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Owned and bred by Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, Citation was a bay colt, the son of Bull Lea and the mare, Hydroplane II. Trained by Jimmy Jones , Citation won his first start as a two-year-old at Harve de Grace, Maryland. For the year he would race nine times, winning eight of them and earning $155,680. Citation was the first horse to win US$1 million.
Citation started the 1948 racing season by defeating stable mate Armed, who had been voted thoroughbred racing's 1947 Horse of the Year. Even though Jimmy Jones was Citation's trainer, the colt ran in the Kentucky Derby under his father's name to allow Ben Jones to tie the record for the most number of Derby wins by a trainer. Ridden by jockey Eddie Arcaro, Citation won the Kentucky Derby by 3 ½ lengths then went to Baltimore and won the Preakness Stakes by 5 ½ lengths. From there he won the Jersey Derby before going to the Elmont, New York and becoming the 8th Triple Crown winner by capturing the Belmont StakesThe Belmont Stakes is a prestigious horse race held yearly on the first Saturday of June, at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The race is the third leg of the Triple Crown, following the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. 4 km) thoroughbred horse r. By the end of that season, the three-year-old horse had a career record of 27 victories and two seconds in 29 starts. For his performances, Citation was voted Horse of the Year honors.
Injuries kept Citation from racing in 1949 but he came back to race in 1950 and won the Golden Gate Mile Handicap but lost several other races in what for him was a mediocre campaign. He started the 1951 season with three poor performances in a row but came back to win his final three starts, capping off his career with a victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup that made him thoroughbred racing's first millionaire.
Citation retired during the 1951 racing season, his accomplishments amongst the best in the history of American racing. As a sire at Calumet Farm he produced a number of noteworthy offspring but none that achieved any great success in the top levels of thoroughbred racing. In 1959Events January-February January 1 Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin. January 1 Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when forces of Fidel Castro advance January 2 CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Bac, the horse was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of FameThe National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. Each spring, following the tabulation of the final votes, the announcem.
Citation died on August 8, 1970 at the age of 25. He is buried in the horse cemetery at Calumet Farm.
In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Citation was ranked #3.
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