As television became more popular in the 1950s, the sport of horse racing was soon accessible to a whole new sector of fans. Watching from the comfort of their homes, Americans delighted to the sights of the ‘Grey Ghost’ Native Dancer and the Swaps-Nashua match race beamed straight to them, no matter where they were. The sport intersected with its many fans in ways it never had before.

While Native Dancer and Nashua might have been two of the names on everyone’s lips, three other stars of the decade were also making their impact on the racetrack. While their wins made them among the best of that era, it was their contributions in the breeding shed that keep their names prominent in racing history.

Crafty Admiral (1948-1972)

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Gallant Fox and Omaha stand as the only sire and son to win the Triple Crown, but they are not the only Belair connections to the sport’s most exclusive club.

After William Woodward’s pairing of Sir Gallahad III and Marguerite produced Gallant Fox in 1927, he sent his prized mare back to the imported sire every season after that, with varying success. Six years after foaling the second Triple Crown winner, Marguerite bore another Fox, Fighting Fox. He was not as successful as his full brother but did win the Wood Memorial and the Massachusetts Handicap among his nine victories. At stud, his best son came from Admiral’s Lady, a daughter of Triple Crown winner War Admiral.

Admiral’s Lady’s foal was a late one, born June 6, and took some time to develop into the star that he would become. Crafty Admiral raced eight times at age 2, breaking his maiden in his second start, but scored no stakes wins in 1950. An injury limited him to only one start at 3, but he came back at age 4 to become a star in the handicap ranks. His victories in 1952 included the historic Brooklyn, Washington Park, Whirlaway, and Merchants and Citizens Handicaps, enough to earn Crafty Admiral the handicap male championship for that year.

At 5, his success in that division continued as he traveled up and down the East Coast and to Chicago to try races like the Washington D.C. International, the Hawthorne Gold Cup, and the Dixie Handicap. He finished his career with 18 wins in 39 starts and then went to stud at Mares Nest Farm in Kentucky in 1954. It was in the breeding shed that Crafty Admiral was able to make his best impact on the sport.

Crafty Admiral led the broodmare sire list in 1978 thanks to his daughter Won’t Tell You. She was a winner on the racetrack and attracted the attention of breeder-owner Lou Wolfson when he was rebuilding his stable in the 1970s. He paired Won’t Tell You with Exclusive Native and produced a golden chestnut colt in 1975. Named Affirmed, that colt would battle Alydar through an epic 1978 Triple Crown season and become the 11th horse to wear the crown. From a full brother of one Triple Crown winner and a grandsire in another, Crafty Admiral goes down in history as the damsire of Affirmed and lives on as part of the pedigree of that immortal champion.

First Landing (1956-1987)

First Landing after Hopeful win. (Keeneland Library/Morgan Collection)

The iconic blue and white checkered silks of Meadow Stable were famous long before a copper red cold blazed down the Belmont Park stretch alone, his 31 lengths indelibly imprinted on generations of racing fans. Instead, this Virginia farm, nursery of champions, started down the road to success with a visually impaired mare named Hildene. As a racehorse, she won nothing of importance, but as a broodmare, she produced a classic winner in Hill Prince and Satsuma, dam of Meadow Stable champion Cicada.

Turn-to had been a precocious juvenile plagued by soundness issues in subsequent seasons. Never out of the money in his eight starts, a bowed tendon ended Turn-to’s career on the racetrack, but he was able to pass on that ability shown in his short career to a long list of talented horses, including Hail to Reason, sire of classic winners like Personality and Proud Clarion; Sir Gaylord, sire of Epsom Derby champion Sir Ivor; and Cyane, the broodmare sire of champion Go for Wand. From his first crop and pairing with Hildene came First Landing, a tall bay colt who showed quality from the word go.

He broke his maiden in his second start to start a six-race winning streak, including the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. After finishing second in the Futurity, First Landing defeated Tomy Lee in the Champagne Stakes and then again in a water-logged Garden State Stakes. There, First Landing was shuffled back behind the leaders entering the first turn and propped when hit by clods of wet dirt. Jockey Eddie Arcaro took the colt to the outside, slowly improving their position as Tomy Lee moved to take the lead on the backstretch. Around the far turn, First Landing cut into Tomy Lee’s lead, the two hooking up as they entered the stretch. They battled head-to-head in those final furlongs, but Arcaro was able to drive First Landing hard enough to eke out the win by a head.  

