Horse with most wins in a year?

[FenceBored]

This has been bandied about in the Rapid Redux thread, but since DRF has joined in with their article including Roseben with Citation as the record holders at 19 wins in a year, I figure it needs a higher profile.

CJ backed by info he received from Doug S. points to Donald MacDonald who had 22 wins in 1913. He has even gone so far as to try to inform certain a certain journalist of this without success.

http://www.pacefigures.com/images/DM1.png


This appears to be from a larger piece with tables for 5 & ups from various years (May 5th, 1921 (http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=drf1920s;cc=drf1920s;rgn=full%20text;idno=dr f1921050501;didno=drf1921050501;view=pdf;seq=6_3;n ode=drf1921050501%3A6.3)).

Here is the somewhat rigorously sourced history of Donald MacDonald's 1913 campaign. The lines with dates are verified through actually looking at the chart # in question (available at the DRF Archive (http://kdl.kyvl.org/drf/drf-select.php?year=1913) on the next publication date). The later lines without dates are seen in his (and others) pps in 1914. Unfortunately the DRF Archive does not have online any issues from the end of September, 1913 to the beginning of April 1914, making it impossible to double check charts.

Note that at no time in 1913 did Donald MacDonald race outside the continental United States. He ran in South Carolina, Maryland, and New York.

Ran back on 2 days rest a couple of times, median rest from Jan-Sep was 5.5 days.

Donald MacDonald 1913 36-22-9-3


DRF
Chart# Date Race Track Fin Rest
6991 1/29/1913 5th Charleston, SC 1
7068 2/5/1913 4th Charleston, SC 1 7
7170 2/14/1913 4th Charleston, SC 4 9
7224 2/19/1913 4th Charleston, SC 1 5
7358 3/3/1913 4th Charleston, SC 1 12
7419 3/8/1913 5th Charleston, SC 5 5
7528 3/18/1913 4th Charleston, SC 1 10
7830 4/23/1913 6th Havre de Grace 1 36
7854 4/25/1913 6th Havre de Grace 1 2
7900 4/29/1913 4th Havre de Grace 1 4
8059 5/6/1913 3rd Pimlico 1 7
8226 5/14/1913 6th Pimlico 2 8
8322 5/19/1913 6th Pimlico 1 5
8624 5/30/1913 3rd Belmont 2 11
8669 6/2/1913 3rd Belmont 2 3
8809 6/6/1913 3rd Belmont 2 4
8898 6/11/1913 3rd Belmont 3 5
8938 6/13/1913 6th Belmont 1 2
9085 6/19/1913 3rd Belmont 1 6
9463 7/5/1913 3rd Belmont 2 16
9587 7/10/1913 2nd Belmont 1 5
9698 7/15/1913 4th Belmont 1 5
9833 7/19/1913 4th Belmont 2 4
9983 7/26/1913 4th Belmont 1 7
10062 7/30/1913 4th Belmont 2 4
10781 8/28/1913 3rd Saratoga 2 29
11142 9/10/1913 3rd Havre de Grace 1 13
11292 9/14/1913 3rd Havre de Grace 1 4
11739 9/29/1913 3rd Havre de Grace 1 15

11860 Laurel 3

12034 Laurel 1
12090 Laurel 1
12183 Laurel 2
12624 Charleston, SC 3
12715 Charleston, SC 1
12829 Charleston, SC 1




Does this mean that Donald MacDonald holds the record? Very likely, but maybe there's someone else out there who won more that we don't know about.

Anybody have any other ideas?

[cj]

I agree. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there are others. But at the very least, Donald Macdonald has more wins in the US than any horse I have seen in one year. The guy for Bloodhorse, Shandler, has tried arguing some of the wins were in Canada and Mexico, but I don't think that is true. He won in Toronto and Cuba in other years, but not 1913.

[FenceBored]

I agree. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there are others. But at the very least, Donald Macdonald has more wins in the US than any horse I have seen in one year. The guy for Bloodhorse, Shandler, has tried arguing some of the wins were in Canada and Mexico, but I don't think that is true. He won in Toronto and Cuba in other years, but not 1913.

I don't think it should matter anyway. If you look at the early 1913 DRF's the main tracks seemed to be Charleston, SC and Juarez, Mexico (a track run by Americans for Americans). Besides would anyone today really exclude a few races in Dubai, or Japan, or Europe by a US based runner?

[FenceBored]

The Bloodhorse article on Rapid Redux's next race (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/66527/rapid-redux-goes-for-another-record-dec-13) now adds Luke Blackburn (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/horses-view.asp?varID=104)to the mix. At 3 in 1880, he won 22 of his 24 starts.

[Tom]

All this research and fcat checking....and none of it by the alleged "writer!" :D
I guess admitting now that he knew not what he writes about would turn Rapid Redux into Acid Reflux for him.

[FenceBored]

I've started a list of horses with 15 or more wins in a year. Beginning to think that I should drop the 15's as they are nearly half the list. 14 entries of the 30 on the list have 15 wins (Pan Zareta's on there twice).

