Personality (horse)

Personality
SireHail To Reason
GrandsireTurn-To
DamAffectionately
DamsireSwaps
SexStallion
Foaled1967
CountryUnited States
ColourBay
BreederBieber-Jacobs Stable
OwnerEthel D. Jacobs
TrainerJohn W. Jacobs
Record25: 8-4-2
EarningsUS$462,603
Major wins
Wood Memorial Stakes (1970)
Jersey Derby (1970)
Jim Dandy Stakes (1970)
Woodward Stakes (1970) American Triple Crown wins:
Preakness Stakes (1970)
Awards
American Champion 3-Year-Old Male Horse (1970)
TRA American Horse of the Year (1970)

Personality (1967–1990) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was voted 1970 Horse of the Year honors.

Background

Personality was bred by the partnership of Isidor Bieber and owner/trainer Hirsch Jacobs. Sired by Hail To Reason, the 1960 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, Personality was out of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Affectionately, a daughter of another Hall of Fame inductee, Swaps.

Personality was raced in the salmon pink-and-green silks of Hirsch Jacobs' wife, Ethel. However, the Hall of Fame trainer died on February 23, 1970, and did not see his three-year-old colt's success that year. Son John W. Jacobs took over the race conditioning of Personality and three-year-old stablemate High Echelon.[1]

Racing career

Going into the 1970 U.S. Triple Crown series, Personality was made the second choice by bettors for the Kentucky Derby after winning an allowance race and then the important Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack. Ridden by Eddie Belmonte, Personality finished eighth to Dust Commander in the Derby but came back to win the Preakness Stakes from Corn Off The Cob and High Echelon.[2] Two weeks later, he won the Jersey Derby, a race at Monmouth Park which at the time was used as a warm-up for the final leg of the Triple Crown. However, Personality developed a fever, and his handlers chose not to run him in the Belmont Stakes. Stablemate High Echelon did run and won.

Personality returned to racing on July 25, 1970, when he ran second in a field of older horses at Aqueduct Racetrack. On August 14, he won the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course and finished second in the September 21 Stymie Handicap at Belmont Park. On October 4, 1970, Personality beat older horses in the Woodward Stakes to clinch Horse of the Year honors from the Thoroughbred Racing Association.[3] In the rival Daily Racing Form poll, he finished runner-up to Fort Marcy[4]

Personality's best results in top races at age four were a second in the Excelsior Handicap and a third in the Paumonok Handicap.

Stud record

Retired to stud duty, Personality met with very limited success as a sire and in 1979 was sold to a breeding operation in Japan, where he died on November 20, 1990, at age twenty-three.

Breeding

Pedigree of Personality
Sire
Hail to Reason

brown 1958

Turn-To

bay 1951

Royal Charger Nearco
Sun Princess
Source Sucree Admiral Drake
Lavendula
Nothirdchance

bay 1948

Blue Swords Blue Larkspur
Flaming Swords
Galla Colors Sir Gallahad
Rouge Et Noir
Dam
Affectionately

drk.brn. 1960

Swaps

ch. 1952

Khaled Hyperion
Eclair
Iron Reward Beau Pere
Iron Maiden
Searching

bay 1952

War Admiral Man o' War
Brushup
Big Hurry Black Toney
La Troienne

References

  1. ^ sportsillustrated.cnn.com April 27, 1970 Sports Illustrated article on the Jacobs racing family and their colt, Personality
  2. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lH0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-bUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1007,6522692&dq=preakness+personality&hl=en [dead link]
  3. ^ "How Horse of the Year voters play the game | Daily Racing Form". Drf.com. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
  4. ^ "Fort Marcy Top Horse". Ottawa Citizen. 1970-12-01. Retrieved 2012-02-27.