Faded Glory: Forgotten Winners of the Kentucky Derby (Dark Star, 1953)

Man o’ War won 20 of his 21 starts, beaten only by a bad start, a shortage of racetrack, and a colt named Upset. The 2007 New England Patriots went into the Super Bowl undefeated but went home with a loss to the New York Giants. The history of sports features its share of the seemingly unbeatable finding themselves on the losing side of an upset. 

In 1953, the sport had fallen in love with a gray colt who seemed destined to sweep every race he tried, but in that year’s Kentucky Derby, Native Dancer’s unexpected defeat came thanks to a colt named Dark Star.

Bluegrass Beginnings

Warner L. Jones Jr. was a breeder with deep bluegrass connections. His great uncle was Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., the father of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby. He got his first pony at age two and practically grew up on the back of a horse, eventually playing polo and dropping out of Cornell University to buy the land that would become his Hermitage Farm. In 1949, Jones headed a syndicate that went all the way to Australia in search of a sire and snagged Royal Gem for £39,000 (an equivalent to $100,000 at the time) and brought the multiple Group 1 winner to Kentucky. 

Jones then paired his new stallion with Isolde, a winning daughter of Bull Dog (a full brother to Sir Gallahad III) and Fiji, the 1934 Kentucky Oaks victor, and on April 4, 1950, got a brown colt he would sell as part of the Hermitage consignment the following year at the Keeneland Summer Sale. The colt was sold to Harry Guggenheim’s Cane Hoy Stable for $6,500 and was registered with the name Dark Star. 

A member of the prominent Guggenheim family, Harry fought in World War I, helped support Robert Goddard’s rocket research, and served as the American ambassador to Cuba during Herbert Hoover’s administration. He was also fond of racing and established his Falaise Stable in 1929, later renaming the stable Cain Hoy after his South Carolina cattle plantation. Guggenheim had had moderate success during those first decades as an owner: his Vamoose finished third behind War Admiral in the 1937 Belmont Stakes and Battle Morn was the favorite for the 1951 Kentucky Derby, finishing sixth behind Count Turf. By 1953, he was still looking for the right horse to bring that big victory to Cane Hoy.

Dark Star’s two-year-old season gave Guggenheim hope that he had a contender in the son of Royal Gem II. The problem was he faced a tough opponent in Native Dancer.

Surprising Success

Dark Star won his first two starts at Hialeah in early 1952 with ease before finishing third in the Juvenile Stakes and the Belmont Futurity, the latter behind Native Dancer, nicknamed Gray Ghost. He finished his juvenile season with a poor performance in the Champagne Stakes, while Native Dancer’s star continued to ascend thanks to his undefeated record in 1952. As 1953 dawned, many in the sport felt like the Kentucky Derby was simply a foregone conclusion in favor of the Gray Ghost.

Dark Star continued to give Guggenheim some hope. Under the tutelage of trainer Eddie Hayward, he won his seven-furlong season debut and then turned in a clunker in the Florida Derby in March. A trip to Keeneland yielded a second-place finish behind Correspondent in the Hartland Purse. Eager to have the colt represent Cain Hoy in the Derby, Hayward entered him in the Derby Trial on April 28, four days before the Run for the Roses. Against a field of 13 others, Dark Star raced just behind the leaders, made his move in the stretch, and won by two lengths. On Friday, Hayward dropped the colt’s name in the entry box for the following day’s big race. 

Broadcast on national television for the second time, the 1953 Kentucky Derby was supposed to celebrate Native Dancer. Sure, the field included 10 others like Dark Star, but the cameras were focused on Alfred Vanderbilt’s superstar. When they broke from the gate, however, the horse grabbing the lead was not the distinctive gray but a dark brown blur. 

With jockey Henry Moreno in the saddle, Dark Star grabbed a 1 1/2-length lead over Correspondent while Native Dancer settled in midpack. Around the first turn, jockey Al Popara sat impatiently on Money Broker and decided to go to the outside to get a bit closer to the action. In the process, he bumped Native Dancer, knocking him off stride. The Gray Ghost recovered, while Dark Star controlled the pace on the front. 

Moreno had his colt running at a deliberate pace as he anticipated that jockey Eric Guerin would send Native Dancer for the lead once the field hit the stretch. The roar of the crowd at the top of the stretch told him all that he needed to know. The race was down to two: the dark horse and the Gray Ghost. Moreno moved Dark Star to the rail, cutting off a running lane. Instead, Native Dancer was on Dark Star’s outside, Guerin pushing his colt to cut into his opponent’s advantage. The wire loomed as Moreno worked to keep Dark Star going with the specter of Native Dancer bearing down on them. With each stride, their lead shrank. 

The photo finish revealed the battle’s denouement: Dark Star by a head. The unbeatable was beaten. Guggenheim got his Derby, while Dark Star got his name in the history books as the lone horse to beat Native Dancer in his brilliant career. The two met again at Pimlico for the Preakness, where the Gray Ghost got his victory while Dark Star bowed a tendon and finished fifth. 

Native Dancer not only went into the Hall of Fame on the strength of his 21 wins in 22 starts but also for becoming a prolific sire whose name is ubiquitous in the pedigrees of North American Thoroughbreds. Dark Star retired after the Preakness and entered stud in Kentucky and then France, siring a Kentucky Oaks victor and other group stakes winners before his death in 1972.