Harvey Guy Bedwell (June 22, 1876 – December 31, 1951) was an American

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 ...

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 trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

and owner who was the first trainer to win the U.S. Triple Crown.H. Guy Bedwell at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
/ref> Born in

Roseburg, Oregon Roseburg is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is in the Umpqua River, Umpqua River Valley in southern Oregon and is the county seat and most populous city of Douglas County, Oregon, Douglas County. Founded in 1851, the population was 23,683 a ...

he was known by his middle name. As a young man, Guy Bedwell began working as a

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

and by the early 1900s owned and raced horses in

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before moving to the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

. He raced

s from a base at tracks 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 ...

and at Empire City Race Track in

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as well as at Old Woodbine Race Course in

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Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

where he became acquainted with the wealthy stable owner,

J. K. L. Ross Commander John Kenneth Leveson "Jack" Ross, CBE (31 March 1876 – 25 July 1951) was a Canadian businessman, sportsman, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder, and philanthropist. He is best remembered for winning the first United States Triple ...

. In 1909, Bedwell won more races than any trainer in the United States but after

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legislation banded

parimutuel betting Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...

and ended racing in that state, Bedwell moved to

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 ...

where he conditioned horses at Covington's

Latonia Race Track Latonia Race Track on Winston Avenue in Latonia ( Covington) Kentucky, six miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a Thoroughbred horse racing facility opened in 1883. The track hosted a spring-summer racing series and a second in late fall. It wa ...

. When racing resumed in New York, Bedwell returned to compete there and repeated as the

United States Champion Thoroughbred Trainer by wins There is recognition for the United States Champion Thoroughbred Trainer by wins but no formal award is given to the Horse trainer, trainer in Thoroughbred flat racing whose horses won the most races in North American Thoroughbred horse race, Thorou ...

from 1912 through 1917. In 1918, he took over as head trainer of the J. K. L. Ross stables in Vercheres, Qc. Among his best horses that year was

Cudgel A club (also known as a cudgel, baton, bludgeon, truncheon, cosh, nightstick, or impact weapon) is a short staff or stick, usually made of wood, wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times. There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused ...

who earned

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 ...

honors. Bedwell finished 1918 as the

United States Champion Thoroughbred Trainer by earnings There is recognition for the United States Champion Thoroughbred Trainer by earnings but no formal award is given to the trainer in Thoroughbred flat racing whose horses earned the most purse money in North American Thoroughbred racing. Note that ...

First Triple Crown Champion

In 1918, Guy Bedwell had two highly regarded two-year-olds in his care. Billy Kelly shared

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 with James W. McClelland's colt,

Eternal Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to: * Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state * Immortality or eternal life * God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism Comics, film and television * ...

. The second outstanding runner under Bedwell's care was

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who is regarded as the best 3-year-old filly in American racing in 1919 and who would be voted

American Champion Older Female Horse The Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Female Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a filly or mare, four years old and up, for performances on dirt and main track racing surfaces. In 1971, it became part of the ...

honors in 1920. Going into the 1919 season, owner J. K. L. Ross acquired another three-year-old named

Sir Barton Sir Barton (April 26, 1916 – October 30, 1937) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the first winner of the American Triple Crown. Background Sir Barton was a chestnut colt bred in 1916, in Kentucky, by John E. Madden at H ...

from

John E. Madden John Edward Madden (December 28, 1856 – November 3, 1929) was a prominent American Thoroughbred and Standardbred owner, breeder and trainer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He owned Hamburg Place Stud in Lexington, Kentucky ...

. Winless in six starts at two, Sir Barton had good early speed and as such was entered 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 ...

to serve as a pace-setting ''rabbit'' for stablemate, Billy Kelly and his jockey,

Earl Sande Earl Harold Sande (November 13, 1898 – August 19, 1968) was an American Hall of Fame jockey and thoroughbred horse trainer. Early life in South Dakota Born in Groton, South Dakota, Earl Sande started out as a bronco buster in the early 1900s b ...

. The combined betting entry of Billy Kelly and Sir Barton were made the second choice among bettors in the Derby behind favorite, Eternal. As planned, jockey

Johnny Loftus John Patrick Loftus (October 13, 1895 – March 23, 1976) was an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey.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 ...

at the

Pimlico Race Course Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Ol ...

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. The colt won the race then went on to capture the

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 ...

in New York and shortly thereafter completed the first Triple Crown in U.S. history by easily winning 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 ...

while setting a track and American record for the then mile and three-eighths race. In addition to Sir Barton, in 1919 Bedwell also trained and raced the Ross-owned filly Constancy who would earn the

American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly The American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a female horse in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971. The award originated in 1936 when both t ...

title. For 1919, Bedwell won his second consecutive national earnings title. In 1921, Guy Bedwell became part of a dispute involving J. K. L. Ross and the New York Jockey Club over the lifting of the ban on jockey Cal Shilling. Shilling worked for Bedwell as an exercise jockey and also helped with horse conditioning. Bedwell had testified before the Maryland State Racing Commission in support of Shilling's application for a jockey's license and as a result he too became a central figure in the controversy. The April 21, 1921 issue of the ''

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'' quoted from a letter by August Belmont Jr. to J. K. L. Ross saying "the entries of your stable will not be acceptable to this association if ex-Jockey Carroll Shilling or H. G. Bedwell is in any way connected, directly or indirectly, with the same." The matter resulted in Bedwell's horses racing primarily in Maryland for nearly twenty years before he was allowed to compete again at racetracks in New York State. After winning the American Triple Crown with Sir Barton, Bedwell never trained another triple crown race winner but in Canada he won the 1924 and 1926 editions of the

Breeders' Stakes The Breeders' Stakes is a stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses foaled in Canada, first run in 1889. Since 1959, it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds. Held annually in August at Woodbine Racetrack in To ...

, a race that now forms part of the Canadian Triple Crown series. After J. K. L. Ross encountered financial problems and was forced to liquidate his stables, Bedwell trained for various owners including, late in his career, for Elizabeth Arden's

Maine Chance Farm Maine Chance Farm was an American Thoroughbred horse racing stable in Lexington, Kentucky owned by cosmetics tycoon Elizabeth Arden. Elizabeth Arden raced under the '' nom de course'' "Mr. Nightingale" until 1943 when she adopted the name Maine ...

. His son, L. G. (Buster) Bedwell, also became a trainer. Still active in racing, Guy Bedwell died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

in 1951 having won more than 2,100 races.''New York Times'' - January 2, 1952
/ref> In 1971, he was posthumously 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 ...

. Bedwell was one of the trainers in American Thoroughbred horse racing

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Edward L. Bowen's 2007 book '' Masters of the Turf: Ten Trainers Who Dominated Horse Racing's Golden Age''.

References

Excerpts on H. Guy Bedwell from the book ''Man O' War : A Legend Like Lightning'' by Dorothy Ours

* ttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05E7DF173EEE3ABC4153DFB166838A639EDE ''New York Times'' July 9, 1921 article titled ''Bedwell Granted License'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedwell, H. Guy 1874 births 1952 deaths American horse trainers United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Roseburg, Oregon