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This is the story of a wonderful thoroughbred, one we don’t hear much about anymore. In fact, the most recent piece I encountered about Damascus was during Big Brown’s shot at the Triple Crown: the author wondered if BB was not really Damascus reincarnate, since on both the top and bottom of BB’s pedigree, Damascus is represented. Damascus is one of those thoroughbreds that only comes along once in awhile and when it happens — as we saw most recently with Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta — a spirit of renewal washes over a venerable sport. As you read on, you might be surprised to learn that Damascus was also the horse that inspired an amazing (though modest!) thoroughbred writer to begin a career in thoroughbred racing……
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Damascus at work with Willie Davis up. A champion in body and soul,
his courageous heart seemed to light up his eyes like an eternal flame. |
Imagine a moment in time that was flooded with thoroughbred titans facing off against one another on the tracks of the nation.
One such moment was certainly 1967, when Damascus (1964), Dr. Fager (1964) and Buckpasser (1963) graced the sport and gave racing fans some of the greatest thrills of the last century. And whereas history has been kind to Dr. Fager and Buckpasser, memory can be an arbitrary, fickle thing. So it is that our collective memory appears to have “dropped a stitch” when it comes to Damascus, who was not only a champion but also the conduit of at least two important sire lines, one of which might well have disappeared without him.
Damascus was a perfect individual in every way. At least, that’s how his trainer, Frank Whiteley — a man who trained great thoroughbreds like Tom Rolfe (1962), Ruffian (1972) and Forego (1970) — described him. Whiteley was not the kind of man who gushed with emotion, but he did say that of all the thoroughbreds he had been around, Damascus was indeed the greatest.
Damascus came into the world at John Bell III’s Jonabell Farm on April 14. His owner and breeder was Edith Woodward Bancroft, the daughter of William Woodward Sr., patriarch of one of America’s great racing dynasties and the breeder of 96 stakes-winners in America and Europe, including Gallant Fox, Omaha, Black Tarquin, Apache and Nashua. Damascus was the son of Sword Dancer (1956) out of Kerala (1958), a daughter of My Babu (1945). A handsome chestnut, Sword Dancer was only 15.3 hands, but he had the heart of a giant. A late-developer as a two year-old, Sword Dancer came back to wage a brilliant campaign at three, leading to his being crowned Horse of the Year in 1959. Damascus’ dam was unraced but had a superb pedigree that referenced back to individuals like Sweep (1907), Blandford (1919), Sickle (1924), Blue Larkspur (1926) and Tourbillon (1928). In 1967, Kerala was voted Broodmare of the Year, a title bestowed on her as a result of Damascus’ stellar racing accomplishments as a 3 year-old.
How big a heart? Watch this footage of Sword Dancer (#2) winning the 1959 Travers:
As a colt, Damascus didn’t look at all like his flashy sire, growing into a good, strong bay with touches of black — a coat colour that the Irish have long prized as the sign of a classic horse. In overall conformation, Damascus took after his maternal grandsire, My Babu. This likeness serves as a subtle reminder as to just how balanced his beautiful pedigree was: My Babu won 11 of 16 starts in England, including the prestigious Two Thousand Guineas and the Victoria Cup Handicap. He was the leading sire in the UK and the USA with winning progeny like Crozier (1958) who became the sire of Precisionist (1981), Milesian (1953) and Prudent(1959), 2 year-old Champion in France. His daughter Missy Baba (1958) is best known for her sons Sauce Boat (1975) and the lovely Raja Baba (1968), while another son, Our Babu (1952) won the Champagne and the 2000 Guineas in the UK and later stood stallion duty on three different continents.
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My Babu is led in after winning the 2000 Guineas |
At 2, Damascus was sent to trainer Frank Whiteley. Like his sire before him, Damascus was slow to develop, although Whiteley was quick to appreciate the colt’s strength, intelligence and willingness to do all that was asked of him. The colt’s responsiveness was a huge asset, since it opened the way to a seamless partnership between jockey and horse — the kind of synergy that not only lends the sport its breathtaking beauty, but also accounts for the making of champions. Responsiveness is another kind of listening — not to sound, but to a rider’s cues. Like stamina and speed, it’s an essential ingredient although not one that is necessarily in a youngster’s “tool kit.” But Damascus was quick to show that he was a “listener,” along with the fact that, yes, he could run.
