Hamburg (horse)
| Hamburg | |
|---|---|
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Circa 1911
|
|
| Sire | Hanover |
| Grandsire | Hindoo |
| Dam | Lady Reel |
| Damsire | Fellowcraft |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1895 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Bay |
| Breeder | James E. Kittson |
| Owner |
Con J. Enright John E. Madden Marcus Daly William Collins Whitney Harry Payne Whitney |
| Trainer |
John E. Madden William Lakeland |
| Record | 21 Starts: 16-3–2 |
| Earnings | $60,380 |
| Major wins | |
|
Flash Stakes (1897) Swift Stakes (1897) Lawrence Realization Stakes (1898) |
|
| Awards | |
| Unofficial American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (1897) Unofficial American Horse of the Year (1898) Leading sire in North America (1905) |
|
| Honours | |
| U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1986) | |
| Last updated on December 26, 2007 | |
Hamburg (1895–1915) was an American Thoroughbred race horse. The leading American colt of his generation, Hamburg was retrospectively named the American Horse of the Year for 1898. After his racing career he went on to be a successful sire.
Hamburg was bred in Kentucky by James E. Kittson, brother to Norman W. Kittson who had been partners in Erdenheim Stud. His sire was the great Hanover by another great, Hindoo. Hamburg's dam Lady Reel was descended from Gallopade, a British broodmare who was exported to Canada in the 1830s and became the female-line ancestor of numerous major winners in North America.
In 1897, he was purchased for $1,200 by the Hall of Fame trainer John E. Madden who raced him as a two-year-old. Madden said he was the hardest colt he'd ever trained. But once "tamed," he was quick to exercise and very eager to eat.
At two, Hamburg carried 129 pounds in the Double Event, Flash, and Autumn Stakes, 132 in the Electric Handicap, 134 pounds in the Congress Hall, and in the Great Eastern, he was loaded with 135 pounds. Some of his better rivals carried almost as much, but these weights were, and remain, very high, especially for a juvenile horse. On the Hall of Fame site, it states that Hamburg “carried the highest weights ever by a juvenile.”
Hamburg was so eager to race, his rapid breaks often caused the official starter's ability to be questioned. Tod Sloan, the Hall of Fame jockey who rode him and hundreds of other horses, many of whom were highly regarded, said, "Hamburg was the only great horse I ever rode."
In December 1897, Madden sold Hamburg for $40,000 to Marcus Daly, the copper magnate, who turned him over to his trainer, Billy Lakeland. (Even so, Madden thought so much of Hamburg, he named his farm in Lexington, Kentucky Hamburg Place after him.) Marcus Daly, one of three men called the Copper Kings, maintained the Bitter Root Stock Farm in Hamilton, Montana but kept Hamburg in the East at his trainers facilities. At age three, Hamburg won for Daly as he'd won for Madden. In the Realization Stakes, he beat Plaudit, the winner of the 1898 Kentucky Derby. In the Brighton Cup, he bested the Brooklyn and Parkway Stakes winner, Howard Mann.
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