Count Fleet – One Of The Finest, World’s Horse Racing Fleet Shall Witness

By Author: Lee Lane-Edgar
Total Articles: 365
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Amongst the innumerable race horses you may have seen, witnessed winning magnificent races with extreme grace and style, very few, in fact very selectively a handful of them have excelled to a point that they’ve become legendary in a way that no other horse has been able to achieve or even remotely impact what they have achieved in their racing careers.
One such racing horse, whose career first began as a regular struggling amateur lined with unaccomplished wins, set a world record when he was assigned the highest impost, greater than 130 pounds, the highest weight any two year old horse was ever assigned, Count Fleet became one and only one in horse racing’s history to carry 132 pounds in the 1942 Experimental Free Handicap. The record remains intangible to all race horses till date and only God knows how long it will stay that way.
Count Fleet has a limited racing career, much contrary to his ranking on the Blood Horse magazine, rating him the 5th on the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century. Bred to mare Quickly (by Haste) by Kentucky Derby 1928 winner, Reigh Count, Count Fleet was owned by Mrs. John ...
... D. Hertz. After being introduced into professional racing by trainer Don Cameron and jockeyed by Hall of Fame inductee John Longden, the two year old racing season didn’t start with vigour and thrust. Count Fleet initially repeatedly lost races, however managing to finish in money.
His maiden break came from his win at Aqueduct followed by another at the Empire City Race Course and then at Wakefield Stakes. However, it was his race to victory at the Champagne Stakes by a commendable six lengths in a finish time of 1:34 4/5 that won him his first accolades. His performance ended up setting a new track record breaking the previously set by the four year old, Jack High, 20 years ago.
Count Fleet next headed for the Pimlico Futurity where he was up against his two time rival Occupation who he has lost to in Futurity (whose prep races saw Count Fleet time 1:08 1/5 for six furlongs, the fastest any horse clocked at any age for that distance) and Breeder’s Futurity. Count Fleet coasted to a clean victory by 5 lengths after a speed duel for the initial six furlongs. This performance also won him another track record equalling 1:43 3/5 for the 1 1/16 miles held at that time.
His 15th start was at the Walden Stakes which he won effortlessly by 30 lengths, one of the biggest winning differences. Soon his formidable racing style had gotten him allocated the highest ever impost of 132 pounds, Count Fleet was awarded the U.S. Champion Two Year Old.
The Count was an aggressive runner when it came to racing on a field with respectable rivalry. Following his three year old season break with St.James, a $3,000 race which obviously was easily conquered, Count made another victorious run to the wire winning the Woods Memorial with an incredible consistence against Blue Swords. Count Fleet closed the race at 1:43 that was a mere 2/5 seconds short of the Jamaican track record.
It is said that Count Fleet had to be relaxed when he approached the wire relentlessly racing to victory owing to his aggressive racing style. Race experts wondered what speed the horse would be capable of if jockey John Longden didn’t stand up to ease him at the wire.
Count soon followed his winning streak with the Kentucky Derby win. The horse had won the Derby by three lengths once again defeating his stiffest rival Blue Swords. What he now targeted was the Preakness, one that he again won effortlessly gliding to an eight lengths win. The third leg of the Triple Crown was an excellent 25 length victory, a performance that easily won him the Championship Award for Three Year Olds and was also named the American Horse of the Year.
Count Fleet never ran again. He returned to stud and is now available only on the free racing game downloads present exclusively on www.horseracegame.com in fine 3D simulation with an enormous platter full of exciting features. Enjoy horse racing in its whole new avatar.