Count Fleet

Count Fleet

Count Fleet (March 24, 1940 – December 3, 1973) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the sixth winner of the American Triple Crown. He won the Belmont Stakes by a then record margin of twenty-five lengths. After an undefeated season, he was named the 1943 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old. Also a champion at age two, he is ranked as one of the greatest American racehorses of the twentieth century, ranking fifth on the Bloodhorse magazine's listing. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1961. Count Fleet started his two-year-old campaign with two losses and was originally known more for his erratic behavior than his looks or racing ability. But the colt gradually improved, eventually winning 10 of 15 starts at age two, four of them in stakes company. At distances of a mile and up, he was undefeated. In the Champagne Stakes, he set a world record for a two-year-old at a distance of a mile. He was named champion two-year-old and became the early favorite to win the Kentucky Derby. As a three-year-old, Count Fleet dominated North American racing, never losing a race. Leading up to the Kentucky Derby, he won the important Wood Memorial but injured himself in the process. He recovered to take the Derby, the United States' most prestigious race, by three lengths, then went on to Baltimore, Maryland, where he dominated the Preakness Stakes, taking that one by eight lengths. He won the Withers Stakes before heading to Elmont, New York for the Belmont Stakes where he captured the Triple Crown by scoring a 25-length victory, a margin that stood as the record until surpassed by Secretariat in 1973. When the season ended, Count Fleet was voted Champion Three Year Old and named American Horse of the Year. Count Fleet was also a great success as a sire and broodmare sire, leading the North American lists in 1951 and 1963 respectively. He sired Kentucky Derby winner Count Turf and Belmont Stakes winners Counterpoint and One Count. He was the broodmare sire of five-time Horse of the Year Kelso, and sired the second dam of the influential sire Mr. Prospector. He died of natural causes in 1973 at the advanced age of 33 years as the longest lived Kentucky Derby winner ever.

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