Whirlaway - Documentary

Whirlaway (April 2, 1938 - April 6, 1953) was an American champion thoroughbred racehorse.

The chestnut horse was sired by English Derby winner Blenheim II, out of the broodmare Dustwhirl. Whirlaway was bred at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Jimmy Jones, son of the colt's trainer, recalled that "Whirlaway was a creature of habit. You had to create habits for him. So we created the habits we wanted him to do." [Keeneland Magazine, Oct. 1998] The champion colt had a habit of bearing out, drifting toward the middle of the racetrack, during the latter part of his races and getting himself beaten. In preparations for the Kentucky Derby, this had been such a problem that trainer Ben A. Jones fitted the colt with a full-cup blinker over his right eye. In Whirlaway's final work before the Derby, he cut a small hole in the blinker so that the horse had a tiny field of vision. Jones then positioned himself ten feet off the inner rail and told jockey Eddie Arcaro to ride the horse through that space. Whirlaway was able to see his trainer, Arcaro was able to keep him on a straight path, and Whirlaway won the Kentucky Derby.

Whirlaway was voted the American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in 1940 by Turf & Sports Digest Magazine. The rival Daily Racing Form award was won by Our Boots.

Trained by Ben A. Jones and ridden by Arcaro, Whirlaway won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1941. He also won the Lawrence Realization Stakes and the Travers Stakes that year. He was voted the Horse of the Year in 1941, beating Alsab by 96 votes to 91 in a poll conducted by the Turf and Sport Digest magazine. A year later, Whirlaway repeated his win in the poll, beating Alsab with 76 votes to his rival's 45.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlaway