Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

gelding A gelding (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɛldɪŋ/) is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. The term is also used with certain other animals and livestock, such as domesticated Camelidae, camels. By compa ...

race horse ''Race Horse'' was an 1850 clipper barque. She set a record of 109 days from New York to San Francisco during the first Clipper Race around the Horn. Construction ''Race Horse'' was similar to a barque built by Samuel Hall a few years earlier, ...

who was the

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, or simply 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 san ...

in 1947 and Champion Older Male Horse in both 1946 and 1947. He 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 horse racing, Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and Horse trainer, trainers. In 1955, the museum ...

in 1963.

Background

Armed was sired by the great stakes winner

Bull Lea Bull Lea (March 11, 1935 – June 16, 1964) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is best known as the foundation sire responsible for making Calumet Farm one of the most successful racing stables in American history. In their ...

, the sire of

Citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...

. His dam was Armful, whose sire was

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

winner Chance Shot and whose grandsire was the great Fair Play. Besides being small for his age and very headstrong, Armed had the habits of biting and kicking

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

out of his handler's

pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

. Since he was also practically untrainable, his trainer, Ben A. Jones, sent him back to

Calumet Farm Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegrass ...

to be gelded and turned out to grow up. He returned to the track late in his two-year-old season and resumed training.

Racing career

His first start was as a three-year-old the following February, and he won at

Hialeah Park The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East ...

by eight lengths. He won again less than a week later but then won only once in five more starts and had to be rested due to an

ankle The ankle, the talocrural region or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joint. The ...

injury. Armed raced for seven seasons, from 1944 to 1950, finishing with a 41-20-10 record in 81 starts. On April 20, 1946, under jockey

Douglas Dodson Douglas Allan Dodson (December 21, 1921 - February, 1982) was a National Champion jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Early life Douglas Dodson was born in Pickardville, Alberta, Canada, the son of James Floyd and Emma Dodson. His fami ...

Armed broke the track record for a mile and a sixteenth on dirt with a winning time of 1:43 1/5 in the

Philadelphia Handicap The Philadelphia Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race held thirty-eight times between 1913 and 1950 at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Run on dirt, the race was open to horses of either sex age three and older. ...

at the

Havre de Grace Racetrack The Havre de Grace Racetrack was an American horse racing race track, track on Post Road in Havre de Grace, Maryland, Havre de Grace, Harford County, Maryland, Harford County, Maryland. Nicknamed "The Graw," it operated from August 24, 1912, to 1 ...

. In 1947, again ridden by jockey Dodson, he defeated U.S. Triple Crown champion

Assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

in a

match race A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams cons ...

Belmont Park Belmont Park is a thoroughbred racing, thoroughbred horse racetrack in Elmont, New York, just east of New York City limits best known for hosting the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United Stat ...

and set a track record of 2:01-3/5 for one and one-quarter miles while winning the

Widener Handicap The Widener Handicap at Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida was a Grade III stakes race for Thoroughbred racehorses 3-years-old and up. It was run over a distance of miles (10 furlongs) until 1993 when it was modified to miles. Initiall ...

and carrying 129 pounds. He repeated as

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 ...

and was voted 1947

honors. In the Horse of the Year poll conducted by ''Turf and Sport Digest'' magazine, he received 151 of a possible 173 votes to win the title from

, Stymie,

Bewitch Bewitch (1945–1959) was a Thoroughbred race horse born in 1945 at Calumet Farm, Kentucky, United States in the same crop in which the stallion Bull Lea produced Citation and Coaltown. Each of them was eventually inaugurated into the Thoroughb ...

and

Retirement and death

Armed died in 1964 of an

intestinal The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The tract is the largest of the body's systems, after the cardiovascular system. T ...

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

. In 1963, he was inducted into

. In ''

The Blood-Horse ''The Blood-Horse'' (also referred to simply as ''Blood-Horse'' and displayed on its nameplate in upright all-capital letters without hyphenation as BLOODHORSE) is a news magazine that originated in 1916 as a monthly bulletin of the Thoroughbred ...

'' ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, he was ranked #39.

References

Armed's pedigree

TB Library profile of Armed by
Avalyn Hunter

External links

KY Horsepark Calumet 1947
{{American Horse of the Year winners 1941 racehorse births 1964 racehorse deaths Thoroughbred family 3-o Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Horse racing track record setters American Thoroughbred Horse of the Year United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees