MCHF & WHC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE 2015
Scottish Chieftain (1894 – Unknown)
Scottish Chieftain is Montana's only Thoroughbred to have won the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown. The race was already an established American Turf classic the year that he won it, in 1897. In fact, the elite Thoroughbred owners of the era coveted winning it more than winning the Kentucky Derby, which did not gain national prominence until 1915.
Scottish Chieftain was foaled on February 24, 1894, at the Bitter Root Stock Farm near Hamilton. Perhaps the superintendent of the farm's Thoroughbred breeding and training department Sam Lucas wrote the notation "bay or brown" on Scottish Chieftain's birth card and described the colt's lone marking, the "faint star"on his face.
In 1896, Lucas shipped the colt to Sheepshead Bay Racecourse in New York where the two-year-old colt raced with modest success, winning three of eight starts.
Early in 1897, trainer Matthew Byrnes watched Scottish Chieftain routinely outperform his stablemate, Ogden, during conditioning workouts. Then, during prerace trials for the Belmont Stakes, Ogden sputtered while Scottish Chieftain streaked over the oval like a sudden wind. He was the superior colt, but as the race grew near, Byrnes stated that Riverside Stable, which owned both horses and would run both horses, intended to win with Odgen.
On Belmont Stakes Day, May 29, 1897, six snorty Thoroughbreds lined up at the start at the Morris Park Racecourse in New York. The starter's flag whirled, signaling the fair start. By the first turn of the one and three-eighths-mile race, the favorite Don De Oro had set the pace and was leading, but Scottish Chieftain lapped right at his heels. The pace quickened as the field rounded into the homestretch. Scottish Chieftain and jockey Joe Sherrer galloped furiously toward the finish and challenged Don de Oro for the lead. An exhausted Don de Oro tried to match strides, but Scottish Chieftain took command of the punishing pace and pulled ahead. Suddenly, the swooping strides of On Deck challenged Scottish Chieftain. Jockey Sherrer dropped low to the saddle and urged his horse, Faster! The colt streaked past the finish line, winning the race by a length. The time he posted, 2:23¼, broke the Morris Park track record by a full second and three-quarters.
Ogden had finished last, but Matthew Byrnes didn't mind winning with the wrong horse.
Accounts of Scottish Chieftain's game victory splashed across Montana. The Western News effused: "The victory was especially gratifying from the fact that the great three-year-old was bred and raised on the Bitter Root stock farm -- a genuine product of the Bitter Root ozone and bunch grass."
In the remaining major stakes races of 1897 in which he raced, Scottish Chieftain placed fourth, fifth, and second. In 1898, he was back in his native Montana, racing at Anaconda, Butte, and Great Falls, winning five of seven races. Scottish Chieftain didn't race at all in 1899, perhaps because he had been sold but not delivered to his new home until December of that year.
The absence of personal accounts by the men who handled Scottish Chieftain and the absence of a photograph of him leave us wondering: Was he a charismatic beauty or common looking? Thoroughbreds have quirks. What were his? Was he an easy goer or did he have to be urged? What we do know is this: his speed, athleticism, and heart brought the coveted Belmont Stakes trophy home to Montana.
References:
Scottish Chieftain birth card, University of Montana Archives, Missoula.
“Scottish Chieftain,” www.pedigreequery.com, accessed April 13, 2014.
Catharine Melin-Moser, "In the Winner's Circle: How Montana Thoroughbreds Upset the Nineteenth Century's Racing Establishment," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, Winter 2014.
Chere Jiusto, A Guide to Historic Hamilton, (Helena, MT, 2000).
Ada Powell, Copper, Green, and Silver (n.p., 1993).
Mary Simon, Racing throughout the Century: The Story of Thoroughbred Racing in America (Irvine, CA, 2002), 42, 72.
“When Marcus Daly was ‘Turf King,’: Fast Horses Bred in Bitter Root," Marcus Daly Vertical File, Montana Historical Society; Jefferson Valley News clipping, n.d.
“In Furious Style,” Anaconda Standard, May 30, 1897.
“The Riverside Colt,” Anaconda Standard, May 30, 1897.
“Marcus Daly's Belmont Cup,” New York Times, May 30, 1897.
“Marcus Daly's Belmont,” New York Sun, May 30, 1897.
"The Chieftain," The Western News, June 2, 1897.
“Hamilton Happenings,” Anaconda Standard, December 19, 1899.
Cathy Schenck, Keeneland Library librarian, e-mail to author, November 11, 2014.