- Two Lea
Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Two Lea
caption =
sire =Bull Lea
grandsire =Bull Dog
dam =Two Bob
damsire = The Porter
sex =Filly
foaled = (unknown) 1946
country = USA flagicon|USA
colour = Bay
breeder =Calumet Farm
owner =Calumet Farm
trainer = Horace A. Jones
record = 26 Starts: 15-6-3
earnings = $309,250
race =Princess Doreen Stakes (1949)Cleopatra Handicap (1949)Artful Stakes (1949)Arcadia Handicap (1949)Santa Margarita Handicap (1950)Vanity Handicap (1952)Hollywood Gold Cup (1952)Ramona Handicap (1952)San Mateo Handicap (1952)Children’s Hospital Handicap (1950)
awards =American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly (1949)American Champion Older Female Horse (1950)
honours = U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1982)
#77 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
updated= December 2, 2007In 1946, the filly Two Lea was born atCalumet Farm inKentucky , home to Citation (one year her senior and who would win the American Triple Crown),Coaltown , who would be Horse of the Year when she was three, and the fillyBewitch , not to mentionArmed andHill Gail . Two Lea's sire wasBull Lea whose progeny were already successful. Her dam was Two Bob, winner of the 1936Kentucky Oaks .As a yearling Two Lea developed
ringbone , a difficult condition which delayed her training which delayed the start of her racing career. By the time she stepped on a track at two years of age, the 1948 season was almost over. In her first three tries, she won only her last, a race atBelmont Park . But in this race, she ran well, easily cruising for a win of four lengths.At three, things improved markedly. Two Lea started seven times, winning six of her races. Her only defeat came in the
Modesty Stakes against older females; in that race, she carried ten pounds more than the winner. In the Cleopatra Stakes, Two Lea raced against another stablemate, Wistful, who was considered the East Coast's leading filly. Wistful had won the 1949 Kentucky Oaks, thePimlico Oaks , and theCoaching Club American Oaks and was on her way to divisional honors. Two Lea beat her easing up. In her last three-year-old race, the Artful, she defeatedBut Why Not , the female champion of 1947. Here, Two Lea came close to equaling the world record for sevenfurlong s.Two Lea shared the 1949 three-year-old female championship with Wistful, both Calumet horses.
At four, after two good wins, she finally raced males. Ridden by
Eddie Arcaro for the first and last time, she contested the Santa Anita Maturity with Ponder, winner of the previous year'sKentucky Derby . For some reason, on the lead and with Ponder challenging, Arcaro not only did not urge her, he was easing her up. Two Lea held on to second place. And then came theSanta Anita Handicap which Two Lea did not win, but then neither did Citation nor Ponder. They all gave weight to a horse called Noor. Noor won, Citation placed, Two Lea showed, and Ponder came in fourth. At the end of the year she earned a well deserved Champion Older Filly award for 1950.For the next year and a half Two Lea did not race, once again enduring ringbone. The treatment was called a "pinfire," a "cure" which resulted in a large knob on her
fetlock .By the time she came back to the races she was six years old. At six and with ringbone, 1952 was a very good year for Two Lea. She started eleven times and won six times, five of those wins in stakes races. She beat Wistful again, giving her ten pounds, and then won the
Hollywood Gold Cup against males. Her last races were atBay Meadows Racetrack where she won the San Mateo Handicap and the Children’s Hospital Handicap under top weight. All in all, in her entire career, Two Lea finished unplaced only twice.Two Lea was also successful as a broodmare. Among others, she gave birth to Tim Tam, a horse who came very close to winning the Triple Crown.
Two Lea was 27 when she died in 1973. She is buried at Calumet Farm.
Refereneces
* Thoroughbred Champions, Top 100 Racehorses of the Twentieth Century, Bloodhorse Publications
External links
* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/two+lea Two Lea’s pedigree and photo]
* [http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=157 Two Lea in the Hall of Fame]
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