His 2 year-old season started late in the year and was carefully orchestrated by Whiteley. The trainer was in no rush with the promising youngster and set about bringing him along at a pace that complemented Damascus’ development. His first start had him breaking from the gate slowly and although he kept pace with the field, he was obviously distracted by the sights and sounds of the race. Despite all this, he finished in second place. His jockey on that day was the great Bill Shoemaker, fondly known as “The Shoe” by racing fans and he was to be Damascus’ rider throughout most of his racing career. The colt won every subsequent race, thrilling sportsmen and fans alike with a 12-length romp in an allowance race at Laurel. In the Remsen, Damascus was caught against the rail as the field turned for home. Moving on cue with the grace of a gazelle, he made it through a narrow opening to beat the leader by 1.5 lengths in a time of 1:37. The Shoe was convinced: he let Whiteley know that he wanted to ride Damascus in his 3 year-old campaign.
Starting in a prep race early in March of 1967, Damascus encountered puddles on an otherwise fast track and decided to jump them. In midair over the last one, a horse called Coral King cannoned into him. But the 3 year-old somehow managed — miraculously — to keep his legs under him. As he came after the leader in the homestretch, Damascus was knocked again but went on to win by a head. It was a stunning display of courage and determination for such a young colt.
Damascus next started in the Bay Shore, winning it by 2.5 lengths in a time of 1:25 and change. In the Gotham, he was to meet the great Dr. Fager in a race that would signal the beginning of a historic rivalry. Although Damascus broke from a good post position and ran head-to-head with Dr. Fager in the home stretch, it was not to be — the game Dr. Fager fought back, grabbing victory by a half-length. The Shoe blamed himself for the loss, but Whiteley chalked it up to the fact that jockey and horse were “learning” one another. His intuition proved correct. In the Wood Memorial there was no Dr. Fager, much to the disappointment of the racing public. But it certainly provided a venue for Damascus and Shoemaker to show just what they had learned from the Gotham defeat. This time, The Shoe took the colt back early in the race, giving him the green light as the field turned for home. Damascus flew, ears pricked, to a 6-length victory in a time of 1:49 and change. Next up: The Kentucky Derby.
The 1967 Kentucky Derby took place in a nation fraught with civil rights conflict. And although the world of thoroughbred racing might seem far, far away, social unrest visited Churchill Downs when protesters ran onto the track during the first race on May 2. There had been confrontations in Louisville that spring as well and the decision was made to have the National Guard on hand for the May 6th running of the Derby.
Damascus had arrived at Churchill Downs in April and Whiteley could feel the tension in the air which, coupled with the scrum of reporters around his barn, may have made it difficult to keep the favourite happy within himself. On Derby day, Damascus was not himself. A usually sensible individual, the colt was sweating and irritable, pinning back his ears in the saddling enclosure and stamping his feet. He went to the post an anxious horse, wearing himself down before the starting gates even opened; and although he tried his best Damascus came in third, behind Barb’s Delight (1964) and the winner, Proud Clarion (1964). His trainer was at a loss to explain his colt’s anxiety, since he had never seen Damascus this way before. Others, including the colt’s groom, were bitterly disappointed. They all knew that the best horse had lost.
Whiteley’s confidence in Damascus was unequivocal. Prior to the Preakness, however, the gifted trainer did make two changes to Damascus’ routine that were well-received by the colt. The first was to nominate the stable pony, Duffy, as Damascus’ companion on race days. Duffy and his famous charge took to one another immediately and by the time Damascus arrived at Pimlico, he was back to his old self. The second change was what The Washington Post referred to tongue-in-cheek as “isolationism.” This meant that Damascus would be removed from the public glare, sheltered in every way from the kind of environment that might provoke feelings of anxiety.
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Feeling good! Damascus, Duffy and trainer, Frank Whiteley. |
Frank Whiteley may never have been the “darling” of the press corps, but he was a very kind man who was most comfortable among his horses. During the weeks between the Preakness and Belmont, he kept Damascus — and himself — as far away from cameras and microphones as he could. He spent time lavishing care on his colt — hand-washing his leg bandages, walking him, mucking out his stall, delivering his feed, talking to him and keeping him company from an old deckchair outside his stall. When asked about what some saw as excessive “pampering,” Whiteley replied that it was “with pleasure” that he made time for Damascus. Trainer and colt were happiest in one another’s company.
The day of the Preakness, Damascus was shipped in from Laurel where he had been sequestered to Pimlico. Arriving in the saddling enclosure with Duffy only 3 minutes before the deadline, Damascus nuzzled his buddy happily while being saddled. Enroute to the post, it was the pony — and not his famous companion — that got somewhat carried away. Damascus went on to win both the Preakness and the Belmont, the former in the second fastest time since 1925, the year that the Preakness was changed to one mile and one sixteenth. In neither race had Damascus met his nemesis, the talented and powerful Dr. Fager, who was busy carving out his own legendary status with wins in the Withers, the NH Sweep Classic and the AP Classic, among others.
