Cañonero II (April 24, 1968 – November 11, 1981) was a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n champion

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

race horse ''Race Horse'' was an 1850 clipper barque. She set a record of 109 days from New York to San Francisco during the first Clipper Race around the Horn. Construction ''Race Horse'' was similar to a barque built by Samuel Hall a few years earlier, ...

that may be best remembered for winning the first two legs of the 1971 U.S. Triple Crown, the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

and the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held annually on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland (except in 2026 when it will move to Laurel Park (race track), Laurel Park dur ...

Background

Bred by Edward B. Benjamin in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

, the bay colt was born with a noticeably crooked foreleg, so was considered to have no future in racing. He was sold as a yearling for $1,200 at the

Keeneland Sales Keeneland Sales is an American Thoroughbred auction house in Lexington, Kentucky founded in 1935 as a nonprofit racing/auction entity on 147 acres (0.59 km2) of farmland west of Lexington, which had been owned by Jack O. Keene. A division o ...

to Venezuelan breeders Ramon Echegaray and Luis Navas. Purchased by Edgar Caibett, the horse was shipped to his owner's native

, where he earned an undistinguished record racing as a two-year-old in La Rinconada Hippodrome.

Triple Crown races

Because of his breeding, Cañonero II qualified for the

, the most prestigious event in United States Thoroughbred horse racing. Trained by Juan Arias and ridden by

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

Gustavo Avila, in the spring of 1971, the horse was shipped to

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, for the big race. There, Cañonero II was dismissed as a horse that did not belong in such elite company and was listed at the bottom of the pack of the betting odds as part of a six-horse pool. In the Derby's 20-horse field, Cañonero II shocked everyone by coming from 18th place to storm past the competition, easily winning the race by 3 lengths. Arguably the most astonishing upset in the race's history was deemed a fluke by many of horse racing's experts, who predicted Cañonero II would never win another race. However, in the

, the second of the Triple Crown races, Cañonero II won again. The third leg of the Triple Crown, the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

held near

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, was run before the largest crowd in its history. The stands were filled with members of the city's large Latino community, there to cheer on their new hero. However, due to a foot infection that had bothered the horse for several days, Cañonero II, after taking the race lead, struggled across the finish line in fourth place. Despite this loss, he was named the winner of the 1971

Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-Year-Old Male Horse The American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971. The award originated in 1936 when ''Turf & Sports Dig ...

Later career

Sold to the

King Ranch King Ranch is the largest ranch in the United States. At some it is larger than the area of the European country Luxembourg. It is mainly a cattle ranch, but also produced the racehorse Assault (horse), Assault, who won the United States Tri ...

, Cañonero II was nursed back to health by

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trainer Buddy Hirsch. The following year in the

Stymie Handicap The Stymie Stakes is an American race for Thoroughbred horses at Aqueduct Racetrack. Usually raced in late February or early March, it is open to horses age four and older. It is run on dirt over a distance of one mile and offers a purse of $150,00 ...

at Belmont Park, he set a track record while defeating the great three-year-old champion

Riva Ridge Riva Ridge (April 13, 1969 – April 21, 1985) was a Thoroughbred racehorse, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in 1972. Often remembered simply as a stablemate of Secretariat, Riva Ridge was a successful racehorse in his own rig ...

. Retired to stud at the end of 1972, Cañonero II died in 1981.

References

* Haskin, Steve (March 26, 2011)
"Viva Canonero!"
''

The Blood-Horse ''The Blood-Horse'' (also referred to simply as ''Blood-Horse'' and displayed on its nameplate in upright all-capital letters without hyphenation as BLOODHORSE) is a news magazine that originated in 1916 as a monthly bulletin of the Thoroughbred ...

''.
Profile of Canonero II
(Spanish language)
Canonero's pedigree

''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. June 14, 1971. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Canonero Ii 1968 racehorse births 1981 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Racehorses trained in Venezuela Kentucky Derby winners Preakness Stakes winners Eclipse Award winners Sport in Venezuela Thoroughbred family 4-n