July Horse History

 1 -  1966: Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. won with his first mount in the United States, at Arlington Park, aboard two-year-old filly Teacher's Art, owned and bred by Fred W. Hooper.

 1998: Hall of Fame jockey Sandy Hawley retired from race riding after competing in the Dominion Day Handicap at Woodbine Racecourse.

2000: Jockey Mark Guidry became the 36th jockey in history to win 4,000 races when he rode Manitowish to victory in the fifth race at Arlington International Racecourse.

2001: Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel won two Grade I races on opposite coasts, on different surfaces, both via disqualification. First, Senure was elevated to the top spot in the United Nations Handicap, a turf race at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., following the disqualification of With Anticipation for a bumping incident in midstretch. Then, just 30 minutes later and on the same CBS telecast, Aptitude was placed first after Futural was disqualified for a similar infraction in the Hollywood Gold Cup, a top dirt race at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif.

 2 -  1989: Jockey Steve Cauthen became the first rider in history to sweep the world's four major derbies after winning the Irish Derby with Old Vic. He had previously won the Kentucky Derby with Affirmed (1978), the Epsom Derby with Slip Anchor (1985) and Reference Point (1987) and the French Derby with Old Vic (1989).

 3 -  Today in 1937, the Del Mar Race Track was opened in sunny Del Mar, California. Bing Crosby collected the first ticket on the opening day.

 1977: Seattle Slew's nine-race winning streak came to an end in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park, when he finished fourth, beaten 16 lengths by J.O. Tobin.

1982: D. Wayne Lukas-trained Landaluce, ridden by Laffit Pincay Jr., won the first of her five consecutive victories at Hollywood Park. The daughter of Seattle Slew, owned by Barry Beal and Lloyd French, died of a viral infection in November of that year but was posthumously voted champion two-year-old filly of 1982.

 4 -  1886 - The first rodeo in America was held at Prescott, Arizona.

Today was Secretariat's first race, taking place in 1972.  He finished fourth in the race, which was at the Aqueduct.

1954: Two-year-old Ribot won his first race, the Premio Tramuschio. He concluded his career in 1956, with 16 wins in as many starts.

1976: Charlie Whittingham swept the top three spots in the American Handicap at Hollywood Park with his trainees King Pellinore, Riot in Paris and Caucasus. On July 26, he repeated the feat in the Sunset Handicap, with Caucasus first, King Pellinore second and Riot in Paris third.

1978: Trainer D. Wayne Lukas won his first $100,000 stakes race--over the turf--taking the American Handicap with Effervescing, ridden by Laffit Pincay Jr., at Hollywood Park.

1998: Elusive Quality ran the fastest mile in history in the Poker Handicap at Belmont Park. The five-year-old horse was timed at 1:31 3/5 over a firm turf course.

 2000: Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze scored his 7,000 career victory aboard This Is the Moment at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif. Baze became the sixth jockey to join the 7,000-win club.

 5 1991: Jockey Ray Sibille won his 3,000th career race, aboard Sporting Surf at Pleasanton.

1977: In the second of their 10 meetings, Alydar defeated Affirmed to win the Great American Stakes at Belmont Park. This was the first of Alydar's three victories over Affirmed. 7 - 1962 - Race jockey Bill Hartack won race number 3,000. He was riding Big Steve at Arlington Park in Chicago, IL.

1934: Mary Hirsch became the first female to be licensed as a Thoroughbred trainer, in Illinois. Hirsch subsequently was licensed in Michigan that year and two years later, on April 9, she was licensed by The Jockey Club to train in New York.

 8 - 2000: General Express set a world record when he went five furlongs on the turf in :54.60 in the Decathlon Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. General Express eclipsed the mark of :54.97 set by Klassy Briefcase in a Monmouth allowance race on June 8, 1991.

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1982: Landaluce, a two-year-old daughter of Seattle Slew, won the Hollywood Lassie Stakes by 21 lengths under the guidance of Laffit Pincay Jr. She ran the six furlong race in 1:08, just 3/5 of a second off the track record at Hollywood Park.

2000: The National Thoroughbred Racing Association unveiled the "NTRA Two-Year-Old Challenge," a televised racing series and promotional program for 2-year-old Thoroughbred colts and geldings carrying a potential bonus of $1.3 million.

 11 1916 - One of America's great race horses died. Dan Patch was the celebrated horse that had never lost a race. He first became known for promoting his owner's feed company in Savage, Minnesota. Interestingly, Mr. Savage died several days after his beloved trotter died.

1997: Breeders' Cup Ltd. announced that supplemental entry fees would be added to the purses of Breeders' Cup Championship Day events.

 12 1971: Bold Ruler, sire of 82 stakes winners, including Secretariat, died at Claiborne Farm.

1996: Cigar tied Citation's record of 16 consecutive victories, winning the Citation Challenge at Arlington International Racecourse.

 14 1951 - In his last race, Citation became the winningest thoroughbred in horse racing as he won the Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park. Citation earned a total of $1,085,760 in his career.

1951: In his last race, Calumet Farm's six-year-old Citation won the Hollywood Gold Cup by four lengths, and became racing's first millionaire horse.

1999: Television Games Network (TVG) made its official debut with horse racing programming available to 1.1 million C-band satellite homes though Superstar/Netlink Group, the nation's largest satellite programming provider.

