Vagrant (horse)

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Vagrant
1877 drawing by T.J. Scott
SireVirgil
GrandsireVandal
DamLazy
DamsireScythian (GB)
SexGelding
Foaled1873
CountryUnited States
ColourBay
BreederMilton H. Sanford
Owner1) Thomas J. Nichols
2) William B. Astor, Jr.
3) James J. Bevins
TrainerA. Davis Pryor (at 3)
James Williams
Record88: 20-12-12
Earnings$13,875
Major wins
Alexander Stakes (1875)
Belle Meade Stakes (1875)
Sanford Stakes (1875)
Colt Stakes (1875)
Colt and Filly Stakes (1875)
Phoenix Hotel Stakes (1876)
Grand Exposition Stakes (1876)
American Classics wins:
Kentucky Derby (1876)
Awards
U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old Colt (1875)
U.S. Champion 3-Year-Old Colt (1876)

Vagrant (May 17, 1873 – c.1890) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his 1876 Kentucky Derby win. He was the first of nine geldings to win the Kentucky Derby and was a white-stockinged bay colt sired by Virgil out of the mare Lazy (by Scythian (GB)).[1] Virgil was notable for siring successful nineteenth-century race horses and stood at Milton H. Sanford's Preakness Stud in Lexington, Kentucky. Through his sire, Vagrant is related to two other early Kentucky Derby winners, Hindoo (1881) and Ben Ali (1886).[2]

Racing career

While Virgil was still a little known sire, Vagrant was sold for $250 to Thomas J. Nichols at the Preakness Stud 1874 yearling sale. A promising two-year-old, Vagrant won five of six starts in 1875, including the Belle Meade Stakes, the Alexander Stakes and the Sanford Stakes, and sharing the title of U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old Colt with Parole that year.[3]

In 1876, Vagrant won three of his four starts, becoming U.S. Champion 3-Year-Old Colt.[3],[4} After he won the Phoenix Hotel Stakes, Vagrant was purchased by William Backhouse Astor, Jr. for $7,000, an impressive figure for a thoroughbred of that era.[4]

The second Kentucky Derby was run on a fast track with a field of 11 horses.[2] Vagrant won the Derby, with Robert Swim up, by two lengths over the betting favorite, Parole, winning a total of $2,950.[2]

Although Vagrant won the Grand Exposition Stakes in Philadelphia later in 1876, he injured his leg in the race and was rested for the 1877 season. He returned to racing in 1878.[4]

James J. Bevins purchased Vagrant in the 1880s and the horse raced for Bevins until 1882, when Vagrant became very lame after a race at Jerome Park Racetrack in the Bronx, New York .[5] Vagrant's racing stats list only one start in 1883, indicating that he was permanently retired from racing at age ten.

Vagrant was widely rumored to have been a vegetable cart horse in Lexington after his racing career, having been sold into this service sometime after 1883.[6]

A 1910 Daily Racing Form article states that Vagrant died at around 17 years of age (c. 1890) while being used as a saddle horse for a woman who lived on Long Island, New York.[7]

Vagrant total race record

Year # of Starts # of Firsts # of Seconds # of Thirds Earnings
1875 6 5 0 1 $3,800
1876 4 3 1 0 $6,540
1878 12 0 0 4 $0
1879 14 3 2 2 $1,175
1880 23 7 3 3 $1,500
1881 21 2 5 2 $875
1882 7 0 1 0 $75
1883 1 0 0 0 $0
Totals 88 20 12 12 $13,875

Pedigree

Pedigree of Vagrant
Sire
Virgil

1864

Vandal

1850

Glencoe I Sultan
Trampoline
Tranby Mare Tranby
Lucilla
Hymenia

1851

Yorkshire St Nicholas
Miss Rose
Little Peggy Cripple
Peggy Stewart
Dam
Lazy

1865

Scythian

1851

Orlando Touchstone
Vulture
Scythia Hetman Platoff
The Princess
Lindora

1856

Lexington Boston
Alice Carneal
Picayune Medoc
Sally Howe

References

  1. ^ Vagrant Pedigree
  2. ^ Jim Bolus, Run for the Roses: 100 years at the Kentucky Derby. Hawthorn Books, INC. New York, 1974.
  3. ^ Henry G. Crickmore and D. W. Higgins, Kirk's guide to the turf. 1882 [1]
  4. ^ NY Times. Mar. 30, 1878
  5. ^ NY Times, Oct. 4, 1882
  6. ^ St. Paul Daily Globe. "Pick a Derby winner." May 6, 1889.
  7. ^ Daily Racing Form. "Careers of Kentucky Derby winners." May 19, 1910.