Citation's Fabius Won Preakness
1948 Triple Crown Winner Chosen HOY; Two-Year-Old Champ, 1947
Triple Crown Spotlight Series: Citation
TC Champions: Rankings
Fabius may have been Citation's best offspring. In 1956, eight years after Citation's Triple Crown triumph and far removed from his two-year-old honors, Fabius placed in the Kentucky Derby, losing to the famous Needles. Fabius came back to win the Preakness Stakes. Needles scored again in the Belmont Stakes, but Fabius had broken up the chance for Needles to be a Triple Crown champion, the fourth of five times that circumstance took place in the 1950s.
Citation's bloodlines went back to England. His owner, Warren Wright, paired his Bull Lea, a 1938 Kentucky Derby entrant with Hydroplane II, purchased and transported from England's Lord Derby. Bull Lea was the son of Bull Dog. Hydroplane II was by Hyperion, part of a strong English bloodstock line.
Head of powerful Calumet Farm, which boasted of Whirlaway, the 1941 Triple Crown champion, Wright's willingness to experiment in breeding produced America's eighth tripler and one of the nation's most prominent horses of all time - Citation.
At two, Big Cy won eight of nine races. Named Two-Year-Old Male Champion of 1947, Citation had no chance to avenge his only loss to Bewitch, his stablemate and the Two-Year-Old Female champion. Another stablemate, Armed, captured 1947's Handicap Male and Horse of the Year honors.
Citation was surrounded by winners and easily became one himself.
In his three-year-old debut in 1948 he polished off a field of four-year-olds that included Armed. To put the maturity of that win in perspective, one could compare it to a junior high basketball squad beating a college team.
Nine days later, Citation duplicated his debut feat in the Seminole. Armed and Faultless, 1947's Preakness champ, were among the older runners Big Cy left behind that day. It was obvious early on that Citation possessed super star potential.
Citation's twenty posts in 1948 resulted in 19 wins and one second that included his Triple Crown championship. He was named Three-Year-Old Male Champion and Horse of the Year. Many horsemen subscribe to the belief that Citation's 1948 run was the best single season ever achieved by a thoroughbred runner. Cigar's fans of the 1990s would argue for their champion, as he ran unbeaten in 1995 and tied Citation's 16 consecutive win streak.
But Cigar came later. Citation ruled his day and for years after his time. He raced far and wide, on good tracks and off tracks, won over young and old, and at every distance.
Truly a champion for all seasons, Citation ranks among the best ever of the Thoroughbred track.
