Citation: Everyone's Champion
1948 Triple Crown Winner Became First Millionaire Thoroughbred, 1951
Citation posted 45 times and ran off the board only once. His Triple Crown of 1948 was stupendous. His career was compared to the great Man o' War, who died in 1947.
Connections and Stats: 1948
Awards and Stud Career: Citation
Citation enjoyed enormous popularity as the nation's eighth Triple Crown winner in 1948. He was the last of four triplers in the 1940s.
In his first two years of racing, Citation was often compared to the great Man o' War, who died in 1947.
Citation didn't race in 1949 because of tendon injuries and a bone deposit on his left front ankle. He returned in 1950 for nine posts, winning twice and placing the other seven times.
In 1951, Citation went off seven times at the age of six. He won three times, placed once, and showed twice. His only career run off the board came in 1951's Hollywood Premier Handicap. He finished fifth.
His aged owner, Warren Wright, died in 1950. Wright left explicit wishes with his Calumet Farm trainers, Jimmy and Ben Jones, to keep Citation active long enough to give the horse a chance to become the first thoroughbred millionaire. To this end, Citation suffered a number of defeats as a five- and six-year-old, but the goal was attained.
The gutsy Citation won the last three races of his career. The final one, the prestigious $100,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, took his total earnings to $1,085,760.
Losing only twice in 1947 and 1948, Citation put together a string of 16 straight victories which stood unequaled until the career of Cigar reached its zenith in the 1990s. Cigar tied the record, but was unable to break it. Both horses had the best jockeys of their times in the saddle, Eddie Arcaro and Jerry Bailey, respectively.
Arcaro got the ride on Citation in 1948 when the colt's regular jockey, Albert Snider, disappeared in the Florida Everglades while on a fishing trip. Citation's stablemate, Coaltown, had become a horse of note. Arcaro wasn't certain as the Triple Crown race schedule neared that he was on the best horse. His first trip on Citation was a loss to Saggy in the mud of the Chesapeake Trial.
Arcaro knew Citation had beaten his stablemate Armed, 1947's Horse of the Year, twice in the spring of 1948. Arcaro stuck around and Citation quickly won him over.
In the triple, Citation raced to a 3-1/2 length victory over Coaltown in the Kentucky Derby. He followed that with a 5-1/2 length win in the Preakness Stakes. In a week off from the triple wars, he blasted away opponents in the Jersey Derby by 11 lengths. Then he went to Belmont to race a mile and one half and drew away by 8 lengths to solidify his place in history.
Later, the accomplished Aracro always said Citation was the best he'd ever rode.