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In the winner’s circle after the 1967 Preakness, Bill Shoemaker in the irons. |
The summer of 1967 was to prove a racing fan’s delight, with Damascus, Dr. Fager and Buckpasser chalking up victories. After a defeat in the du Pont, Damascus scored in the Dwyer and the very same day, Dr. Fager won the Rockingham Special Stakes in brilliant fashion. In the Travers that summer, Damascus scored by an astounding 22 lengths. By now, his swift, fluid charge to the lead had become a kind of signature, whereas Dr. Fager’s winning form was dictated by his refusal to be anywhere but out in front. In the mean time, Buckpasser, plagued by a quarter crack in one of his hooves, still managed to win the Suburban Handicap that July, marshalling a brilliant come-from-behind move that brought spectators to their feet.
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Buckpasser: of all the horses he painted, the late Richard Stone Reeves
said that Buckpasser was the “most perfect” thoroughbred both in body and in mind |
The stage was set for what would be billed as “The Race Of The Century” — the 1967 Woodward. This was what racing fans had been waiting for since the Gotham. The promise of another Damascus-Dr. Fager hook-up was made even more exciting with the entry of the 4 year-old Buckpasser. As the story goes, both Whiteley and Eddie Nelroy, Buckpasser’s trainer, determined to wear out Dr. Fager by throwing “rabbits” into the race. The Nelroy rabbit was one thing; the Whiteley rabbit quite another. Hedevar (1962), a grandson of Count Fleet and a champion sprinter was the perfect individual to run Dr. Fager into the ground — or close to it — as far as Whiteley was concerned. It was true that Dr. Fager’s running style made entering a sprinter like Hedevar a shrewd strategy. Given that Damascus liked to come with a determined rush from behind, blazing fractions would set things up exactly as the Whiteley colt liked it.
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The exquisite Dr. Fager — a powerhouse of courage, speed and determination.
NYRA photo by Paul Schafer (1968) |
On the day of the Woodward, Buckpasser started as the favourite. When the gates flew open, the rest went pretty much as planned. Hedevar battled Dr. Fager down the backstretch and, great horse that he was, Dr. Fager gave the speedster “no quarter” as they flew through the opening three quarters in a stunning 1:09 1/5. Damascus and Buckpasser lay back. In the home stretch, Damascus dispatched a tiring Dr. Fager to post a 10-length victory over Buckpasser, who finished second and his rival, who persevered to take third place. It was this race that handed Whiteley’s bay colt the mantle of 1967 Horse of the Year.
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Damascus comes home in the 1967 Woodward. |
Watching the Woodward all these years later, it is impossible to love one of these colts more than the others. Dr. Fager’s determination as he duels down the backstretch … Buckpasser’s drive in the home stretch … Damascus’ deceptively lengthening stride. They are the thoroughbred at his most majestic, at his most noble.
In 1968, Damascus returned to the track as a 4 year-old and acquitted himself with the kind of class that the racing public had learned to expect from him, beginning with the Santa Anita Derby in January of that year. He went on to annex the San Fernando Stakes before losing the Strub by a head. Ron Turcotte, his jockey for the Strub, felt that the champion’s performance had to do with the wet conditions of the track that day. Even though he finished a game second, Damascus did it missing a shoe on one foot and badly cutting up the other. Back east, the hardy campaigner got a short time-out, returning in an allowance race which he won. He then went on to post a third place in the Haskell and to win both the William DuPont Handicap, as well as the Aqueduct Stakes. Damascus also met up with his old nemesis Dr. Fager twice in 1968, beating him in the Brooklyn Handicap and placing third to him in the Suburban. Of interest is the fact that Damascus beat Dr,. Fager when Hedevar was in the mix — as he had been in the Woodward victory, but tired when trying to keep up with Dr. Fager in the Suburban, a race where Whiteley had had to scratch his reliable rabbit. (Taking nothing away from Damascus, it is generally accepted that Dr. Fager’s best year was 1968, a year where he “put it all together” on the track and earned Horse of the Year.)
Damascus’ career closed amid rumours that he was unsound. He lost his final three races and was pulled up in his last start, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and vanned off the track, much to the distress of his fans. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with a bowed tendon. Although the JC Gold Cup was to be his last race, everyone wanted his final hurrah to be a winning one. But this was not to be and the tough campaigner ended his career with 32-21-7-3 and earnings of $1,176, 781.
He was retired to Claiborne where he stood his entire career at stud. As a sire, Damascus brought to the breed a mini-revival of the Teddy sire line. Teddy (1913) spent much of his career in France, arriving in the USA well after his two most famous sons, Sir Gallahad III (1920) and Bull Dog (1927) — full brothers out of the great producer, Plucky Liege(1912) — had taken up residence there. Sir Gallahad III’s most famous son was the incomparable Gallant Fox (1927), although he also got Gallahadion (1937) and Hoop, Jr.(1942) — three Derby winners and one winner of the Triple Crown. Bull Dog, by comparison, got fewer “superstars” as a sire with the exception of his excellent son, Bull Lea (1935), whose contribution to the breed was enormous. The feisty Teddy was also the sire of La Troienne (1926), the matriarch of one of America’s most important thoroughbred families.
