The brown colt was born March 24, 1940 to the sickly-like mare Quickly. He was by Reigh Count, a sire who had won the Kentucky Derby.
In 1927, John D. Hertz saw a two-year-old colt that, in a race, reached over and bit another contestant. Such fiery determination convinced Hertz to buy him, and he bought the two-year-old, named Reigh Count.
The next year, the Hertzes ended up with their first Kentucky Derby trophy.
After a fairly successful racing career, Reigh Count went into stud. His stud years were glorious, even better than that of his racing career. In fact, for his first five years as a stud, he was among the top 20 leading Thoroughbred sires of America. His bloom seem to go down after that, however--just like most sires.
Hertz had a want to breed Reigh Count, a horse who could run over distance, with a speedy mare, to produce a colt with the qualities of both. He bought such a mare for $2,500, ignoring all of the breeder's wisdom, which called for a strong, healthy mare. This mare, called Quickly, was seven years old, sickly looking, and footsore. She was bred to Reigh Count twice, and twice rather ordinary foals were brought into the world. Hertz put them up for sale, but noone bought them because of the mother. They snapped up two others by Reigh Count, however.
Only Hertz's guts and determination were able to breed the rather weird combination again. This time, the determination payed off, for Quickly foaled a colt who was to be a hero in his own sort of way. They called him Count Fleet.
The Fleet became rather disappointing as a yearling, for he began to develop some unruly habits, signs of a bad disposition and difficulty in handling when he became stronger. Hertz put the unruly youngster up for sale, but soon declined in that, for one thing, the colt's stable boy begged him not to, and for another, noone would buy an unraced colt foaled by the unpromising mare Quickly. So Hertz sent the problem off to New York to be trained by Don Cameron.
On June 1, 1942, Count Fleet was entered in his first race. The race spelled trouble. At the start, with Johnny London in the irons, the colt swerved, bumped into Vacuum Cleaner, and lost. He did the same thing in another race only two weeks later.
Johnny Longdon was coming to the barn one afternoon and saw another trainer looking over the colt. He hopped on his bicycle and quickly sped to the nearest telephone booth. He called Hertz and asked him why this was happening. Hertz said the colt was up for sale because he was too dangerous to handle. Longdon replied that he wasn't afraid, and Hertz resented, saying that he would keep the unruly colt.
The next race the colt entered was a five-and-a-half-furlong sprint. He won it. He won his next race, also. The race after that he lost, but soon he rebounded again in the Wakefield Stakes to win.
In the colt's next race, Occupation ran, a horse who seemed to be one that could beat Count Fleet. He was the favorite until Count Fleet ran an amazing workout that showed he was a speedster. He was then made the favorite.
Surprisingly, Count Fleet came in third--Occupation first, and Askmenow, a filly, second. Johnny Longdon said that the colt got behind the filly and he couldn't drag him off. It showed the brown colt's like for the fairer sex. The colt had also clipped his quarter (part of the hoof) at the start.
The loss was the last time Count Fleet would ever lose. He went on to win more races, finishing out the year with 10 wins out of 15 starts.
Count Fleet was retired to Stoner Creek Farm for the winter after first capturing Best Two-Year-Old Honors. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the classics, the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.
Count Fleet's three-year-old year was nothing but success. He won his first start as a three-year-old, then his second, the Wood Memorial. In this extraordinary race, the colt was trailing blood to the winner's circle from a three inch gash on his hind leg. He had a habit of knicking himself while running, especially at the start. The gash was treated with sulfa drugs, and the hero was shipped off to Churchill Downs.
The cut meant many sleepless nights for Cameron. Should he or should he not race the colt? The answer was yes, and the wound was packed with sulfa drugs and axle grease before the race. Count Fleet was the favorite at 1-2 odds. Only sixty thousand people were at the track, due to World War II and the lack of transportation.
Count Fleet won by three lengths over Blue Swords.
The time was a slow of 2:04, and people began to question the horse's greatness. Was he just lucky to win, or was he really a hero?
Count Fleet answered all doubts in an eight length win over Blue Swords in the Preakness Stakes. Only three horses had opposed him, Blue Swords, Vincentive, and New Moon. The time was a full second over the track record: 1:56 2/5.
On May 22, Count Fleet easily won the Withers Stakes by six lengths over Slide Rule. It convinced all owners to keep their horses out of the Belmont Stakes, and only two dared to try: Fairy Manhurst who only won a maiden race, and Deseranto, a not-so-good son of Man O' War. Therefore, the race was nothing for the Fleet, who won by an incredible 25 lengths. He beat the War Admiral's record by 2/5 second, with time of 2:28 1/5, just a little shy of Bolingbroke's record of 2:27 3/5. He became the new Triple Crown Winner, and a new hero. He also became the first horse to win all five of the spring classics: the Wood Memorial, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Withers Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. Due to an injury from striking himself on his left fore, he was retired for the rest of the season.
Early in 1944, it was announced that the Fleet would race again, but that flicker of hope was soon diminished when the injury refused treatment. The Fleet was retired for good to be bred to mares. He was very successful as a stallion, with a son that was even better than himself, Kelso, and others: Lamb Chop, Lucky Debonair, Quill, Tompion, Prince John, Fleet Nasrullah, and Furl Sail. One of his sons, Count Turf, won the Kentucky Derby, completing the first time that a grandsire-sire-son had won: Reigh Count (1928), Count Fleet (1943), and Count Turf (1951).
The good 'ole hero died on December 3, 1973, at age 33. It was the dull night, near Christmas time......
