Fitzsimmons’ Triple-Double Started With Gallant Effort

Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons trained some magnificent horses, a group that included Gallant Fox, Omaha, Seabiscuit, Nashua and Bold Ruler.

Retiring in 1963, Fitzsimmons said: “Bold Ruler was the best I ever had, up to a mile. Nashua was a nod better than Gallant Fox at 1 1/4 miles, and Gallant Fox was the best at 1 1/2 miles.”

Fitzsimmons is the only trainer to have won two Triple Crowns, the first coming in 1930 with Gallant Fox and the second in 1935 with Omaha, a son of Gallant Fox.

Gallant Fox was a lazy, easily distracted horse with a white blaze that almost covered his face. In one of his defeats, he was left at the gate, watching an airplane that flew overhead.

“When he had competition,” Fitzsimmons said, “he could run like the wind. But as soon as he whipped everybody and got the lead, he would slow to a walk.”

In the mornings, Fitzsimmons had to outwit Gallant Fox. Fitzsimmons worked Gallant Fox in company with as many three horses, virtually simulating a real race.

Bred by his owner, William Woodward Sr. of Belair Stud, Gallant Fox is the only Triple Crown champion who won the Preakness before the Kentucky Derby. The even-money favorite, he and jockey Earl Sande survived trouble on the first turn at Pimlico to beat Crack Brigade by a half-length.

The incomparable Sande had twice retired because of injuries and struggles with weight, but Woodward coaxed him back to the track to ride Gallant Fox.

In the Derby, Gallant Fox was again favored and his two-length margin on an off track was easier than it appeared. In the Belmont Stakes, the public favored Whichone, who had beaten Gallant Fox when they were 2-year-olds. In a four-horse field, Sande rushed Gallant Fox to the lead, gave him a breather on the backstretch and they coasted home by three lengths. Whichone finished second over a slick track that he didn’t like.

That summer, on a muddy track, the Gallant Fox-Whichone rematch fell apart and in one of racing’s most shocking upsets, the 100-1 Jim Dandy beat them both in the four-horse Travers at Saratoga.

That Travers was Gallant Fox’s only loss in 10 races as a 3-year-old. Fitzsimmons, elected to the Racing Hall of Fame in 1958, would never give Jim Dandy his due. “It was a fluke, by a fluke horse who had no business in the race,” he said.

As a 3-year-old, Gallant Fox earned $308,275, a one-year record that stood until Assault, another Triple Crown champion, earned $424,195 in 1946.

Besides Omaha, Gallant Fox also sired Granville, the Belmont winner and horse of the year in 1936, but after his first two crops, Gallant Fox’s stallion career was uneventful. He died at 27, the same day in 1954 as the running of the Gallant Fox Handicap in New York.

1930: THE BREAKDOWN

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Date Race Distance Time Margin Odds Purse 5/9 Preakness 1 3/16 miles 2:00 3/5 3/4 length 1-1 $51,925 5/17 Derby 1 1/4 miles 2:07 3/5 2 lengths 11-10 50,725 6/7 Belmont 1 1/2 miles 2:31 3/5 3 lengths 8-5 66,040

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THE CHALLENGERS

The top three finishers in the races in 1930:

PREAKNESS

1. Gallant Fox

2. Crack Brigade

3. Snowflake

KENTUCKY DERBY

1. Gallant Fox

2. Gallant Knight

3. Ned Q.

BELMONT

1. Gallant fox

2. Whichone

3. Questionaire

GALLANT FOX’S CAREER RECORD

(1929-30)

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Starts 1 2 3 Purses 17 11 3 2 $328,165

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TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS

1919--Sir Barton

1930--Gallant Fox

1935--Omaha

1937--War Admiral

1941--Whirlaway

1943--Count Fleet

1946--Assault

1948--Citation

1973--Secretariat

1977--Seattle Slew

1978--Affirmed