The Meadow Stable colt started his 3-year-old season with six races in the months leading up to the Kentucky Derby, taking the Everglades and a division of the Derby Trial. He entered the starting gate for the 1959 Kentucky Derby as the favorite but finished third behind Tomy Lee and eventual Belmont Stakes winner Sword Dancer. He took a break after finishing far back in the Preakness and recorded only two more wins, both in allowance races, that year. At 4, First Landing won the Laurel and Santa Anita Maturity Stakes and the Monmouth Handicap to finish out his career.

Retired to Christopher Chenery’s Meadow Stud in Virginia, First Landing sired 276 winners and 27 stakes winners, including the stable’s first Kentucky Derby winner, Riva Ridge.

Tim Tam (1955-1982)

Tim Tam after 1958 allowance win at Keeneland. (Keeneland Library/Featherston Collection)

As the new decade dawned, Calumet still had greats like Citation and Coaltown making their mark on the racetrack. Overshadowed by those greats, their stablemate and contemporary Two Lea was enjoying success in Chicago and California, winning races like the Hollywood Gold Cup in open company and beating other good fillies like Wistful and But Why Not. She carried her ability into the breeding shed where she produced eight foals for her legendary breeder and owner. In 1955, her second foal was a colt by Handicap Triple Crown winner Tom Fool, a plain bay by the name of Tim Tam.

At 2, he did not make his debut until mid-October, racing only once in 1957. He finished fourth, but wheeled back in three months to break his maiden at Hialeah. Three starts later, Tim Tam made his stakes debut in the Bahamas, finishing third, and then nabbed his first stakes win in the Everglades ten days later. Taking the Florida route to Louisville, he won the Fountain of Youth and the Florida Derby before shipping to Keeneland to win an allowance race. Four days before the Kentucky Derby, Tim Tam powered home in the Derby Trial, winning by a neck.

Never one to win by more than he had to, the son of Tom Fool stretched out to 1 ¼ miles in the Derby with no trouble and won by a half-length. Two weeks later, Tim Tam became the fourth Calumet horse to take the Derby-Preakness double, following in the footsteps of Whirlaway, Pensive, and Citation. Only the Belmont Stakes stood between Two Lea’s son and the farm’s third Triple Crown.

Tim Tam faced the starter with Milo Valenzuela in the saddle. Together, they had won the first two classics with that valuable experience a possible key to success at Belmont Park. The field of eight also included Cavan, the Irish-bred who had won the Peter Pan Stakes a week earlier. From the break, both Tim Tam and Cavan hung out toward the back of the field, biding their time in the 1 ½-mile classic. Both made their bids for the lead on the far turn as the final furlongs loomed ahead. Cavan showed first on the rail with Tim Tam on his outside. Valenzuela tapped his colt and then felt Tim Tam wobble and swerve. After another tap, the colt started to bear out and Cavan started to pull ahead.

Tim Tam had taken a bad step and it spoke to his breeding and his determination that he was able to fight through the pain of a fractured sesamoid to finish second, six lengths behind Cavan. His Triple Crown bid denied, Tim Tam’s injury meant an end to his racing career. In less than a year, the son of Tom Fool had run 14 times and finished his scant nine-month career with a record of 10 wins, one second, and two thirds. He retired to Calumet Farm where he sired 281 foals, including Kentucky Oaks winner Nancy Jr. and Hall of Fame filly Tosmah.

As a broodmare sire, Tim Tam made his greatest impact through his daughter Royal Entrance. Among her thirteen foals was a bay filly by the name of Davona Dale. In 1979, she swept both the old Filly Triple Crown – the Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan, and the Coaching Club American Oaks – and the New York Triple Tiara: the CCA Oaks, the Acorn, and the Mother Goose Stakes. In the long history of those distaff classics, no other filly has come close to duplicating Davona Dale’s wins. Tim Tam may have been deprived of his own Triple Crown, but he played a role in her historic wins.