 15 1966: Dr. Fager won his first race by seven lengths at Aqueduct racetrack. He was sent off at odds of 10-1.

1972: After finishing fourth in his racing debut on July 4, Secretariat won his first race, under jockey Paul Feliciano. The six-length victory occurred at Aqueduct.

1987: Jack Van Berg became the first trainer to win 5,000 races when he sent Art's Chandelle, a $10,000 claimer, to victory at Arlington Park.

1999: The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) confirmed that it had completed its purchase of the horseracing assets of Winner Communications via its newly formed subsidiary, NTRA Investments LLC.

2000: Three-year-old filly Hallowed Dreams kept her record perfect and tied Cigar's and Citation's record of 16 consecutive wins by taking the Dixie Miss Stakes at Louisiana Downs.

 16 -  1998: Breeders' Cup Limited announced that a new $1 million turf race for fillies and mares would be added to Breeders' Cup Championship Day beginning in 1999. The race would be called the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf and would be run at 1 ¼ miles.

 17 -  1975: Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. notched his 3,000th career victory, aboard Lexington Lark at Hollywood Park.

1994: Former jockey Angel Cordero Jr. had his first stakes victory as a trainer when he sent Holy Mountain to win the Lexington Stakes at Belmont Park. Cordero was officiating on behalf of Holy Mountain's regular trainer, Bob Klesaris, who was serving a suspension.

 18 1942: Garden State Park officially opened. A crowd of 31,682 welcomed the return of racing to New Jersey after a 49-year absence.

1989: The last Northern Dancer foal to be sold at public auction, later named Northern Park, was purchased by Zenya Yoshida for $2.8 million. In 30 starts over four years in France, Northern Park compiled a 4-7-4 record.

1993: Jockey Gary Stevens topped $100 million in purse earnings after winning the seventh race at Hollywood Park aboard Don't Presume (GB).

 19 1951 - Famous thoroughbred race horse Citation retired from racing.

2000: Allen Paulson, owner and breeder of Cigar, died in La Jolla, Calif. after a long battle with cancer. He was 78.

 20 1951: Six-year-old Citation, the first Thoroughbred to earn $1 million, was retired.

1974: Carl Rosen's Chris Evert trounced Miss Musket by 50 lengths in the world's richest match race, a $350,000 winner-take-all contest at Hollywood Park.

1988: John Galbreath, founder of Darby Dan Farm, died at age 90. He was the first person to have owned and bred winners of the Kentucky Derby (Chateaugay and Proud Clarion) and the Epsom Derby (Roberto). 21 1985 - Race horse John Henry retired. The thoroughbred was originally purchased for $1,100. The 1984 Horse of the Year had career winnings of $6.5 million. John Henry won 39 of 83 races and was 10 years old when he retired.

1989: Jockey Chris McCarron notched his 5,000th winner, riding I Sure Hope So to victory in the fifth race at Hollywood Park.

 22 1999: Dale Baird, the winningest trainer in history, recorded his 8,000th victory at Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, W.V., sending out Midsummer Scene to take the 6th race.

1985: A bay colt, Seattle Dancer, son of Nijinsky II and the mare My Charmer, sold to Robert Sangster for $13.1 million--the record price for a Thoroughbred. Seattle Dancer, a half brother to 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, raced five times as a three-year-old to earn less than $150,000 from two wins, one second and one third before he was retired. The previous record for a horse sold at auction was $10.2 million, paid by Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum in 1983 for Snaafi Dancer, who never raced.

 24 Julie Krone was born today in 1963. She was the only woman to ride winning horse in a Triple Crown race when she captured Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair in 1993; retired in 1999 as all-time winningest female jockey with over 3,000 wins; in 2000 became the first female jockey elected to thoroughbred racing's hall of fame.

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 1973: The New York Racing Association and the Philip Morris Corporation announced the inaugural Marlboro Cup, a race to feature Secretariat and his stablemate, Riva Ridge, that would be run Sept. 15 at Belmont Park.

 27 1973 - Secretariat broke two records while practicing at Saratoga Springs, NY. The legendary horse covered a mile in a speedy 1 minute, 34 seconds and ran a 1-1/8 mile distance in 1 minute, 47-4/5 seconds.

1987: Jockey Angel Cordero Jr. won his 6,000th victory in the Colleen Stakes at Monmouth Park aboard Lost Kitty. He was the fourth rider in racing history to accomplish that feat.

 29 1953: Jockey Walter Blum rode his first career winner at Saratoga Racecourse.

1972: In preparation for a July 31 race at Saratoga, Secretariat went three furlongs in :35.

1973: Jockey Pat Day rode his first career winner, Forblunged, in a $2,000 claiming race at Prescott Downs, Prescott, Ariz. His mount earned $347--the winner's share of the $631 purse.

1995: Jockey Russell Baze won his 5,000th career victory, aboard Cyrus Says, in the sixth race at Sonoma County Fair. He was the 15th rider to reach that plateau.

 30 1870: Monmouth Park opened with a five day race meet.

 31 1972: Secretariat, ridden for the first time by Ron Turcotte, won his second victory in three starts, on opening day at Saratoga Racecourse. The pair were sent off at odds of 2-5.