Your Host (horse)
| Your Host | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Alibhai |
| Grandsire | Hyperion |
| Dam | Boudoir |
| Damsire | Mahmoud |
| Sex | stallion |
| Foaled | 1947 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | Louis B. Mayer |
| Owner | William Goetz |
| Trainer | Harry L. Daniels |
| Record | 23: 13-5-2 |
| Earnings | $384,795 |
| Major wins | |
|
California Breeders' Champion Stakes (1949) Del Mar Futurity (1949) Forerunner Stakes (1950) Santa Anita Derby (1950) San Felipe Stakes (1950) Thanksgiving Day Handicap (1950) Golden Gate Breeders' Handicap (1950) Kent Stakes (1950) Dick Welles Stakes (1950) Sheridan Handicap (1950) Santa Catalina Handicap (1951) |
|
| Last updated on August 21, 2011 | |
Your Host (1947–1961) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Foaled in California, he was by the imported British stallion Alibhai out of the Irish mare Boudoir by the French stallion Mahmoud. Bred in the stables of Louis B. Mayer (head of Metro Goldwyn Mayer), Your Host was owned by Mayer's son-in-law (film producer William Goetz) and trained by Harry L. Daniels. Despite illness and injury he had a successful racing career, and went on to sire the great gelding Kelso.
Your Host was foaled with his right eye and ear set higher than his left, a crooked neck, low withers and light flanks. It was said his neck was twisted due to a youthful injury, but his groom claimed he held his head oddly in order to see properly. Your Host was nervous, headstrong and often uncontrollable. A chestnut, he had four white stockings (considered unlucky by some horsemen). At age two Your Host became seriously ill, and only the skill of his veterinarians and his own will to live saved his life.
As a two-year-old, Your Host won the California Breeders' Champion Stakes, the Del Mar Futurity, and finished second in the Salinas Handicap and the Homebred Stakes. At three, he won the San Felipe Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby; he also won a race at Keeneland Race Course by 6½ lengths in track-record time, beating Flamingo Stakes winner Oil Capitol and Blue Grass Stakes winner Mr. Trouble. The horse the press began to call "The Magnificent Cripple" was favored to win the 76th Kentucky Derby in 1950.
Your Host arrived at Churchill Downs with great fanfare. The sign on his Hollywood connections' railroad car read, "1950 Kentucky Derby Winner". Although ridden by Johnny Longden (who was inducted into both the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame), and dueling for a mile with Mr. Trouble, Your Host faded badly. In the second-fastest Derby yet run (timed at 2:01 3/5) he lost to Middleground, finishing an exhausted ninth. He then returned to California and shorter races, where he won the Thanksgiving Day Handicap, the Golden State Breeders' Handicap, the Kent Stakes, the Dick Welles Stakes, and the Sheridan Handicap. He placed in the Premiere Handicap and finished third in the American Derby and the Arlington Classic. As a three-year-old, Your Host defeated eventual Horse of the Year Hill Prince, who had finished second in the Derby. He also defeated Kentucky Derby winner Ponder.
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