Black Gold (horse)

Black Gold
Black Gold at the Fair Grounds Race Course
Sire	Black Toney
Grandsire	Peter Pan I
Dam	U-See-It
Damsire	Bonnie Joe
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1921
Country	United States
Colour	Black
Breeder	Mrs. Rosa L. Hoots
Owner	Mrs. Rosa L. Hoots
Trainer	Hanley Webb
Record	35:18-5-4
Earnings	$111,553
Major wins
Kentucky Derby (1924) Louisiana Derby (1924) Derby Trial (1924) Ohio State Derby (1924) Chicago Derby (1924) Bashford Manor Stakes (1923)
Awards
U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1989)
Honours
Buried in the infield of the New Orleans Fair Grounds The Black Gold Stakes is run in his honor
Last updated on September 18, 2006

Buried in the infield of the New Orleans Fair Grounds

Black Gold (February 17, 1921 – January 18, 1928) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 50th running of the Kentucky Derby in 1924.

Black Gold's dam, U-See-it, was owned by Al Hoots. As a race mare, U-See-it was not fashionably bred, but she was fast. There was only one horse the Oklahoma-bred never beat in her 6-furlong races at small western tracks: the Hall of Famer Pan Zareta. U-See-it won 34 starts, and her purse money supported Al Hoots and his wife Rosa. The Hootses lived in Indian territory and were well known on the Texas/New Orleans racing circuit. In 1916, Al Hoots entered U-See-it into a claiming race in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where she was claimed. When Hoots refused to give the mare to her new owner, he and U-See-it were banned from racing for life.

By 1917, Al was dying. In certain versions of the story, he dreamed that if U-See-it were bred to one of the leading sires of the time, the foal she carried would win the Kentucky Derby. In other versions, Al merely hoped that this could happen. When oil was discovered in what is now Oklahoma, Rosa Hoots (who was a member of the Osage Nation) shipped U-See-it to the in Lexington, Kentucky, where Colonel E. R. Bradley's Black Toney stood at stud. The result was a black colt called Black Gold. Hanley Webb (or Hedley or Harry, depending on the source), who had been a close friend of Al Hoots and also trained U-See-it, was Black Gold's trainer. The man who groomed and exercised him was also his regular jockey, J. D. Mooney.