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A rare shot of the mare, Plucky Liege, dam of both Sir Gallahad III and Bull Dog |
Damascus was a direct descendant of Teddy, through another son called Sun Teddy(1933), who was the great grandsire of his sire, Sword Dancer (1956). Of course, it would be folly to attribute Damascus’ success at stud to only the Teddy line — as indicated above, his bloodlines were also rich with the influence of his dam’s family. However, his ancestry back to Teddy remains important since many of the males in that sire line — including horses like Citation — did not prove to be outstanding sires, resulting in the dilution of the bloodline.
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The incomparable Teddy. Like Northern Dancer and a few other
notable sires, his line was deeply influential in shaping the modern thoroughbred |
Damascus was a gentle fellow at stud, the kind of sweetheart whom children were permitted to pet. In the breeding shed, he got champions who went on to produce champions. Of Damascus’ progeny, Bailjumper (1974) became the grandsire of Skip Away (1993) and the damsire of Medaglia d’Oro (1999), sire of the wonderful Rachel Alexandra. Another son, Private Account (1976) sired the incomparable Personal Ensign (1984). Damascus also sired the champions Honorable Miss (1970), Highland Blade (1978) and Timeless Moment (1970), among others.
His progeny and their descendants are a fitting tribute to Damascus, a thoroughbred who injected such excitement into the sport and inspired such devotion that one of his fans, Steve Haskin, was so moved as to begin a new career in horse racing shortly thereafter. The folks at Claiborne loved him too and it was with the greatest sense of loss that all who had known Damascus received the news of his death, at the age of 31, in 1995. Pensioned several years earlier, the grand old stallion had laid himself to rest in his paddock, crossing the finish line one last time.
A summary of the careers of both Damascus and Dr. Fager, featuring live footage:
Next Week: A royally-bred colt reminds us of all the reasons we love the thoroughbred and goes on to give a nation one of its most-loved racing icons.
>Wonderful, Abigail! You did a great job, as usual, telling his story from both racing and pedigree perspective. That is what I appreciate most in your writing.I had not seen the second video. What a treat! Thank you.
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>Great post! Thanks for writing about Damascus!
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>Hi Abigail, another great story. The video clips do not show up on my computer at all. Not sure if this is true for everyone. Missy J
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>It makes a hell of a story!Frank
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>I loved it and thank you for writing about one of the awe inspiring horses that has helped shape the breed to this very day.
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>Thank you so much for elaborating on these great horses that I missed out on – you have brought them to life with vivid details that I've enjoyed learning. Damascus was an incredible horse and it makes me sad that I was not paying attention when these greats were racing. Thank you!
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Here’s a project I made using one of these photos:
Love the photos & this blog. Keep up the good work.
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This looks terrific & thanks for sending it along! If you’re on Facebook, you should also send it to Steve Haskin — he ADORES Damascus!!!! Abigail
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My Uncle had a ex Race Horse named Domino in 1960, 18 hnd tall, I have photos.
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Theresa: I guess that Domino was a descendant of Damascus? Thank you so much for dropping me a line! Abigail
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Hello,
I was at Belmont that day in 1968, when Damascus bowed tendon, and was hurt and should have not run. 2 other jocks refused to ride him that day, Ussery, and Ycaza but declined..
LARRY Adams was the jock he rode him. He broke down early in race Damascus. Think Quicken Tree won the gold cup, he was from Cali, but Damascus was hurting and shouldn’t have run. That day 2 jockeys refused to ride him, both Ussery and Yacaza got off of him and Larry Adams who was sometimes shady.was on him.
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C. Curzio: Very interesting to hear this story. Thank you so much for sharing it! Abigail
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The greatest son of the great Damascus was Ogygian, whom I met at Old Friends Retirement Farm in Kentucky. What a magnificent old horse he was. Like his sire, he lived a long life, passing away at age 32. He was spry and ornery, showed off for his admirers, and made certain everyone knew he had royal blood in his veins and was someone very special. He won my heart that day, and I think he represented his famous father very well in that his progeny made their marks in the racing world and did both sire and grandsire proud. It is good that we remember with reverence the great Damascus.
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Linda: Ogygian was gone by the time I made my first trip to Old Friends in 2015. I was so sorry to have never seen him. I do agree with you though: he made his sire proud! Thanks so much for your comment. I enrolled in another class in Chinese Landscape painting, which I love, so I’m slow to show you my appreciation for your interest and support. Thank you so much! Abigail
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