Sword Dancer – A Name
Replaced But Not Forgotten
Joseph Di Rienzi
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| Sword Dancer at Belmont Park in 1959 (Keeneland Library Morgan Collection) |
Born in 1956 in Virginia at Isabel Doge Sloane’s Brookmeade
Stable, Sword Dancer was a small bright chestnut colt with a white blaze
running down his face and three white stockinged feet. He was trained his
entire racing career by J. Elliott Burch who had succeeded his father, Preston
Burch, as Brookmeade’s trainer. The colt was sired by home stallion Sunglow out
of the mare Highland Fling.
Elliot Burch wasted no time in launching Sword Dancer’s
racing career, as the sprightly chestnut had his first race on February 28,
1958 in a 3 furlong maiden raced at Hialeah Racetrack. Finishing a distant
fourth in that dash, it would take seven more races before the colt broke his
maiden. That was a 6 furlong contest at Saratoga in late August. Showing
improvement with experience and competing in races of increasing distance,
Sword Dancer won his first stakes race, the Mayflower, at Suffolk Downs in
Massachusetts. Coming from 11th place in the mile and 70 yard contest,
the Brookmeade colt displayed a devastating closing rally to win going away by
4½ lengths.
Sword Dancer’s penultimate two-year-old race was in the
Garden State Stakes, at the time the world’s richest race. He put in a solid
effort to finish third, 2 lengths behind the embattled pair of First Landing
and Tomy Lee, the leading juveniles of 1958. Excused for his fourth place
finish in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, Elliott Burch took his young
horse into winter quarters in Florida, hopeful he had a legitimate contender
for the 1959 classic races.
A fever delayed Sword Dancer’s initial sophomore start until
March 1959, when he finished fifth in the 7 furlong Hutcheson Stakes at
Gulfstream Park. Running back in less than two weeks, the Sunglow colt showed
good early speed in winning a 1 mile and 70 yard allowance race by 2 easy
lengths. The Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park was Sword Dancer’s first major
test, and he faced the surprising Flamingo Stakes winner Troilus. Racing the
latter into defeat, Sword Dancer battled through the stretch with Troilus’
stablemate Easy Spur going down in defeat by ¾ of a length.
Convinced his colt was a legitimate Kentucky Derby
contender, Burch arranged for top jockey William Shoemaker to ride Sword Dancer
in the 7 furlong Stepping Stone race at Churchill Downs. Defeating rival Easy
Spur and the previously undefeated filly Silver Spoon in fast time, the
Brookemeade colt emerged as one of the top choices for the Run for the Roses.
The main problem going into the big race was the rider.
Shoemaker had already committed to Tomy Lee who after a series of defeats and
illness had found his best form, recently winning the Blue Grass Stakes at
Keeneland Racecourse. Although Shoemaker’s agent had preferred his client ride
Sword Dancer, he was not able to break the agreement. Burch, after much
deliberation, went to Bill Boland, a veteran jockey who had ridden Sword Dancer
once before when he broke his maiden at Saratoga.
Derby
Day in 1959 was May 2 and a field of seventeen was loaded into the gate. It was
considered a very competitive running with the best two-year-olds of last year,
First Landing and Tomy Lee, almost co-favorites. Easy Spur and Sword Dancer were accorded good chances and, sentimentally
there was a lot of support for the filly Silver Spoon.
Troilus led
the field the first time around the track with Tomy Lee the closest pursuer.
Sword Dancer raced prominently with First Landing and Silver Spoon stalking
just behind the leaders. At the top of
the stretch, Tomy Lee was in front with Sword Dancer looming on his outside.
Both First Landing and Silver Spoon had opportunities to make runs but failed
to sustain their respective rallies. The stretch run was intense with Tomy Lee
drifting out and making contact with Sword Dancer. Bumps were exchanged and the
finish was decided by a nose - Tomy Lee’s. First Landing was third 2¼ lengths
back, with Royal Orbit fourth and Silver Spoon fifth. An inquiry was
lodged by Sword Dancer’s jockey William Boland, and after a lengthy time interval the
Kentucky stewards were unwilling (at that time) to disqualify a horse that
finished first in the Kentucky Derby. Thus, as a stroke of fate, William
Shoemaker who tried to get off Tomy Lee to ride Sword
Dancer was credited with providing the crucial difference.
After
such a dramatic Derby, the Preakness Stakes two weeks later was a decided let
down. First of all, the connections of
Tomy Lee shipped him back to California after a
frenzied Kentucky campaign. Silver Spoon also returned to California and for most of
her career was restricted to races against her own sex.
