Porterhouse (1951–1971) was an American

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

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 ...

Background

Bred by Liz Person and raced under her Llangollen Farm banner, Porterhouse was a son of the Argentine-bred Endeavour who also sired Corn Husker, Prove It and Pretense, three top runners who each won the

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 ...

. His dam was Red Stamp, a daughter of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee

Bimelech Bimelech (February 27, 1937 – 1966) was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won two Triple Crown races and was a Champion at both age two and three. He was ranked #84 among U.S. racehorses of the 20th century. After retiring to stud, he sire ...

. Conditioned for racing by Charlie Whittingham, Porterhouse was the forty-year-old trainer's first stakes winner and first Champion.

Racing career

In 1953, Porterhouse won East Coast races including the

National Stallion Stakes The National Stallion Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race held sixty-two times between 1898 and 1971. Inaugurated as the National Stallion Race at Morris Park Racecourse in The Bronx, the event was open to horses of either sex until 194 ...

and the then most important race for his age group, the

Belmont Futurity Stakes The Futurity Stakes, commonly referred to as the Belmont Futurity, is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid-September or October at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, United States. Open to two-year-old horses, it is raced on turf ...

. Porterhouse also won the 1953

Saratoga Special Stakes The Saratoga Special Stakes is an American grade II thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid-August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The race is for two-year-olds willing to race six furlongs on the dirt. With its first ru ...

but was disqualified and set back to last. Porterhouse was voted

American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt The American Champion Two-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 the ''Daily Racing F ...

by the ''

Daily Racing Form The ''Daily Racing Form'' (DRF) (referred to as the ''Racing Form'' or "Form" and sometimes "telegraph" or "telly") is a tabloid newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of rac ...

'' and the Thoroughbred Racing Association. The rival poll organized by Turf & Sports Digest magazine was topped by

Hasty Road Hasty Road (1951–1978) was an American thoroughbred racehorse which won the 1954 Preakness Stakes. In 1953, Hasty Road won six of his nine races including the Arlington Futurity and the Washington Park Futurity, and set a record for prize m ...

. In 1954, three-year-old Porterhouse had a sub-par year in racing, with his only important win coming in the Old Knickerbocker Handicap. The colt did not run in either of the first two races of the U.S. Triple Crown series and finished ninth in 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 ...

won by

High Gun High Gun (foaled 1951 in Kentucky) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Background High Gun's sire, Heliopolis, was a two-time leading sire in North America. His dam was Rocket Gun whose damsire was Man o' War. Trainer Max Hirsch pur ...

. During the next three years in racing, Porterhouse returned to his winning ways at racetracks in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He captured several top events, highlighted by his win over future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Swaps in the 1956

Californian Stakes The Californian Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in late April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California (relocated from the now closed Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California). The Grade II event is open to ho ...

and the Hollywood Express Handicap in

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

time for {{frac, 5, 1, 2 furlongs on dirt at

Hollywood Park Racetrack Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred horse racing, race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to The Forum (Inglewood, California), the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, t ...

Stud career

Retired to

stud Stud may refer to: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay bar in San Francisco * ...

duty, Porterhouse met with reasonable success, siring several good runners including

Coaching Club American Oaks The Coaching Club American Oaks is a race for thoroughbred three-year-old fillies and the second leg of the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing. Originally run at Belmont Park, the Grade I $500,000 stakes race was moved to Saratoga Race Course i ...

winner, Our Cheri Amour, and multiple stakes winners Isle of Greece, Port Wine, and Farwell Party. Porterhouse died at age twenty in 1971 and was buried a The Stallion Station in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

References

Porterhouse's pedigree and partial racing stats

* ttp://www.newyorker.com/archive/1954/05/22/1954_05_22_074_TNY_CARDS_000244572 Article on Porterhouse winning the Knickerbocker Handicap in the May 22, 1954 issue of ''The New Yorker'' magazine 1951 racehorse births 1971 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States American Champion racehorses Whitney racehorses Thoroughbred family 1-w