In Greek mythology, Troilus is one of the five sons of Priam, King of Troy; according to prophecy, Troilus’ fate is linked to that of Troy. Mindful of that connection, Achilles ambushes and kills Troilus, another of the many battles that marked the story of the Trojan War. Centuries later, the story of Troilus would become intertwined with his lover Cressida in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, set against the background of the mythological war between the Trojans and the Greeks. Another Troilus, this time of the equine sort, joined the battle for roses in 1959, his journey chronicled by legendary photographer Jim Raftery.
Immense gratitude to Barbara Livingston, legendary photographer for the Daily Racing Form and lover of the history of this sport we love. It was a great privilege to explore the story of one horse and one moment in time, captured by the click of a shutter and now a part of our collective memory. Thank you, Barbara!
Now, on to the story of Troilus!
Humble Beginnings
Like his mythological namesake, the equine Troilus was sired by an equine Priam, Priam II to be precise. Raced primarily in France, Priam II won the Grand Criterium and more to earn two-year-old champion colt of 1943 and then was a stakes winner at age three, four, and five. In 1949, Edward Moore and Henry Knight purchased the stallion and brought him to the United States to stand at Knight’s Almahurst Farm, where both the great Exterminator and Greyhound, the 20th century’s greatest trotter, were foaled. There, in 1955, Priam II covered Drift Song, an unraced daughter of Heliopolis, owned by Mrs. Edward Moore. That same year, Mrs. Moore sold three of her mares, including Drift Song, to livestock dealer Herschel Weil, who was expanding into the horse business. On April 4, 1956, Drift Song foaled a plain bay colt, Troilus.
Weil sold Drift Song’s colt at a Garden State Park yearling sale in 1957, the gavel falling at $9,000 to Bayard Sharp. Sharp, an heir to the du Pont family fortune, had established his own farm near Middleton, Delaware, and had served as Delaware Park’s first director when the track opened in 1937. By 1957, Sharp owned his share of stakes winners, on both the flat and over jumps, many with horses he bred himself, but a win in a classic race like the Kentucky Derby still eluded the breeder-owner. He had tried the Derby once already, with Hannibal finishing eight in the 1952 edition. Still in pursuit of roses, Sharp saw potential in the son of Priam II.
Troilus started seven times at age two, breaking his maiden in a six-furlong sprint at Atlantic City Race Course in September 1958. He would win two more times that year, at seven furlongs and then a mile and a sixteenth stakes race at Laurel. In that stakes race, the Spalding Lowe Jenkins Purse, Troilus was on the lead entering the stretch, but seemed to hang, allowing two others to catch him. But the son of Priam II fought back and managed to get a nose in front at the wire. Already a winner at two turns, Troilus seemed a promising prospect for Sharp’s stable in 1959.
Glorious Victories
Charles Peoples, a former steeplechase rider turned trainer for Sharp, took his horses south for the winter, setting up shop at Hialeah for the winter’s racing. In early 1959, Troilus, now three years old, made his first start of the new year in late January, his six furlongs over the Hialeah oval a total dud. He followed up that dud with three straight victories, first at seven furlongs and then wowed everyone in the Citrus Purse. At a mile and a sixteenth, the Citrus Purse was a preview of the Flamingo Stakes, one of the early preps for the Kentucky Derby. Troilus jumped out to an early lead, repelling the challenges of Greentree Stable’s Eurasia and Harbor View Farm’s Quiz Star to win by four and a half lengths. Even better, Troilus won in track record time, lowering the old record set by Iron Liege by two-fifths of a second. Fresh off his victory on Troilus, jockey Chris Rogers declared, “[Early Derby favorite] First Landing better have his running shoes on Saturday. I hit him a few times but all I was doing was knocking the flies off him.”
Less than a week later, Troilus met First Landing in the nine-furlong Flamingo Stakes. Previously run as the Florida Derby, the Flamingo had become one of those vital stops on the path to Louisville, an early preview of what to expect from that year’s crop of three-year-olds. Bred by Christopher Chenery and owned by his Meadow Stable, First Landing had won ten of his eleven starts at age two, making him one of the horses to watch going into the 1959 Kentucky Derby. Coming into the Flamingo, he had finished second in his first start and then won his second.
At the start, Eurasia sped to the lead as trainer Charles Peoples had predicted. Chris Rogers wrapped up on Troilus, settling him in behind the gray winging away on the lead. Eddie Arcaro was content to let First Landing run in third, waiting for both Troilus and Eurasia to burn themselves out. When Eurasia was finally spent, Troilus took up the lead, and, if Arcaro expected the son of Priam II to tire before the nine furlongs was done, he was dead wrong. Troilus won the Flamingo by four lengths, with Open View in second and First Landing, who never truly challenged, in third.
