Blue Larkspur
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Sire:	Black Servant
Dam:	Blossom Time
Damsire:	North Star III
Sex:	Stallion
Foaled:	1926
Country:	United States
Colour:	Bay
Breeder:	Colonel Edward Riley Bradley
Owner:	Colonel Edward Riley Bradley
Trainer:	Henry J. Thompson
Record:	16:10-3-1
Earnings:	$272,070
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Major Racing Wins
Juvenile Stakes (1928) National Stallion Stakes (1928) Saratoga Special Stakes (1928) Withers Stakes (1929) Belmont Stakes (1929) Arlington Classic (1929) Stars and Stripes Handicap (1930) Arlington Cup (1930)
Racing Awards
United States Horse of the Year (1929) U.S. Champion Older Male Horse (1930)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1957) #100 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
Infobox last updated on: September 19, 2006. This Trakehner would be most appropriate to sire horses for the discipline of dressage. ... The Withers Stakes is a race for thoroughbred horses. ... The Belmont Stakes is a prestigious horse race held yearly in June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. ... The Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. ... The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. ... In 1999, The Blood-Horse magazine compiled a list of what its staff members considered to be the top 100 racehorses of the 20th Century who had competed in the United States. ...

Blue Larkspur (1926-1947) was a bay colt, Kentucky bred thoroughbred race horse. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957, awarded the 1929 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, and ranks Number 100 in Blood-Horse magazine's top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century. Of the 127 stakes winners bred by Colonel Edward Riley Bradley at his Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky (which includes the great Bimelech out of the great broodmare La Troienne), Blue Larkspur was thought of as the Colonel's finest horse. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Thoroughbred is a horse breed developed in 18th century England when English mares were bred with imported Arabian stallions to create a distance racer. ... Horse-racing is an equestrian sporting activity which has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times were an early example, as was the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. ... The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. ... The Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. ... The Blood-Horse is an international weekly news magazine about Thoroughbred horses, horse breeding, and horseracing. ... In 1999, The Blood-Horse magazine compiled a list of what its staff members considered to be the top 100 racehorses of the 20th Century who had competed in the United States. ... Idle Hour Stock Farm Idle Hour Stock Farm was a 400-acre thoroughbred horse breeding and training farm near Lexington, Kentucky, United States established in 1906 by Colonel Edward R. Bradley. ... Lexington is: The USS Lexington is one of five different ships of the United States Navy named after the battle of the American Revolutionary War at Lexington, Massachusetts. ... La Troienne, born in France in 1926, was a Thoroughbred racing mare by Teddy (Fr), out of Helene de Troie (Fr) by Helicon (GB). ...

All B's

Bradley's Idle Hour farm was also known as the "Lucky B" because the names of his horses always began with a B. Blue Larkspur was out of Black Servant who was out of the Black Toney (sire of Kentucky Derby winner, Black Gold). Black Servant had run second in the 1921 Kentucky Derby, right behind his Idle Hour stablemate, Behave Yourself. (Bradley was to also win the 1926 Kentucky Derby with Bubbling Over (sire of Baby League who was the dam of Busher), the 1932 Derby with Burgoo King and finally the 1933 Derby with Broker's Tip. But his loss in 1921 with Black Servant badly rankled him, even though another of his horses took home the roses. He was furious with Black Servant's jockey, Charles Thompson, who had apparently defied orders to take back. Rumors flew that Bradley had a lot of money riding on Black Servant, as did many Idle Hour employees.) Blue Larkspur's dam was Blossom Time out of North Star III. Blossom Time's own dam was Vaila, an influential mare imported by Bradley. Churchill Downs racetrack, 2004 The Kentucky Derby is a stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May, capping the three-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. ...

Spare the Rod and Spoil the Horse

Blue Larkspur was trained by "Derby Dick," real name: Herbert J. Thompson, a Hall of Famer. Derby Dick was not kind to horses, and he worked them hard. He also won more Kentucky Derbys than any other trainer before Ben Jones. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. ... Ben Jones may refer to: Ben Jones is a UK Radio DJ Ben Jones is a British actor in the soap opera Doctors Ben Jones (born 1941) is an American actor and politician; Ben Joseph Jones (1924-2005) was a Grenadian politician; Ben A. Jones (1882-1961), thoroughbred horse trainer. ...

Running as a two-year-old, Blue Larkspur had seven starts. He won the Juvenile Stakes, the National Stallion Stakes, and the Saratoga Special Stakes. He was beaten in the Hopeful Stakes by Jack High, a horse he himself had beaten three times, getting stuck in traffic and carrying a high weight of 130 pounds. And then, just before going off in the Belmont Futurity, he was kicked by another horse, ran eighth, and was allowed to rest for the remainder of the season.

In Blue Larkspur's time there were no Southern races to prep for the Kentucky Derby, so he was run hard all winter in Lexington. In his first race as a three-year-old he beat the gelding, Clyde Van Dusen, a son of the great Man O' War. But on the day of Blue Larkspur's Kentucky Derby, the track was deep slop. Worse for the colt was Derby Dick's bout of appendicitis which kept the trainer from preparing him for the race. The job went to an apprentice who neglected to have Blue Larkspur shod in "stickers," special shoes for slippery mud. Blue Larkspur came in a struggling fourth, beaten by Clyde Van Dusen. (No other gelding was to win the Kentucky Derby until 2003 when the New York bred, Funny Cide came home first.) Man O War, born March 29, 1917 at Nursery Stud farm in Lexington, Kentucky, United States - died November 1, 1947 at Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, affectionately known as Big Red, [1] is considered by many to be the greatest US thoroughbred racehorse of all time. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... Funny Cide is a champion American thoroughbred race horse bred at Bill Casner and Kenny Troutts WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, and foaled on April 20, 2000 at the McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbred Farm, owned by Joe and Anne McMahon in the upstate New York town of Saratoga Springs. ...

As a 3-year-old Blue Larkspur won the one-mile Withers Stakes in an electrifying fashion. With jockey Mack Garner up, he closed in a powerful rush. He also took the one and a half-mile Belmont Stakes, even though, yet again, he was kicked at the post and it was another off-track. Jack High was third. He was kicked again in another start, yet still won it, although the wound became infected, keeping him sidelined for a time. Later, he won the Arlington Classic by five lengths. The Withers Stakes is a race for thoroughbred horses. ... The Belmont Stakes is a prestigious horse race held yearly in June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. ...

Blue Larkspur ended the season with a bowed tendon, but was still voted 1929's Horse of the Year.

In his fourth season, he ran only three times before his leg failed him, but he won twice: in the Stars and Stripes Handicap and the Arlington Cup.

From 1928 to 1930, Blue Larkspur raced 16 times with 10 wins, 3 seconds, and 1 third-place finish. He earned $272,070 in his career.

Nothing to do but roll around meadows all day...plus!

As a stallion at Idle Hours, he was as great a stud as he was a racehorse, especially with his daughters. Blue Larkspur made the Broodmare Sires List every year from 1944 through 1960. His daughters produced one hundred and fourteen stakes winners and six champions. This Trakehner would be most appropriate to sire horses for the discipline of dressage. ...

He died in 1947.

References

• Blue Larkspur's pedigree, with photo
• Blue Larkspur's page in the Hall of Fame, with painting
• America's Championship three-year-old males
• Unofficial Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, Blue Larkspur's page
• Robinson, William, "The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America"