So far, the most wins for a two year old is 16 (from 26 starts), and the most starts for a two year old on the list is 41.

Came across this article from Feb. 6, 1907:

Interesting Facts and Figures: Forty % of horses running in 1906 winners. (http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=drf1900s;cc=drf1900s;g=drf;xc=1;q1=money%20e arners;rgn=full%20text;idno=drf1907020601;didno=dr f1907020601;view=pdf;seq=2_2;node=drf1907020601%3A 2.2;passterms=1)

Horse with most starts in 1906: Dolinda (Donald A. - Linda) with 70.
Horse with most wins in 1906: Charlie Eastman (Himyar -Brooch) with 17.

Looks like 51 horses won 10 or more that year and 30 horses started 50+ times.

And finally:J. F. Smythe's two-year-old bay filly Fanny Marks by Fillgrane - Phoebe Marks, started in twenty races and was unplaced in all of them. No other horse equalled this "record." If the Jockey Club was offering a booby prize it would go undisputably to Fanny Marks.

[FenceBored]

I notice that the latest articles at both Bloodhorse (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/66589/rapid-redux-ties-single-season-win-mark) and DRF (http://www.drf.com/news/rapid-redux-wins-19th-race-year-equal-citations-record) which initially mentioned Roseben winning 19 in 1905 have been editied to remove those references.

Looks like the wagons are circling to defend an inaccurate narrative.

I say that Citation doesn't hold the record, because the people involved in racing when he ran in 1948 did not see him as setting the record.

Take this paragraph from on page 4 of the 1949 American Racing Manual in "The Review of 1948 Races" by Evan Shipman:

The story is quickly told. Citation, in whom trainer Jimmy Jones and owner Warren Wright had every confidence, swept the platter clean. The husky bay broke the jinx that forbade a Futurity winner to go on and capture the Kentucky Derby; he won the "Triple Crown"; he was in training from early February until mid-December; he scored in 19 of his 20 starts; his only defeat was as much of a fluke as when Upset turned back Man o' War in the Sanford Memorial; he earned more money than any horse ever won in a single season; he delighted the public and he fascinated the severest critic. In short, Citation is a phenonmenon for whom any lover of the thoroughbred horse can be grateful.
Citation is credited with a record ("he earned more money than any horse ever won in a single season"), but not the one we're now being told is the important one. In fact, that one, 'the most wins in a year,' isn't mentioned at all, either in this article or the one on his being named Best Horse of the Year.

Why would that be? Maybe, because the turf writers and public didn't see Citation's 19 wins as being a record breaking performance at all. And if the people who were most familar with the landscape of racing in the first half of the 20th century didn't see it as a record why should we?

[cj]

There has been some good talk on At the Races, especially yesterday. The Archives are posted. The best way one historian was able to describe the "record" was this:

The most wins by a US based horse in a year since Citation.

[FenceBored]

There has been some good talk on At the Races, especially yesterday. The Archives are posted. The best way one historian was able to describe the "record" was this:

The most wins by a US based horse in a year since Citation.

Can we even be sure of that? I just mind numbingly pored over the Record of Horses in the 1949 ARM to be able to answer the question of who had the second highest number of wins in 1948 (also above 15). Has anyone mentioned that horse? Not that I can see. Heck, it doesn't even appear on PedigreeQuery. If a horse of the quality of Rapid Redux had won 20 in 1953 would we know?

I listened to the interview with Ed Bowen in hour 1 of the Dec. 14th show (http://www.thoroughbredracingradionetwork.com/images/stories/audio/121411a.mp3). It was a very enjoyable conversation. But it bothered me that he ducked when Steve asked him for his definition of "modern" as in the "modern era" of thoroughbred racing, instead talking about what the Breeders Cup has done to the training schedule.

[cj]

Can we even be sure of that?

Probably not, but I imagine the resources exist somewhere.

[Tom]

Can we even be sure of that?

Does it really matter?
Will it increase your bottom line?
Did you enjoy following RR's run?
What else matters?

[FenceBored]

Does it really matter?

It does to me.
Will it increase your bottom line?

If that's all that matters to you, fine. Have fun. It's not all that matters to me.
Did you enjoy following RR's run?

Eeeh {shrug}, not as much as I might have. It detracts from my enjoyment when it smells like there are put up jobs, either in the press, or on the track.
What else matters?
Accuracy.

[bigmack]

Begs a duo of questions.

- What kind of dusty vault did D. Salvatore rifle through to pluck out this tidbit?
- Is Willard Scott aware of his equine kin in Donald MacDonald?

[cj]

Begs a duo of questions.
- What kind of dusty vault did D. Salvatore rifle through to pluck out this tidbit?
- Is Willard Scott aware of his equine kin in Donald MacDonald?

It is in the Keeneland Archives. Search for "DRF Archives" on Google, it comes up on top.

Funny, there was a Willard Scott that was pretty good that ran on the east coast in the 80s.

[Tom]

Accuracy.

I think you picked the wrong game for that!

[FenceBored]

I think you picked the wrong game for that!

:D Could be, could be. :D