The coverage of Troilus’ victory in the Flamingo gave readers and racing fans more insight into the personality of this new king of the three-year-olds. Despite a clear lead in the stretch, jockey Chris Rogers had to stay on top of Troilus, tapping him with the whip to keep his mind on his task. Distractions like the photographers near the rail had caused Troilus to duck or shy in previous starts; even with blinkers, Rogers had to keep the colt’s mind busy so that distractions were minimal. In addition to this tendency to shy, Troilus was “a big lug” as Sharp called him, requiring fourteen quarts of oats rather than the typical serving of twelve. It was his size and his confirmation that had caught Peoples’ eye at that New Jersey yearling auction two years before. “He was a fine-looking horse and a great individualist,” Sharp remarked about his Kentucky Derby hopeful.
With the Flamingo under his belt, the Fountain of Youth was next for Troilus, his last race before the Florida Derby. In the Fountain of Youth, Troilus took over the lead after the first quarter of a mile and held on to that lead until the stretch, when Easy Spur blew past him to win by eight lengths. In the three weeks between the Flamingo and the Fountain of Youth, Troilus had gained a hundred pounds and likely needed the race to round him into racing shape for the grueling races ahead. Then, in the Florida Derby just ten days later, the son of Priam II finished last, the lingering effects of a bruised foreleg keeping him from running his best race.
Despite the adversity of two defeats, Troilus joined First Landing, Sword Dancer, Tomy Lee, and others in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. Peoples put him in the one-mile Derby Trial just three days before the Derby, a tune-up for the big test that first Saturday in May. Again, though, Troilus showed early speed, but faded in the stretch, another poor showing after his sensational performance in the Flamingo. Would the son of Priam II make it to the starting gate on Saturday? If he did, would Troilus be ready for a run at Derby glory?
The Last Act
The 1959 Kentucky Derby featured a field of seventeen, including the imported colt Tomy Lee, Brookmeade’s Sword Dancer, and First Landing of Meadow Stable. Breaking from post thirteen was Troilus, who avoided the inward swerve of Open View to sprint to the lead coming out of the gate at Churchill Downs. Jockey Chris Rogers held the son of Priam II to a short half-length lead over Tomy Lee and maintained that lead for the first half-mile. Six furlongs in, Tomy Lee inched to a short lead over Troilus, poking a head in front as they prepared to enter the turn. One mile in, after setting the pace for the Derby, Troilus was last, unable to maintain that pace past the first six furlongs of the race.
While Troilus was toiling at the back of the pack, Tomy Lee and Sword Dancer were battling on the front, the imported colt nosing out the Brookmeade hopeful at the wire. Rogers and Troilus were last under the wire, but, two days after the Derby, an explanation for the colt’s performance emerged: Troilus had suffered a deep cut on his right hind foot while running the ten furlongs. Peoples sent him back to Sharp’s farm in Delaware to recover. The Derby would be Troilus’ last race.
Back in Delaware, Troilus was turned out to recover from his tough campaign in early 1959. By early May, this son of Priam II had already started eight times, so a little time off surely would help him prepare for the great racing still to come. On May 18th, though, Bayard Sharp reported that Troilus had been treated for a twisted intestine, and, then despite showing improvement on Sunday, May 17th, he started showing signs of colic and then died that evening. He was “the best horse I ever had,” Sharp related about his lost son of Priam II.
In his short life, Troilus had amassed six wins, two seconds, and two third in fifteen starts, earning $133,381. Sharp and Peoples would go on to have other good stakes winners, including Mississippi Mud and Dixieland Band, but Troilus would be the last horse he would send to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.
Troilus’ competition in the 1959 Kentucky Derby would go on to have impact beyond that first Saturday in May. First Landing would sire Riva Ridge, the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner; Riva would become the savior of Meadow Stable, though his Triple Crown winning stablemate Secretariat would overshadow him in 1972 and 1973. Sword Dancer would win both the Belmont and the Travers Stakes among his legion of stakes victories in 1959 and then would go on to sire the great Damascus.
For the tragic Troilus, the photographs of Jim Raftery captured a moment of whimsy, a horse with a hat looking over his trainer’s shoulder like he too was going to read the Form. That click of the shutter is just a second, a beat, the barest fraction of a life, but it makes the finite life of a horse infinite, allowing him to capture the hearts of those who smile at his ears poking through a hat. This humorous moment inspires us to seek out the story, a chance to celebrate one horse’s part in the history of our great sport while also lamenting the scant time he was a part of the story.