Great article on Round Table. When Wise Dan swept three categories -- Horse of the Year, older male, and male turf horse -- at the Eclipse Awards early this year, it brought back sunny memories of Round Table, who collected Horse of the Year honors, a champion male turf horse award, and male handicap honors in 1958. Round Table was an everymans horse. In an era when larger-than-life racehorses such as Native Dancer, Swaps, and Nashua became national heroes, the small, unassuming Round Table steadily racked up victories. In a career spanning four years (1956-1959) he was recognized as one of the greatest turf runners in the history of the sport. The bay colt liked to run close to the pace and set the pace when he had to, putting away his contenders as they came to him and winning by as much as he could. Round Table traveled coast to coast, carried more and more weight, stayed the distance or sprinted past swift rivals. He battled one of the best crops of three year olds-- Calumet’s Gen. Duke and Iron Liege, Wheatley Stables Bold Ruler, and Ralph Lowe’s Gallant Man. At 15.2 hands Round Table was the little engine that could. An extremely sound, tough horse with a kind temperament, Round Table was a terror on the turf scoring in 14 of 16 starts. The great turf writer Joe Hirsch wrote: “Now, at 5, as he keeps winning the big ones with his weight up in the relentlessly professional thoroughness of the New York Yankees in Ruth’s day and DiMaggio’s, the applause grows louder with each passing hour until it is a crescendo of appreciation and admiration for one of the greatest performers in the history of U.S. racing.” Foaled at Claiborne on April 6, 1954, Round Table was born a half-hour prior to the birth of another legendary champion, Bold Ruler, that same night at the legendary Paris, Ky. farm. This odd quirk of fate played out in spirited battles at the racetrack, the duo earned more than $2.5 million between them. Even more significant, the commingling of their blood produced Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew, whose sons and grandsons are still leaving his mark on the breed. A durable son of Princequillo, out of Knights Daughter (by Sir Cosmo), Round Table raced for Claiborne as a juvenile under the tutelage of trainer Moody Jolley winning five of 10 starts. Both of his stakes successes came at Keeneland, the four-furlong Lafayette Stakes in April and the seven-furlong Breeders Futurity in October. With the death of Claiborne founder A.B. Hancock Sr., Round Table was put on the block to help pay estate taxes, in essence saving the farm. Oklahoma Oilman Travis Kerr wound up purchasing a majority interest in the colt. As the story goes, Kerrs agent was in the paddock at Hialeah on February 9, 1957, just before Round Table was to make his second start at three in an allowance race. Claibornes famed Bull Hancock gave Kerr until post time to agree to his terms. Kerr did. The final price was reported at $175,000 and the sale agreement included Round Table standing at stud at Claiborne when his racing career was over with Claiborne receiving twenty percent of his breeding income. At age three, Kerr transferred Round Table to California trainer Bill Willie Molter who had trained the 1954 Kentucky Derby hero, Determine. A native of Fredericksburg, Texas, Molter began his career in horse racing as a jockey at racetracks across the Texas border in Mexico. He described his new colt like this: “a short-coupled but well-quartered behind, has a small but good-looking head and a longer-than-average stride.” The trainer moved Round Table to California, where he ran third in the Santa Anita Derby, beaten only a head by winner Sir William and a nose by runner up Swirling Abbey. Round Table won the Bay Meadows Derby from Swirling Abbey by four and a half lengths. The authoritative win punched the colt’s ticket Kentucky that spring as Round Table romped by six lengths beating One-Eyed King in the Blue Grass Stakes. Gen. Duke would have been the 1957 Kentucky Derby favorite if he hadn’t scratched the morning of the race. Bold Ruler took that role with Round Table the second choice with Gallant Man a close third in the betting. Yet the 1957 Derby is best remembered not for who won – because it was none of these – but for an incident involving Gallant Man and his jockey Bill Shoemaker. Federal Hill proved the early speed in the race, holding the lead into the top of the stretch, before giving way to Iron Liege. Gallant Man rolled past the Calumet entry, but in one of the most famous blunders in sports history, rider Bill Shoemaker misjudged the finish, throwing his mount off stride just enough to be nosed out by Iron Liege. Round Table closed bravely, beating Bold Ruler to finish third. “He bobbled every three or four steps as the track kept cupping out on him, said jockey Ralph Neves, “but he made a strong move once finding room in the stretch.” Bypassing the Preakness and Belmont, Molter took Round Table back home to California where Shoemaker eventually became his regular rider. After a sharp second against older horses in the Californian, Round Table strung together an 11-race win streak that was described as the longest since Citation. His first three stakes in the series were versus three-year olds. Next time out he uncorked a dominating 3 1/4-length score in the Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap. Not only did Round Table become the first three-year-old to take that prize, but he equaled the 1 1/4-mile track record of 1:58 3/5, set by the fabled Swaps. The time also stood as the fastest 10 furlongs ever recorded by a three-year old. Later that summer, Round Table shifted tack to Chicago where he quickly took to turf racing, whipping Kentucky Derby winner Iron Liege in the American Derby and then, recovering from a stumble at the break, got up by a head nod in the United Nations Handicap against older horses. Those performances earned Round Table the honors as that years champion grass horse. Returning to the main track in the Hawthorne Gold Cup, he easily put older horses to the sword while setting a new 1 1/4-mile mark of 2:00 1/5 under a hand ride. Round Table dominated American thoroughbred racing in 1958. He was named Horse of the Year after winning the San Fernando, San Antonio, Santa Anita, Caliente, Argonaut, Laurence Armour, and Arlington Handicaps, among others. When the season ended, Round Table had been the sports leading money winner for two consecutive years. The only turf loss of Round Table’s career was in the $100,000 United Nations Handicap on Sept 14, 1958. Clem, named for longtime racing announcer Clem McCarthy, held off Round Table by a half-length while smashing the Atlantic City track record before a crowd of 26,444. The time for the mile and three sixteenths on the grass course was a blistering 1:54 three-fifths. Round Table closed out his four-year-old campaign with a win the Hawthorne Gold Cup surpassing Nashua on the all-time earnings list. Hes the greatest horse Ive ever seen,” trainer Molter declared. “Round Table is game, hes tough, he can take it, hes easy to manage, hes sound and a good doer. In 1959, he won 9 of his 14 races, including the United Nations while carrying 136 pounds and his third Champion Turf Horse title. Round Table lifetime earnings were $1,749,869. Epilogue Round Table won 43 of his 66 starts when he retired in 1959 and was the worlds top money-winning horse at $1,749,869. He was named Horse of the Year in 1958, champion grass horse in 1957, 1958 and 1959, champion handicap horse in 1958 and 1959, leading stakes winner in 1957 and 1958, and leading money winner in those two years. Round Table was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 1972. He was ranked the seventeenth ranked racehorse of the 20th century by Blood-Horse. Standing at stud at Claiborne Farm from 1959 to 1978, he is considered one of the most important sires of the 20th century. Of the 401 foals he sired, 83 were stakes winners, an impressive 20.5 percent. Round Table was the first million dollar winner to sire a million dollar winner in Royal Glint and sired 83 stakes winners including Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Hes A Smoothie, Apalachee, Advocator, Kings Bishop, King Pellinore and Poker, who was the damsire of two Hall of Fame inductees, Seattle Slew and Silver Charm. Round Table died at Claiborne Farm where he was born 33 years before. Buried in an oak casket, Round Table and Bold Ruler reside near one another, beneath limestone markers at the Paris, Ky. farm.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 10:46:27 +0000
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