Whirlaway

1941 Triple Crown Winner Profile

Sire: Blenheim
Dam: Dustwhirl

Owner: Calumet Farm
Breeder: Calumet Farm
Trainer: Ben A. Jones
Primary Jockey: Eddie Arcaro

Race record: 60 starts, 32 wins, 15 seconds, 9 thirds
Earnings: $561,161

The first of two Triple Crown winners bred and raced by Calumet Farm, Whirlaway was a picture of consistency during his Hall of Fame career, winning or placing in 56 of his 60 starts while becoming the first horse to earn more than $500,000. Not bad, considering he essentially spent the first year of his career learning how to race!

Nicknamed “Mr. Longtail” for obvious reasons—his tail was unusually long—Whirlaway was on the small side as far as Thoroughbreds go, but it was clear from the start he possessed above-average talent. Whirlaway rallied to win his debut at Lincoln Fields despite racing extremely wide, a tendency the young chestnut would repeatedly display during the ensuing months. Whirlaway was anxious, quirky, and a slow learner; staying focused and maintaining a straight course was difficult for Whirlaway, who frustrated trainer Ben Jones with his unpredictable antics.

Though Whirlaway’s raw talent carried him to victories in the Saratoga Special, Hopeful, Breeders’ Futurity, and Walden S. as a juvenile, his insistence of bearing out at key moments—sometimes drifting all the way to the outer rail—would ultimately cost him a few major stakes wins.

Jones knew Whirlaway needed more experience and gave the colt seven prep runs before the 1941 Kentucky Derby, but the colt was still slow to come around. Just four days before the Run for the Roses, Whirlaway tossed away victory in the Derby Trial by ducking out in the homestretch, prompting Jones to prepare a special pair of one-eyed blinkers for his star runner to wear on the first Saturday in May. He also enlisted star jockey Eddie Arcaro to guide the troublesome colt.

These changes seemed to make the difference for Whirlaway, who put everything together with a tremendous performance on Derby Day. Reserved 16 lengths off the early pace, Whirlaway unleashed a terrific rally in the homestretch to win by eight lengths, which remains the Derby record to this day. He was just as devastating in the Preaknesss, passing the entire field on the far turn to win by 5 1/2 lengths, and after defeating older rivals in an allowance race, he won the Belmont Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths to comfortably sweep the Triple Crown.

From then on, Whirlaway was as professional a racehorse as you could hope to find. He won five more stakes races before the end of 1941, including the Travers and American Derby, to reign as Horse of the Year. He repeated the title in 1942 by winning 11 stakes races, including the 2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup and the historic Brooklyn Handicap. He never finished out of the money in 22 starts, and while he narrowly lost a match race against younger rival Alsab, Whirlaway turned the tables on his conqueror in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and later won the Pimlico Special in a walkover.

A bowed tendon delayed Whirlaway’s 1943 debut, and after suffering defeats in his first two starts of the season, he came up lame again and was retired to stud at Calumet Farm. Whirlaway enjoyed some early success but was eventually sold to stand in France, where he died in 1953 at the young age of 15.

Whirlaway never got a chance to fully spread his influence at stud, but his racing record requires no embellishment. With 32 victories to his credit, Whirlaway is tied with stablemate Citation as the winningest Triple Crown champion, a record that may stand forever.