The Preakness was billed as a race between the second and third finishers in
the Kentucky Derby, Sword Dancer (with Shoemaker back aboard) and First Landing, respectively. However, it was the Derby
fourth, Royal Orbit who made a dramatic run from the rear to sweep
by the field defeating Sword Dancer by 4 widening lengths with Dunce third.
First Landing showed little in finishing ninth and was discovered suffering
from a liver illness which prevented his return to the races until late
fall.
There
was a four week interval between the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, and
Elliott Burch used that time to enter his three-year-old in the Metropolitan
Handicap at one mile against older horses.
Burch’s reason was two-fold. He wanted a race for his hardy battler, and
at the scale of weights he thought the classic tested Sword Dancer had a great
chance to win. Carrying 114 lb. Sword Dancer scored an authoritative victory over
some of the best Eastern older horses and started a pattern that Elliot Burch
would use successfully with two other Belmont Stakes winners.
As
for the 1959 Belmont Stakes, despite Royal Orbit’s presence, the public settled on the
twice classic placed Sword Dancer fresh off his Metropolitan Mile win as the
favorite. The race was not without drama and tragedy. King Ranch’s Black Hills
making a menacing move on the stretch turn broke down and crashed into fellow
Belmont contender, Lake Erie. The most memorable image from the race was the
unconscious Eddie Arcaro (rider of Black Hills) lying face down in the
mud on the turn. Fortunately, his injuries were not fatal, and he returned to
riding later in the year. However, Black Hills injuries were severe enough that
he had to be euthanized, casting a pall on the race. Somewhat anticlimactically, Sword Dancer wore
down West Coast invader Bagdad in the stretch to win the Belmont Stakes by ¾ of
a length with Royal Orbit a distant third.
So, the American classics ended with a separate winner for each race,
but with a horse, Sword Dancer, a diminutive bright chestnut with three white
stockings, assuming the leadership of the division with his hardiness, stamina,
and determination. The rest of 1959
would see “Little Red” expand and extend this dominance.
Sword Dancer was given a little over a month’s rest and
when he returned it was in the Monmouth Handicap at 1¼ miles against
established older horses. Rallying from off the pace, the Brookemeade color bearer
defeated Amerigo and Talent Show. Continuing to face his elders, the sturdy
chestnut suffered a narrow lost to Chilean import Babu in the Brooklyn Handicap
at Jamaica Racetrack while conceding 12 lb. in actual weight. Back in
his own division, Sword Dancer cemented the three-year-old championship with a
narrow ½ length victory while conceding weight to Middle Brother in the Travers
Stakes – the Midsummer’s Derby at Saratoga Racetrack.
By
the end of the summer it was surmised that the three best racehorses in the
United States were the defending champ five-year-old Round Table, the California raced four-year-old Hillsdale, and the upstart three-year-old, Sword
Dancer. The venue for a “Clash of the Titans”
was the new racetrack in New York City, Aqueduct. Hillsdale had shipped east and won a prep
race at Belmont Park, then was victorious in the Aqueduct Handicap at one mile
in the inaugural stakes run at the racetrack. The Woodward Stakes on Saturday,
September 26, at 1¼ miles under weight-for-age conditions was the stage set to
determine Horse of the Year honors. Only longshot Inside Tract was entered
other than the “Big Three”. There was a significant and eventful jockey switch.
William Shoemaker who had assumed the mount on Sword Dancer
after the Kentucky Derby, was also the regular rider on Round Table. He chose
the older horse over the three-year-old. Elliot Burch contracted the veteran big race rider Eddie
Arcaro to highlight the importance he attached to
winning this race. Hillsdale’s connections showed remarkable restraint in
retaining his regular rider, Tommy Barrow, who was hardly a household name in
the racing world.
As
a race, the Woodward Stakes was a thriller. As usual in a small field there was
race riding that may have determined the outcome. Hillsdale went to the front and set a leisurely pace
with Round Table a close second. Inside Track and Sword Dancer traded places for third and fourth with the
three-year-old saving ground on the inside. As the field entered the stretch,
Sword Dancer seemed trapped on the rail as Hillsdale was fighting off Round
Table’s bid. It appeared that Barrow aboard Hillsdale was so intent on defeating
Round Table that he allowed his mount to drift off the rail just sufficient to
allow Arcaro to slip Sword Dancer through and in a desperate finish win by a
head. Round Table was a clearly beaten third.
This
was the only meeting among these three equine stars. Hillsdale was retired
after the Woodward. Sword Dancer and
Round Table would face each other one more time in the two mile Jockey Club
Gold Cup. The race was anticlimactic, but nevertheless, definitive in that
Sword Dancer won by 7 lengths over a sloppy racetrack surface not conducive to
Round Table. In the year end awards Sword Dancer was voted Three-Year-Old
Champion, Co-champion Male Handicap Horse and Horse of the Year whereas Round
Table was Co-champion Male Handicap Horse and Turf Champion.
