‘He did just what I expected’ – how the ‘Fox of Belair’ won the Kentucky Derby en route to the Triple Crown | Topics: Churchill Downs, Triple Crown, Gallant Fox, Belair Stud, 'Sunny Jim' Fitzsimmons, Kentucky Derby

The fox of Belair: Gallant Fox became America’s second Triple Crown winner under jockey Earl Sande in 1930. Photo courtesy of Keeneland Library Cook Collection

In this extract from her new book, The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha and the Quest for the Triple Crown, Jennifer S Kelly takes us back to Churchill Downs and a historic afternoon beneath the Twin Spires in 1930

In her new book, The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown, Jennifer Kelly examines the racing legacies of Gallant Fox and Omaha and how William Woodward's service to racing during the 20th century forever changed the landscape of the American Thoroughbred industry.

The term ‘Triple Crown’ was not in common parlance until Charles Hatton of the Daily Racing Form used the words in 1930 to describe Gallant Fox’s feat in sweeping the Preakness Stakes, Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

Carrying the colours of Woodward’s Maryland-based Belair Stud and trained by the legendary ‘Sunny Jim’ Fitzsimmons, the colt was in fact the second Triple Crown winner after Sir Barton in 1919.

Gallant Fox had already won the Preakness Stakes by the time he took to the track for the Kentucky Derby two weeks later in May 1930. In this extract, the author relives events at Churchill Downs as the Fox of Belair took his second step towards racing immortality.

Airplanes and special racecars

Airplanes buzzed over the expanse of Churchill Downs, landing at nearby Bowman Field and offloading passengers eager to see the Twin Spires and enjoy the day’s racing. Special railcars came and went throughout the day, spilling out more and more revelers to tax the capacity of Louisville’s historic racetrack.

On the backside, Colonel Matt Winn had authorized $10,000 to build a new set of bleachers that could hold up to 5,000 backstretch workers so that they could also watch the day’s racing.

Celebrities and the sport’s elite mixed amongst the box seats and clubhouse, Al Jolson getting shots for his next movie in between the day’s races while Arthur Hancock, the man behind Ellerslie and Claiborne Farm and its intimate connections with [Belair Stud owner] William Woodward, expressed his support for Gallant Fox. Despite the chilly air and the gray skies, the day was a celebration of the best of the bluegrass as upwards of seventy thousand people filed into Churchill Downs for the big race.

Radio networks set up for their broadcasts, observing the day’s events for those who were not able to join the fray in person. NBC anticipated that they would reach at least 70 stations over the course of their national broadcast, Clem McCarthy set to call the race for the audience at home.

Lord Derby arrived about 1pm, accompanied by a coterie of breeders and owners and his host Joseph Widener. They attended a luncheon given by the Downs’s president, Samuel Culbertson, with a long guest list that included both Arthur Hancock and William Woodward, who gives no detail about the day’s events save for the running of the race itself in his memoir about Gallant Fox.

Meanwhile, ‘Sunny Jim’ Fitzsimmons sent his colt on a walk around the track with a stable hand, with the goal of acclimatizing the Fox to the festive crowd and the wet suface. After one lap around the oval, the stable hand guided Gallant Fox to the runway leading to the paddock, but the colt would not move.

The Fox of Belair was ready

He stood there for ten minutes, unmoving, as if taking in the masses gathered to see the country’s biggest race. The stable hand knew not to push the Fox, so he waited for the colt to finish his surveillance and then rode him patiently back to the paddock. The Fox of Belair was ready.

After the field for the third race was sent away about 3.28pm, a light rain sent the crowd scrambling for cover and continued through the fourth race. The Derby was the fifth race on the card, scheduled for 5pm. The drizzle continued, just enough to dampen even the hardiest of millenary but not enough to take the track from good to muddy. Gallant Fox would not have to worry about the mud this time. The crowd began to trickle back toward the rail despite the rain: they wanted to find a spot to watch the show.

Just before the fourth race, Lord Derby joined the show. The crowd around his viewing pavilion had been waiting to see when the distinguished guest would appear and finally, he did, with a derby hat – which he called a billycock instead – topping off his double-breasted gray suit. Umbrella in hand, the aristocrat emerged to the broadcast of a military band playing the British national anthem over the loudspeakers, eager to watch the coming feature race, the one he had traveled 4,000 miles to see.

Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, stood out in the misty rain, watching the 15 horses trickle through the tunnel to the track, on their way to the post for the race named for his ancestor. Led by a red-coated outrider on a dappled pony, they paraded down the Churchill Downs’s straightaway, the rain dripping off of everything in sight. Lord Derby took in the sight of the best that the East and the West had to offer as the field walked by, cheers erupting at the sight of Gallant Fox and Tannery.

Single file, the field made their way to the Waite gate while the crowd strained for a glimpse at the horses, their numbers barely contained by the rails on both sides. They milled around behind the contraption, new for 1930, each horse taking position within a padded stall. Thirteen colts, a gelding Ned O., and the filly Alcibiades lined up, Longus on the rail and Buckeye Poet on the outside.

The whole of Churchill Downs stopped

Clem McCarthy took his spot overlooking the track, clad in a dark overcoat, holding binoculars while another man held the radio microphone for him. William Woodward watched Gallant Fox from the directors’ box, his eyes focused on the maroon blinkers in the seventh post. The whole of Churchill Downs stopped, and, for a moment, the world was quiet, reduced to breathless anticipation of the unleashing.

