 at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. Open to horses age three an ...

(1915)

Havre de Grace Handicap The Havre de Grace Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race first run on the August 26, 1912 opening day of the new Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Although most of its runnings would take place in early fall, its fin ...

(1915)

Merchants and Citizens Handicap The Merchants and Citizens Handicap is a discontinued American Thoroughbred horse race which was first run in 1900 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Open to horses aged three and older, it was contested on dirt. The inaugural ...

(1915)
Queens County Handicap (1915, 1918)
Saratoga Cup (1915)
Saratoga Handicap (1915, 1917, 1918)

Excelsior Handicap The Excelsior Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. A Listed event for three-year-olds and up, it is contested over a distance of one-and-on ...

(1917)
Empire City Handicap (1918)

Pierrepont Handicap The Pierrepont Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race first run in 1904 at the Jamaica Race Course in Jamaica, Queens, New York operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club which had begun racing operations the previous year. The race wa ...

(1918)
Against time for a mile (1918)
Against time for a mile 1/4 (1918) , awards =

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to sanction the various awards, "Hor ...

(1914)

American Champion Older Male Horse The title of American Champion Older Dirt Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a stallion or gelding, four years old and up, for performances on dirt and main track racing surfaces. In 1971, it became part of ...

(1915, 1916) , honours = United States Racing Hall of Fame (1981)
#99 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century

Roamer Handicap The Roamer Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race held at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. It was open to three-year-old horses of either sex and contested on dirt over a distance of 9.5 furlongs (1 3/16 miles / 1,900 metres). Ru ...

Aqueduct Racetrack Aqueduct Racetrack is a Thoroughbred horse racing facility and casino in the South Ozone Park, Queens, South Ozone Park and Jamaica, Queens, Jamaica neighborhoods of Queens, New York City, United States. Aqueduct is the only racetrack locate ...

, updated = Roamer (1911–1920) was a champion 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 c ...

racehorse 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 ...

who was ranked #99 in the

Blood-Horse magazine ''BloodHorse'' is a multimedia news organization covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding that started with a newsletter first published in 1916 as a monthly bulletin put out by the Thoroughbred Horse Association.

's list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century.

Background

Roamer was bred in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

by the sons of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Ezekiel Clay of

, who had raced some of the best of American racehorses in the 19th Century;

Hall of Famer 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 fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Ben Brush Ben Brush (1893–1918) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1896 Kentucky Derby. Walter Vosburgh, for whom the Vosburgh Stakes is named, said Bramble was "a breed as tough as pine nuts." On May 6, 1896, Bramble and Ros ...

who won the 1896

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 ...

;

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

who was the

Leading sire in North America The list below shows the leading sire of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America for each year since 1830. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the year. It is restricted to stallions which are based in N ...

four times, Runneymede who was second in the

1882 Kentucky Derby The 1882 Kentucky Derby was the 8th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 16, 1882. Full results Payout *The winner received a purse of $4,560. *Second place received $200. References {{Kentucky Derby 1882 Kentucky ...

behind Apollo, and

Miss Woodford Miss Woodford (1880–1899) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who was one of the top American fillies of all time, winning 16 consecutive races. Background Miss Woodford was bred in Kentucky by the Ezekiel Clay & Catesby Woodford b ...

who won 16 consecutive races and was the first American horse to earn over $100,000. Roamer's father was a teaser stallion named Knight Errant who jumped a fence to get at Rose Tree II, a blind English-bred claiming mare, hence the name of the unexpected ill-bred foal, Roamer. Roamer was a small bay colt born in 1911 who was gelded almost immediately.

