Citation, A Horse Who Earned a Place in History

Citation was born on April 11, 1945. His dam was Hydroplane II, and his sire Bull Lea, who had a successful racing career before he was retired. Citation was Bull Lea's third foal, and the first two had been ordinary. It was amazing that, after having two foals who weren't going to pay off, Bull Lea sired the third greatest horse in all of history.

It was said that the colt could have beat Man O' War, and that he was better because of his nice disposition; whereas Man O' War had a typically erratic disposition. The colt loved to run, and could face his opponents on any ground, anywhere. He never got worse than fifth place, and most of his races were wins.

In 1947, the colt began racing. He was two years old, an average-sized bay colt. Out of nine starts, his wins were eight, placing once to his filly stablemate, Bewitch.

In 1948, the colt was even more successful. He started off the season with six wins and two places, in which the track was muddy. Although Citation had proved that he could run in the mud, he preferred dry land. In one race, the Flamingo stakes, jockey Ted Atkinson, atop Pennant Day, said that in the final turn, he heard the pounding of hoof beats coming from behind, and immediately knew it was Citation. He got out of the way quick, not wanting to get run-over. It showed the growing respect for the colt. Before the Chesapeake Trial, regular jockey Al Snider drowned fishing in the Florida Everglades, and now jockey Eddie Arcaro rode him.

In the 1948 Kentucky Derby, My Request went off as the favorite, with Coaltown, Citation's stablemate, close behind. Horseman observed that both horses had won four races straight that year, whereas Citation had placed two. Eddie even doubted in the horse, wanting to ride Coaltown, but he was restricted to Citation.

Citation had the rail post. The horses took off, and as they passed the 1/2 mile pole, the field was behind them. Now, only Coaltown remained.

Coming into the stretch, Citation drew even with Coaltown, and they battled head-to-head for awhile before Citation began to pull away. Citation won by four lengths, with his ears pricked.

In the Preakness Stakes, two weeks later, only three other horses opposed Citation. He was the favorite at 1-10, and easily won the race by five-and-one-half lengths. Instead of resting him in between the Preakness and Belmont, trainer Jim Jones raced the colt in the Jersey Stakes, where he easily won by eleven lengths.

The Belmont Stakes arrived, and this time seven other horses opposed the colt, hoping for a hole in his stamina. When the bell rang, Citation stumbled out of the gate, but got back up and went on to win by eight lengths over Better Self.

The colt raced many times after that. Warren Wright asked that they keep racing the colt until he earned the record one million dollars, and they continued to do so even after he died. At age four, however, the colt skipped over a year because of leg injuries.

At age five, Citation was back, but not as the same colt he had been. He seemed to have forgotten the want to defeat horses, and many times he finished second. Once he even finished fifth, the worst place in all of his racing career. He finished third twice.

Finally, at age six, he seemed to remember the forgotten days, and won three times. He avenged the filly Bewitch, who had been the first one to beat him. In one race, no other horses were entered, and Citation took the race in a walk-over, beating a track record and winning $10,000. Jockey Eddie Arcaro had to have his arms massaged afterward because of the strain of trying to hold the colt in.

Finally, the colt reached over one million dollars in earnings. He was retired, and sired few good foals. He was considered a bad sire.

In 1970, the colt--affectionately called "Big Cy"--died. But not after earning his place in history.

The colt was buried beside his sire, Bull Lea, and his dam, Hydroplane II.