Kept
in training in 1960 as a four-year-old, Sword Dancer began the year regarded as
a superstar. That appellation would be tarnished in that the consistency the
son of Sunglow showed as a three-year-old was not evident. However, Sword
Dancer did show flashes of his championship brilliance.
Elliot
Burch started his colt’s four-year-old campaign in Florida over the winter, but
he was slow to reach his best form. After a fourth-place finish in a 7 furlong
allowance race at Hialeah Racetrack, Sword Dancer was entered in the Widener
Handicap, the signature race for older horses at Hialeah, assigned top weight
of 129 lb. In it he faced an emerging champion in Cain Hoy Stable’s Bald Eagle.
The leggy dark bay five-year-old son of Nasrullah, trained by Woody Stephens, was
a re-patriate from England initially thought by his connections to have classic
potential on grass. He was slow to catch on to American racing, but had a very
productive four-year-old campaign in 1959 finishing second to both Round Table and Hillsdale in stakes races, winning the venerable
Suburban Handicap and capping the year with a victory in the Washington, D. C.
International at Laurel Racetrack.
What
was most impressive was Bald Eagle’s ability to handle both grass and dirt
racing with equal facility and race at top form from 8 to 12 furlongs. In the
Widener Handicap, the Cain Hoy horse, carrying 123 lb. defeated Calumet Farm’s
On-and-On setting a new track record for the 1¼ mile race. Sword Dancer showed
no spark in finishing seventh of eighth. Winning an allowance race at
Gulfstream Park, Sword Dancer faced Bald Eagle again in the 1¼ mile Gulfstream
Park Handicap with the weight difference now only 1 lb. However, the latter won
again with Sword Dancer finishing
a well beaten fourth.
Just
when it looked like the year was lost, Sword Dancer regained his top form
defeating his old rival First Landing by a neck in the 9 furlong Grey Lag
Handicap at Aqueduct. Buoyed by that, Elliott Burch entered Sword Dancer in the
Metropolitan Handicap facing Bald Eagle for a third meeting, this time having a
1 lb. advantage the weights. Any hopes for a repeat triumph in the Met Mile were
dashed as the little chestnut’s rally only managed to garner fourth place. Bald
Eagle, at his absolute best, won the Metropolitan Handicap defeating First
Landing by 3½ lengths, setting a new track record for the 1 mile distance.
Bald
Eagle, First Landing and Sword Dancer all returned in the 1¼ mile Suburban
Handicap, the second leg of the Handicap Triple Crown. Bald Eagle, who appeared
at this point unbeatable, was assigned 133 lb. to Sword Dancer’s 125 lb. and
First Landing’s 122 lb. Whether it was the impost, the weight differential, or
the difficulty in maintaining his brilliance, Bald Eagle finished a well beaten
fourth with Sword Dancer wearing down First Landing in deep stretch for a ½
length victory.
In
the last leg of The Handicap Triple – Bald Eagle, Sword Dancer and First
Landing all finished out of the money as On-and-On, regaining his Florida form,
triumphed in a very sloppy running of the Brooklyn Handicap.
After
this series of races in New York, Burch shipped Sword Dancer out of state and
tried him on grass. In the Arlington Handicap, he finished sixth to Cain Hoy
Stable’s One-Eyed King but was beaten only 3 lengths. In the United Nations
Handicap at Atlantic City Racetrack, Sword Dancer out finished all but sophomore
T. V. Lark, losing by 1½ lengths while conceding 7 lb. On September 24, one
week after the U. N. race, Sword Dancer ran in the Woodward Stakes facing both
Bald Eagle and T. V. Lark. Under Eddie Arcaro, the hardy chestnut triumphed
again in this important weight-for-age race, rallying strongly to defeat Dotted
Swiss by 1½ lengths with Bald Eagle another 2½ lengths back in third. The final
time was a new track record for the distance.
Back
on the grass one month later in the 1½ mile Man o’War Stakes, Sword Dancer
finished in third behind upsetter Harmonizing with Bald Eagle second. An ankle
injury prevented Sword Dancer from making his final start in the Washington, D.
C. International. He was retired to stand stud at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington,
KY. Overall, the son of Sunglow raced 39 times over the course of three years,
achieving 15 victories and 11 placings, racing often at the highest level.
In
stud, he was modestly successful siring champions Lady Pitt and Damascus, the
latter considered one of the greatest horses of the 20th century. In
the latter part of his life Sword Dancer stood stud in France, dying in 1984. In 1977, Sword Dancer was inducted into the
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame – a fitting honor for a horse who
combined speed, stamina and determination, all attributes we honor in the
thoroughbred.
