Thoroughbred Racing

Eddie Arcaro brought in the 4,000th winner of his career as a jockey at Santa Anita on February 20.

Left: Silky Sullivan, the most publicized three-year-old of 1958, during a workout in California in March.

Calumet Farm's Tim Tam, with jockey Ismael Valenzuela, won the $160,500 Kentucky Derby on a muddy track on May 3 at odds of $6.20 for $2. Lincoln Road was second and Moureddin third. Sentimental favorite Silky Sullivan, known on the West Coast for coming from back in the field to win races, finished 12th in the field of 14.

Tim Tam was retired from racing by Calumet Farm on August 12 because of an ankle injury suffered in the Belmont Stakes race.
Right: A veterinarian administers oxygen to Tim Tam, who developed bone chips in one leg and was successfully operated on in June.

Travis M. Kerr's Round Table became first among all-time money winning horses when he won the $123,850 Hawthorne Gold Cup on October 11. Total winnings came to $1,336,364, surpassing Nashua's $1,288,565.

The Best Race Horses of 1958 were named by a Thoroughbred Racing Association board on December 1. The American Champion was Round Table, a four-year-old owned by Travis M. Kerr, who won 14 of his 20 races and earned $662,780 in prize money. Other champions included Calumet Farm's Tim Tam (3-year-old) and C.T. Chenery's First Landing (2-year-old).

Clem, owned by Adele Rand, broke a 26-year record in winning the Equipose Mile at Arlington Park in 1 minute 34 seconds. The previous mile mark was 1 minute 39-2/5 seconds, set in 1952 by event namesake Equipose.
Left: Clem, with Willie Shoemaker up, outdistances Round Table, the 1958 American Champion, ridden by Ismael Valenzuela, in the $100,000 United Nations Handicap.

Willie Shoemaker won the 1958 Riding Championship by bringing in 300 winners. On the final day of the season Shoemaker rode four winners at Santa Anita, to bring to 3,274 his lifetime total wins. He became the only jockey to win the Riding Championship four times.

Ismael Valenzuela replaced Willie Hartack as Calumet Farm's star jockey when Hartack suffered a broken ankle.

Major Races

*Maine Chance Farm's Jewel's Reward, Manuel Yeaza up, finished first but was disqualified for bumping Tim Tam.

Harness Racing

Emily's Pride set a new stake record of 1:59-4/5 in winning the Hambletonian Stakes and also established a new record of 1:59-2/5 for three-year-old trotting fillies in the Kentucky Futurity. After Senator Frost won the first heat in the Futurity with a world record time of 1:59-1/5, Emily's Pride won the next two heats in 1:59-2/5 and 1:59-4/5.
Left: Emily's Pride streaks across the finish line in record time of 1:59-4/5 to win the Hambletonian Stakes.

Senator Frost lowered the record for three-year-old trotting geldings to 1:59 at Hollywood Park, where Shadow Wave also set a new world record for three-year-old pacers, winning in 1:56-3/5.

Belle Acton became the top money-winning harness horse of all time by accumulating $167,887 in 1958, thus raising her lifetime total to $348,788.

Adios Day won 15 races and collected $104,842 to accumulate more money than any two-year-old pacer in history. Circo led the two-year-old trotting colts in earnings.

The highest price ever paid for a yearling in the United States was given for Dancer Hanover, who sold for $105,000 at the Jarrisburg, Pennsylvania sale. The buyer was a syndicate headed by Stanley Dancer.

Merrie Annabelle, one of the greatest two-year-old trotting fillies of the day, reared while going to a track, toppled over, and was paralyzed as a result of the fall. Despite efforts by some of the best veterinarians in the country, she died two months later.

SEE ALSO
Kentucky Derby

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This page was last updated on June 13, 2017.