Racing career

Roamer raced for the Clay brothers as a two-year-old. One of the brothers entered him in a $1,000 selling race, only to see him claimed, and had to buy him back for $2,005. He was then sold for $2,500 to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

publisher Andrew Miller, the secretary/treasurer of Saratoga. (Miller, one of the founders of

Life magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

, was a classmate of

Teddy Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and in 1900 helped purchase and revive the Saratoga Race Course.) At that point, Roamer's training was taken over by A. J. Goldsborough. He could run short races, and long. Any surface suited him. He carried up to 133 pounds and broke more track records than any other American racehorse up to his time. Roamer could carry his early speed. Descriptions of many of his races say that he "cantered home" or "won easing up." At the ages of three and four, he was the undisputed champion. He won the Saratoga Special Stakes, the Carter Handicap (against older horses and setting a track record), the Brooklyn Derby (an 8 length rout), the Midsummer Stakes, the

(a ten length romp while setting another record), the Huron Handicap, the State Fair Stakes, the Municipal Handicap, the Autumn WFA Stakes, the

at Laurel Park Racecourse (giving away 22 pounds to the runner-up and breaking the American 9-furlong record), the Queens County Handicap (twice), the Brookdale Handicap (twice), the Saratoga Handicap (3 times), the

, the Saratoga Cup, the

, the National Handicap, the Yonkers Handicap (twice), the

, the Aqueduct Handicap, the

Arlington Handicap The Arlington Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged four years old over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the turf held annually in late May or early June at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Th ...

, the Empire City Handicap, the Mount Vernon Handicap, the Pierrepont Handicap, the

Edgemere Handicap The Edgemere Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race. Inaugurated in 1901 at the old Aqueduct Racetrack, it was open to horses of all ages and contested on dirt at a distance of one mile and seventy yards. The following year the distance ...

, the Continental Handicap, and an Overnight 'cap as an 8-year-old beating the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

champion,

Sun Briar Sun Briar (foaled 1915 in France) was a Thoroughbred racehorse retrospectively named the American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt of 1917 and the American Champion Older Male Horse of 1919 by writers from The Blood-Horse magazine. He was a son of Su ...

, Roamer's final career win. He also finished ahead of another Hall of Famer,

Old Rosebud Old Rosebud (March 13, 1911 – May 23, 1922) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse whose pedigree traced to the influential sire Eclipse, and through Eclipse to the founding stallion, the Darley Arabian. In the list of the top 100 U.S. thoro ...

, in the

Yonkers Handicap Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

, placing second in his final start ever. As his career progressed, Roamer was required to carry more and more weight. In August 1918, at the age of seven, he attempted to beat the great Salvator's 1890 record mile of 1:35 1/4. He came under the wire in 1:34 4/5. (Fifty years later, in 1968,

Dr. Fager Dr. Fager (April 6, 1964 – August 5, 1976) was an American thoroughbred racehorse who had what many consider one of the greatest single racing seasons by any horse in the history of the sport. In 1968 at the age of four, he became the only hors ...

set a new mark of 1:32 1/5 around one turn 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 ...

. This record stood for over thirty years.) In 1914, he was the track's leading earner and was named America's Horse of the Year. Roamer made 98 starts over 7 years, and won 39 of them and finished second in 26 of them. His career earnings were $98,828.

Retirement

Roamer died on the first day of the year 1920. On that New Year's Eve, his owner Andrew Miller suffered a fatal heart attack. A few hours later, Roamer slipped on ice in his paddock and broke his leg. He had to be euthanized. His jockey for the last three years of his life,

Andy Schuttinger Andrew Schuttinger (July 13, 1892 – March 5, 1971) was an American jockey, trainer and owner in the sport of thoroughbred horse racing. A highly successful jockey, Andy Schuttinger won numerous important races including the Travers Stakes, J ...

, said, "He is as smart as they come, but is as honest as the day is long. He will give up to the last ounce of speed he has on tap." "His action is what makes him great," said his trainer. "I never expect to see another like him." Roamer was inducted into 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 ...

in Saratoga Springs,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, in 1981.

References

Roamer's pedigree

Roamer's page in the Hall of Fame

1911 racehorse births 1920 racehorse deaths Racehorses trained in the United States American Thoroughbred Horse of the Year American Champion racehorses United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees Racehorses bred in Kentucky