Count Fleet was ranked by Bloodhorse magazine as the 5th greatest U.S. Thoroughbred racehorse of the 20th century. He was racing’s sixth Triple Crown winner.
He was born on March 24, 1940 at Stoner Creek Farm in Kentucky, sired by 1928 Kentucky Derby winner Reigh Count out of a mare called Quickly.
See Reigh Count’s Kentucky Derby win here
Reigh Count was a moderately successful sire, and as Count Fleet was physically unimpressive, there was little to suggest that anything remarkable lay beneath what appeared to be a run of the mill horse.
Owner John Hertz nearly sold him for $4,500 because he displayed a somewhat dangerous temperament. But Jockey Johnny Longden who had worked him in the morning and sensed his potential convinced Hertz into keeping the colt. John Hertz said, “This colt is dangerous. I’m afraid he’ll do you serious injury.”, to which Longden replied “I’m not afraid of him.”
Two-Year-Old Season
He started his career comparatively early in contrast to today’s thoroughbreds, making his debut on June 1, 1942. He got off to a slow start as he finished second after swerving at the start and he ran out of ground in the short 5 furlong race.
His second start offered a bit more real estate adding an extra 1/16th of a mile to run, but he encountered trouble early again and despite closing in the stretch, could not make up ground in time and again finished second.
The breakthrough came on June 19, 1942 at Aqueduct racetrack as the crowd sent him off as the .75-1 favorite. He did not disappoint as he drew off to win by 4 lengths despite bearing out on the turn into the stretch.
His next seven races saw 5 wins and 2 narrow losses, and then came the legendary work.
The Morning Count Fleet worked 108 and 1
While preparing for the Belmont Futurity, he worked an astonishing six furlongs in 1:08 1/5 - unprecedented for a horse of any age at any time. Four clockers timed him, so there was no mistake. The work time was a full second off the track record.
Made the 3-2 favorite in the Futurity, he finished third to the surprise of many, beaten 5 lengths by Occupation, who had previously beaten him by a neck in the Washington Park Futurity earlier that summer. There was no obvious excuse, but the blazing work probably took too much out of him. This was the last time he would lose.
The Turning Point
In his final four starts at two and his six starts at three, Count Fleet would stamp himself as one of the great thoroughbreds of all time, drawing comparisons from some to the legendary Man o’ War.
His potential for greatness first became evident in the one mile Champagne Stakes at Belmont which he won easily by 6 lengths in a track record time of 134 and 4/5. From that point on, his victories over his rivals came with contemptuous ease, rattling off 10 consecutive victories, none with a winning margin of less than 3 ˝ lengths, and which included two victories of 25+ lengths.
"I tried to ride him and I couldn't," Longden said. "A couple of times, before I learned his habits, he got beat. Oh, I knew he could run. In the fall, I worked him three-quarters in 1:07 2/5. You had to let him go to the front and sit there. I didn't have to rate him, he'd rate himself. After I let him go to the front, he never got beat."
He then easily trounced an allowance field in preparation for the Pimlico Futurity on October 31, 1942 in which he equaled the track record and easily defeated his former rival Occupation by 5 lengths, the same margin by which Occupation had defeated him in the Belmont Futurity earlier that month.
He went off as the second choice to favorite Occupation, no doubt due to his having been defeated by that one twice previously, but from this point on he would go favored for the remainder of his career, the betting public never letting him escape for anything better than 40 cents on the dollar.
The largest margin of victory Count Fleet would register came in his final race of his 2-year-old season, the Walden Stakes under 122 pounds. He won by 30 lengths.
He set or equaled two track records as a 2-year-old – three if you count the legendary 108 and 1 work, and completed his two-year-old season by winning 10 of 15 starts (today we are lucky if we get to see a horse race more than three times as a 2-year-old). He never finished out of the money in those 15 starts.
Three-Year-Old Season
Count Fleet made his 3-year-old season debut relatively late, on April 13, 1943 where he cruised to a 3 ˝ length victory in an allowance race at Jamaica, which was to serve as a prep for the Wood Memorial.
He then took the Wood Memorial (just 4 days later in fact), and broke the stakes record by two full seconds while being geared down, stopping the clock in 143 seconds flat (the Wood was one mile and a sixteenth in those days). Next stop Churchill Downs.
