Gallant Sir (foaled 1929) was an American

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 ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

bred by renowned horseman Arthur B. Hancock at his

Claiborne Farm Claiborne Farm is a thoroughbred horse breeding operation near Paris, Kentucky. It was established in 1910 by Arthur B. Hancock, owner of Ellerslie Stud in Albemarle County, Virginia, and has been operated by members of his family ever since. ...

Paris, Kentucky Paris is a home rule-class city in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and the county seat. It lies northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. It is part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2020, it ha ...

. He was sired by the outstanding American Champion sire,

Sir Gallahad III Sir Gallahad (1920–1949) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and an important sire in the United States. Racing career Racing at age two in France for his British breeder/owner, Jefferson Davis Cohn, Sir Gallahad earned victory in three of hi ...

. His dam, Sun Spot, was a daughter of

Omar Khayyam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) (Persian language, Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar ...

, the 1917

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 ...

winner and Co-Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt. Norman W. Church purchased Gallant Sir and raced him under his Northway Stable. Trainer E. L. "Lying Fitz" Fitzgerald trained the horse. In the 1932

, Gallant Sir was ridden by Hall of Fame jockey

George Woolf George Monroe Woolf (May 31, 1910 – January 4, 1946), nicknamed "The Iceman", was a Canadian thoroughbred race horse jockey. An annual jockey's award given by the United States Jockeys' Guild is named in his honor. He became known for riding t ...

but was never in the race. He broke from the 19th spot and finished eighth, more than a dozen lengths behind winner

Burgoo King Burgoo King (1929–1946) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown series but who did not run in the final race, the Belmont Stakes. Background Owned by Colonel Edward R. Bradley and foaled at ...

. After that, though, the colt began to win consistently and by 1933 he won eleven straight races in the

American midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern c ...

until finishing second to Equipoise in the

Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap The Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap is a Grade III race for thoroughbred horses run at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Illinois each year. The Hawthorne Gold Cup trophy has always been made of solid gold. The Hawthorne Gold Cup is currently a G ...

. Gallant Sir won two consecutive runnings of the

Agua Caliente Handicap The Agua Caliente Handicap is a defunct thoroughbred horse race that was once the premier event at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and the richest race in North America. Inaugurated in 1917 as the Coffroth Handicap, ...

, the first as a four-year-old in 1933 when he broke the Agua Caliente track record set by

Phar Lap Phar Lap (4 October 1926 – 5 April 1932) was a New Zealand-born champion Australian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse. Achieving great success during his distinguished career, his initial underdog status gave people hope during the ear ...

the previous year. He was retired to stud in 1935 but met with limited success as a sire.

References

Pedigree for Gallant Sir
* C.V. Whitney. ''High Peaks'' (1977)

University Press of Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 194 ...

{{ISBN, 978-0-8131-1357-9 1929 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 1-n Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States