Kentucky Horse Tales by Ercel Ellis Jr

Author:Ercel Ellis Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2019-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

COALTOWN

I drove out to Keeneland to see the 1948 Blue Grass Stakes. I wanted to see Coaltown, the colt everybody was talking about, but I was rooting for Dixiana’s Shy Guy. I wasn’t 8 to 5 to make it. It was a pretty good drive from Dixiana to Keeneland, but “Maggy” my old 1935 Chevy got me there. I bought a Racing Form and took a look at the past performances. I knew that Shy Guy liked Keeneland. He had won the Breeders’ Futurity the year before, so I was hoping for the best, thinking all this talk about Coaltown was because he belonged to Calumet and was trained by Ben Jones. Coaltown had not run at two; in fact, he nearly died. He had collapsed on the track while galloping and hemorrhaged from the head. When Jones rode up to him on his pony, he thought Coaltown was dying. “I wouldn’t have given a quarter for him.” Coaltown recovered but thereafter suffered from a mild breathing problem.

Coaltown made his first start as a three-year-old on February 3 at Hialeah going six furlongs and won by two and a half lengths. The chart said “won galloping.” Three weeks later, he sprinted six furlongs in 1:09 and 3/5 and, as much the best, won by twelve. He was handled by Jimmy Jones in his first two outings, but he was sent to Keeneland for his third and then Ben took over, starting him against older horses in the six-furlong Phoenix Handicap, which he won by two and a half “ridden out.”

By this time, Eddie Arcaro, who was scheduled to ride Coaltown’s stablemate, Citation, in the Kentucky Derby, was having second thoughts. Back in 1942, John Gaver, trainer for Greentree Stable, had given Arcaro the choice of Devil Diver or Shut Out for the Derby. He picked Devil Diver. Shut Out won; Devil Diver finished sixth. So, when Arcaro asked Jones, the reply was, “Eddie, I wouldn’t have put you on Citation if I didn’t think he was the better horse.”

I was having some doubts too, but mine didn’t arrive until after the Blue Grass. Coaltown opened up six in the first quarter mile, led all the way and won by four and a half “eased up” over Billings, a colt by Mahmoud that went on to win several stakes in Chicago, notably the Hawthorne Gold Cup. Shy Guy ran third, trying as hard as he always did, but he was nowhere good enough. I came away convinced that I had seen in Coaltown the next Kentucky Derby winner. Arcaro went to Jones again. “Eddie,” Jones said, “Citation can beat anything he can see, and there ain’t nothing wrong with his eyes.”

On Derby day, Citation proved that the senior Jones knew his horses. Coaltown led for the first mile, and then Citation kissed him goodbye and handily won by three and a half lengths with Arcaro aboard. N.L. Pierson, who had ridden Coaltown in the Blue Grass, was up again for the

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