American Legion Handicap

The American Legion Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York open to horses of either sex age three and older. It was contested over a distance of seven furlongs on dirt, except for 1948 and 1949 when it was set at one mile (8 furlongs). The race was run for thirty-two years from 1927 through 1948.

American Legion Handicap
Discontinued stakes race
LocationSaratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, New York
Inaugurated1927
Race typeThoroughbred - Flat racing
Race information
Distance7 furlongs
SurfaceDirt
Trackleft-handed
QualificationThree-year-olds and up
Purse$20,000 added

Historical notes

The inaugural running took place on August 6, 1927 and was won Cheops, a three-year-old brown colt owned by the very prominent Rancocas Stable. The race was created to honor American war veterans but during World War II also became a fund raising event to support the war effort. In 1943 government wartime restrictions meant the race had to be hosted that year by the Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, New York.[1]

During the July 26, 1937 racing program that included the American Legion Handicap, tragedy struck the Saratoga facilities when, during a severe electrical storm, a bolt of lightning killed one horse and knocked eight others unconscious. The lightning struck the barn housing Thoroughbreds owned by King Ranch plus those of Anna Corning. The lightning then hit a stall killing the two-year-old filly Gino Vive belonging to Willis Sharpe Kilmer.[2]

The 1938 race was won by Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr.'s Airflame whose winning time broke an eighteen-year-old track record.[3]

The Canadian owned Arise, who had traveled to Saratoga in 1949 and won the prestigious Travers Stakes, returned to win the 1950 running of the American Legion Handicap and would go on to a career that would see him inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1983.[4] [5]

The thirty-second and final running of the American Legion Handicap took place on August 8, 1958. On a sloppy racetrack, the five-year-old horse Reneged easily won by five lengths, beating eight other runners.[6]

Records

Speed record:

  • 1:22.20 @ 7 furlongs : Greek Warrior (1945)

Most wins:

  • 2 - Microphone (1932, 1933)
  • 2 - Nedayr (1939, 1940)
  • 2 - Tea-Maker (1951, 1952)

Most wins by a jockey:

Most wins by a trainer:

  • 3 - Phillip M. Walker (1932, 1933, 1935)

Most wins by an owner:

Winners
Year
 Winner
 Age
 Jockey
 Trainer
 Owner
 Dist.
(Miles)		 Time
1958 Reneged 5 Bobby Ussery Homer C. Pardue Woodley Lane Farm (Steven Wilson, Joseph Strauss, Lafayette Ward) 7 F 1:24.00
1957 Ricci Tavi 4 Eldon Nelson Henry S. Clark Christiana Stables 7 F 1:25.00
1956 Ambergris 4 Hedley Woodhouse Winbert F. Mulholland George D. Widener Jr. 7 F 1:24.80
1955 Gold Box 3 Ted Atkinson John M. Gaver Sr. Greentree Stable 7 F 1:24.80
1954 Fisherman 3 Hedley Woodhouse Sylvester E. Veitch Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney 7 F 1:24.00
1953 Eatontown 7 Bennie Green Hugh Dufford Betty Block Roberts 7 F 1:25.00
1952 Tea-Maker 9 Hedley Woodhouse J. Dallet Byers F. Ambrose Clark 7 F 1:25.60
1951 Tea-Maker 8 Warren Mehrtens J. Dallet Byers F. Ambrose Clark 7 F 1:25.40
1950 Arise 4 Robert Permane James C. Bentley Addison Stable (Harry Addison, Sr. & W. A. "Jack" Addison) 7 F 1:23.60
1949 Manyunk 4 Gordon Glisson George E. Roberts Henry W. Collins 7 F 1:25.40
1948 Miss Disco 4 Eric Guerin Anthony Pascuma Sydney S. Schupper 7 F 1:25.60
1947 Pujante 6 Ruperto Donoso Horatio Luro W. Arnold Hanger 7 F 1:24.40
1946 Scholarship 4 Arnold Kirkland Kenneth L. W. Force Jr. George G. Gilbert Jr. 7 F 1:23.40
1945 Greek Warrior 3 Johnny Longden William M. Booth William G. Helis Sr. 7 F 1:22.20
1944 Devil Diver 5 Eddie Arcaro John M. Gaver Sr. Greentree Stable 7 F 1:23.60
1943 With Regards 4 Johnny Longden Ted D. Grimes Josephine Grimes 7 F 1:23.80
1942 Scotland Light 3 Conn McCreary Eddie Hayward Barrington Stable (Thomas M. Howell) 7 F 1:24.20
1941 Roman 4 Don Meade Daniel E. Stewart Joseph E. Widener 7 F 1:25.00
1940 Nedayr 5 Basil James Lee McCoy Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr. 7 F 1:23.60
1939 Nedayr 4 George Seabo William A. Crawford Willis Sharpe Kilmer 7 F 1:24.00
1938 Airflame 4 Lee Fallon Joseph H. Stotler Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr. 7 F 1:23.20
1937 Jay Jay 4 Harry Richards Frank Garrett Howard Bruce 7 F 1:25.40
1936 Good Gamble 4 Lee Fallon Joseph H. Stotler Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr. 7 F 1:24.20
1935 Only One 4 Robert Merritt Phillip M. Walker Mrs. W. Deering Howe 7 F 1:25.00
1934 Black Buddy 3 Silvio Coucci William Brennan Greentree Stable 7 F 1:24.80
1933 Microphone 4 Silvio Coucci Phillip M. Walker Sage Stable (Harry W. Sage) 7 F 1:27.20
1932 Microphone 3 John Gilbert Phillip M. Walker Sage Stable (Harry W. Sage) 7 F 1:27.20
1931 Con Amore 4 Pat Remillard William Irvine John William Young "J. W. Y." Martin 7 F 1:24.00
1930 Mr. Sponge 3 Mack Garner Peter W. Coyne Joseph E. Widener 7 F 1:24.20
1929 Buddy Bauer 5 Mack Garner Herbert J. Thompson Idle Hour Stock Farm 8 F 1:36.60
1928 Osmand 4 Earl Sande Peter W. Coyne Joseph E. Widener 8 F 1:39.20
1927 Cheops 3 Frank Catrone Sam Hildreth Rancocas Stable 7 F 1:25.40

References
  1. "American Legion Handicap Captured by Cheops". New York Times, Section Sports, page 1. 1927-08-07. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  2. "One Horse Killed and Eight Knocked Out by Lightning Bolt as Saratoga Opens". New York Times, page 16. 1937-07-27. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  3. "Busting the Record". New York Daily News, page 34. 1938-07-26. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  4. "Arise Beats Favored Guillotine by 2 Lengths in American Legion Handicap". New York Times, Section Sports, page 24. 1950-08-12. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  5. "Arise, Hall of Fame Inductee 1983". Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. 1983-01-01. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  6. "Reneged Scores by Five Lengths in American Legion Handicap at Saratoga". New York Times, page 18. 1958-08-09. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
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