The pop of the gate and the field was off, the filly Alcibiades the fastest away. Behind her were Buckeye Poet, Tannery, and then Gallant Fox. Sande held the Fox there for the first quarter, staying off the deepest part at the rail, waiting for the chance to move forward to the lead.

Generally, Gallant Fox preferred to run just off the lead, but, at the half-mile, Sande moved his horse to the front to his owner’s surprise, but really the move made sense: “The horse was going well and he did not want to check him, but also – and more important – he found that his contender was in trouble at that particular point and he felt that if he went on, others would follow him and the contender would not get out of his trouble.”

The identity of that contender was unclear, but Tannery was still in close quarters with Gallant Fox, just behind Alcibiades, and Gallant Knight was moving through the pack, passing the filly and Tannery to find the right place to make a run at the front-running Gallant Fox as they approached the mile mark. Sande had the Fox two lengths ahead of the field, running as he pleased in the lane he wanted. This was almost too easy.

Every horse race, no matter how long or short it might be, has phases. Some are marked in bare yards while others are in furlongs. Most involve at least one turn, usually the marker for the beginning of the end, where front-runners might fade as the closers begin to accelerate, a frantic push for position as the race fast approaches its end.

Crowd whipped into a frenzy

That frenetic sweep into the final turn of the Kentucky Derby whips the crowd into a frenzy as that last phase of the race begins, the denouement imminent. Gallant Fox swept into that final phase in total control, with the closers behind him trying to find the key to beating him. Would it be going to the inside or around the front runner? Would whatever final kick a horse had be enough to catch Sande before he could boot ‘em home?

At the top of the stretch, Lord Derby put down his binoculars and said, “Fine stuff. I’m glad,” as Gallant Fox swept into that straightaway with a sure lead. The roar of the crowd ascended higher and higher as Gallant Knight mounted his bid to catch the Fox, but no-one was catching the Belair colt this day.

Sure enough, Sande had allowed Gallant Knight to get just close enough to keep his mount on his toes, but today Gallant Fox was an undeniable force.As he swept under the wire first, he duplicated Sir Barton’s double, only the second horse in history to take home both the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby. Sande had also made history this day, winning his third Derby, only the second jockey to do so.

For William Woodward, it was his first Derby victory, and, while the victory might have been easy for Gallant Fox, it was not easy for Woodward to get down from the directors’ box to the winner’s circle set up next to Lord Derby’s pavilion. Not only did he find his knees weaker than he had anticipated, but he went down the wrong stairs on his way down and had to climb over a couple of railings to get to the right spot, much to the amusement of the unknown persons helping him down to accept the trophy.

The Fox did not turn a hair

When he finally found himself down at ground level, Woodward met Gallant Fox and Sande, shaking the champion jockey’s hand and then leading his prized colt into the winner’s circle, where the blanket of roses was draped across Gallant Fox’s shoulders as the shutters of a myriad of cameras clicked around them.

The Fox did not turn a hair at the attention of the enthusiastic crown or the garland of roses, remaining docile in the whirlwind of activity around him.

The winning owner climbed the pavilion’s steps and joined the Earl of Derby on the platform, as the NBC microphones recorded Lord Derby’s remarks and the presentation of the gold cup to the winner owner.

In the entire hubbub of aristocrats and exultant connections no one seemed to notice the absence of the man responsible for preparing Gallant Fox in the first place: ‘Sunny Jim’ Fitzsimmons.

After saddling Gallant Fox for the race, Fitzsimmons had ventured to the infield rather than remain part of the crowd in the grandstand. He watched the race from there and, after Gallant Fox won, he was among the rush of people that crowded onto the track.

Concerned for his horse, Fitzsimmons attempted to cross to get to the winner’s circle and check up on his charge. A mounted policeman stopped him from crossing, clearly not recognizing the famed trainer.

The trainer finally made his way to the presentation stand, where Earl Sande, the blanket of roses now draped over his shivering shoulders, stood with Lord Derby, William Woodward, and the radio men dodging wires and raindrops as they carried the proceedings to their national audience. “He’s a good horse,” the respected trainer said. “He did just what I expected.”

With the ceremonies done, the celebrants dispersed, Gallant Fox headed back to the barn with his owner and trainer trailing behind him. Effusive, George Tappen shared details about the horse and his routine as reporters hung around the Fitzsimmons barn, taking in the atmosphere of supreme satisfaction, a crowd trying to peer in and get a glimpse at the newly minted Derby winner.

Earl Sande answered questions in the jockeys’ room and then slipped into a waiting car, bound for the train station and home in Jamaica, New York. With the Preakness and the Derby behind them, Team Gallant Fox focused on their next target: the Belmont Stakes.

Looming large in that target was a potential confrontation with a familiar foe: Whichone. Harry Payne Whitney’s two-year-old champion [who had beaten Gallant Fox in the Belmont Futurity as a juvenile] was fresh off his layoff and ready to run. Could he derail Gallant Fox’s pursuit of racing immortality? It was time to find out.

The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown by Jennifer S. Kelly is published on May 9 by the University Press of Kentucky. Hardback (352pp) and ebook editions can be ordered at the Kentucky Press website and via Amazon and other retailers