The Kentucky Derby
Often referred to as the Streetcar Derby due to a gasoline restriction imposed due to wartime rationing, out of town visitors were discouraged. Nevertheless, a crowd of 61,700 who arrived by Streetcar came out to see Count Fleet and made him the heavy 2-5 favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
He broke quickly from the 5 post and beat the 10 horse field in a time of 204 flat under a mild hand ride. It was 3 lengths back to second and another 6 lengths back to the third place horse.
It is unfair to say that the time was slow because the tracks generally played slower in that era compared to the lightning quick surface the race track officials at Churchill Downs have been determined to create on Derby day for the past 7 or 8 years now (perhaps to increase the chances of a track record and thus to enhance the drama of the moment).
The Preakness Stakes
Only three rivals had the courage to face him in the Preakness Stakes, which he won easily by 8 galloping lengths over a track rated “good” in a time of 157 and 2/5 seconds, the second fastest Preakness run at the 1 3/16ths distance up to that time.
The fastest running had been recorded the previous year by a horse named Alsab, but in fairness to Count Fleet, Alsab registered his victory over a track rated “fast”, which generally yields quicker times than tracks labeled “good”, such as the one Count Fleet raced over.
The Withers Stakes
It is unheard of today to see the winner of the first two legs of the Triple Crown entered in a race before the final jewel, but Count Fleet was and won in what was nothing more than a workout for the upcoming Belmont Stakes. Count Fleet galloped in the mud to win by five widening lengths in 136 flat over a muddy Belmont surface. The time was just 1/5 of a second off the stakes record set by the immortal Man o’ War.
The Belmont Stakes
Jockey Johnny Longden believed that the only way his horse could lose the Belmont was if he fell down. Sent off at odds of 1-20, Count Fleet’s final race would be the easiest of races, with a record setting 25 length triumph. Though he defeated only two “foes”, the time of 228 and 1/5 was a Belmont Stakes record and was all the more impressive considering that the Daily Racing Form official comment for his effort was “galloping”.
Indeed 228 and 1/5 is on the fast side even for a modern Belmont Stakes winner who is typically under an all out drive to the wire (and times are generally faster these days for various reasons). But unlike most of our modern Belmont Winners, he was galloping the entire race. Furthermore, a look at the winning times for the Belmont Stakes from 1938 to 1949 shows that the average time for the race was about 230 flat (and three of those were Triple Crown winners).
He completed his final quarter in the 1 ˝ contest in 24 and 3/5 seconds, an amazing finish considering that he was just galloping the final quarter of a mile. Unfortunately, it was afterwards discovered that he bowed a tendon during the running, a fact which made the effort all the more remarkable.
See Count Fleet’s Triple Crown races here.
His Legacy
Some have argued that Count Fleet never faced a extremely gifted arch rival to test him, but the greatness of a horse that breaks the Belmont Stakes record while under a gallop shouldn’t be diminished just because there was no legendary horse against which to measure his achievements.
Dr. Fager had Damascus and Buckpasser, Affirmed had Alydar, Secretariat even had Sham, but when a great horse is lacking a great rival, he must win easily by many lengths in good time and Count Fleet did just that. He set or equaled two track records as a 2 year old (three if you count the 108 and 1 workout), and set one track record as a 3-year-old. Furthermore, many of the Count's interior fractions suggested that had he not been eased so early in many of his races or had a great rival to challenge him, he might’ve set many more track or world records.
Jockey Johnny Longden who rode some of the best horses over the next couple decades always maintained that Count Fleet was the best horse he ever rode and the best horse he ever saw. He even questioned whether Secretariat could’ve beaten the Count. "Naturally, Secretariat was a helluva horse," said Longden, "But I don't think he could have beat Count Fleet. You'd have to prove it to me. Count Fleet had speed and I never did ask him to run. Never even shook my stick at him."
And though Count Fleet is not discussed as one of the most famous racehorses the way Secretariat or Man o' War are, it was that unknown potential that makes him so intriguing, since he was never broke a sweat from the time he won the Champagne Stakes to his Belmont Stakes win.
Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro was of that opinion also, "Nobody knew how good Count Fleet really was."
He passed along his racing talent through his bloodlines to produce many famous racehorses, siring 37 stakes winners, including 1951 Kentucky Derby winner Count Turf and champions Counterpoint (1951 Belmont Stakes winner and Horse of the Year), and One Count (1952 Belmont Stakes winner and Horse of the Year). His daughters produced 118 stakes winners including Kelso, a five time Horse of the Year. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1961.
Count Fleet compiled a record of 16 wins from 21 starts, never finishing worse than third in his career. He died at the place of his birth in 1973 at the age of 33 at Stoner Creek Stud in Kentucky.
