Nearly Sold as a Yearling, Count Fleet Paid Off in End

By BOB MIESZERSKI

June 1, 1998 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Belmont Stakes

Only 11 horses have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. With Real Quiet bidding to become the 12th when he runs in the Belmont Saturday, this series looks back at the Triple Crown champions.

Unlike some former and current jockeys, John Longden doesn’t hesitate when asked to name the greatest horse he rode in a career which saw him win 6,032 races.

Not only does Longden, now 91, say Count Fleet is the best he was ever aboard, but the Kentucky-bred colt was the finest ever to race.

“He was by far the best,” Longden said in an interview last year. “He could do anything. He could run fast and run far and he ran over any kind of track.

“He was a super horse, much better than the horses running now. Cigar was a very good horse, but he was nothing like Count Fleet.”

Owned and bred by Mr. and Mrs. John D. Hertz and trained by Don Cameron, Count Fleet was a son of 1928 Kentucky Derby winner Reigh Count and a busy 2-year-old. He won 10 of 15 in 1942 and was never worse than third.

If not for Longden’s persuasive powers, the owners may have watched Count Fleet do his thing in different colors. He was for sale as a yearling with a reported $4,500 asking price.

“He was the kind of colt that had a mind of his own,” Longden said. “He wasn’t an outlaw because he was kind, but he was a little erratic and Mr. Hertz put him up for sale.

“Some horsemen came to the barn one morning to look at him and I asked them what they were doing and they said they had heard the colt was for sale and wanted to look at him. I didn’t know he was for sale, so I called Mr. Hertz and told him not to sell. I told him that [Count Fleet] would be OK and that I thought he was a nice colt.

“He didn’t sell him. We took our time with him and after we breezed him the first time we knew we had a good horse.”

There were no defeats in Count Fleet’s six starts in 1943, including the sweep of the Triple Crown.

Because of World War II, there were restrictions on travel and rationing of gasoline, causing some to speculate that the Kentucky Derby wouldn’t be run, but Churchill Downs president Col. Matt Winn said the race would be held even if “only two horses started and two people attended.”

Although 10 3-year-olds did start before some 65,000--no out-of-town tickets were sold--the Derby was a one-horse race. Count Fleet won in hand as the 2-5 favorite.

The Preakness and Belmont Stakes came even easier. He won by eight against three rivals at Pimlico, then, against only two opponents in New York and after also winning the Withers, he won the Belmont by 25 lengths in what turned out to be his final start. He injured an ankle that day and was retired several weeks later. He died in Kentucky in 1973.

Count Fleet was able to win the Derby even though Longden remembered he wasn’t at his best. The horse, who went on to sire 38 stakes winners, including 1951 Kentucky Derby winner Count Turf, had cut his left hind foot leaving the starting gate while winning the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS

May 26, Sir Barton: 1919

May 28, Gallant Fox: 1930

May 29, Omaha: 1935

May 30, War Admiral: 1937

May 31, Whirlaway: 1941

Todad, Count Fleet: 1943

Tuesday, Assault: 1946

Wednesday, Citation: 1948

Thursday, Secretariat: 1973

June 5, Seattle Slew: 1977