Mar-Kell (1939–1966) was an American 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 ...

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 ...

. Her dam was the 1934

American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly The American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a female horse in Thoroughbred flat racing Horse racing is an equestrianism, equestrian performance activity, typically involving ...

Nellie Flag, and her sire was the 1930

Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, more commonly known as the Derby and sometimes referred to as the Epsom Derby, is a Group races, Group 1 flat Horse racing, horse race in England open to three-year-old Colt (horse), colts and Filly, fillies. It is run at Ep ...

winner Blenheim, who had been imported to the United States in 1937 by a syndicate that included Mar-Kell's breeder,

Calumet Farm Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegrass ...

Background

Mar-Kell was bred in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and was raced by Calumet Farm for four years, from age two through five. Trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Ben Jones, as a four-year-old, Mar-Kell was named

American Champion Older Female Horse The Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Female Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a filly or mare, four years old and up, for performances on dirt and main track racing surfaces. In 1971, it became part of the ...

of 1943.

Racing career

Racing at age two, Mar-Kell's most important win came in the

Spinaway Stakes The Spinaway Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Open to two-year-old fillies, it is a Grade I event contested at a distance of seven furlongs (1,408 metres) on dirt. Th ...

Saratoga Race Course Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, Saratoga Springs, New York (state), New York, United States. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting v ...

. At age three her best effort was runner-up to Star Copy in the Lady Baltimore Handicap at

Pimlico Race Course Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of O ...

but as a four-year-old Mar-Kell came into her own, earning 1943 National Champion honors in her class. Mar-Kell's most significant wins that year came at

Belmont Park Belmont Park is a thoroughbred racing, thoroughbred horse racetrack in Elmont, New York, just east of New York City limits best known for hosting the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United Stat ...

in the Top Flight and Beldame Handicaps. While not a stakes event, Mar-Kell won Belmont's Ruthless Purse, a race named for the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame filly Ruthless who won the 1867 Belmont Stakes in its inaugural running. Mar-Kell's win was very noteworthy in that she beat the heavily favored

Vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...

by eight lengths and the third-place finisher by more than 14 lengths.

A Calumet broodmare

Following her retirement to

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

duty, Mar-Kell produced the Calumet runner Mark-Ye-Well. Foaled in 1949, the colt won multiple important stakes races, including the

Arlington Classic The Arlington Classic Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three year old horses over a distance of miles on the turf held annually in late May at Arlington Park race track near Chicago. History The event was inaugurated ...

American Derby The American Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race first run at Chicago's old Washington Park Race Track on the city's South Side and raced there until 1905 when the facility was closed following the state's ban on gambling, and horse ra ...

Lawrence Realization Stakes The Lawrence Realization Stakes was an American horse race first run on the turf in 1889. The race, for three-year-old Thoroughbred colts, geldings and fillies, was last run in 2005. History Inaugurated at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track at Grave ...

, and

Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up and was once considered the most important race for old ...

. Mar-Kell died in 1966 at age twenty-seven and was buried in the equine cemetery at Calumet Farm.

External links

Mar-Kell's pedigree and partial racing stats

References

{{reflist 1939 racehorse births 1966 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States American Champion racehorses Thoroughbred family 9-f