Bewitch (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Bewitch


caption =
sire = Bull Lea
grandsire = Bull Dog
dam = Potheen
damsire = Wildair
sex = Filly
foaled = 1945
country = USA (Kentucky) flagicon|USA
colour = Brown
breeder = Warren Wright, Calumet Farm]
owner = Warren Wright, Calumet Farm]
trainer = Ben Jones
H.A. “Jimmy” Jones
record = 55 Starts: 20-10-11
earnings= $462,605
race = Washington Park Futurity (1947)
Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes (1947)
Pollyanna Stakes (1947)
Princess Pat Stakes (1947)
Hyde Park Stakes (1947)
Debutante Stakes (1947)
Cleopatra Handicap (1948)
Artful Handicap (1948)
Modesty Stakes (1948)
Ashland Stakes (1948)
Misty Isle Handicap (1948)
Beverly Handicap (1948)
Vineland Handicap (1948)
Black Helen Handicap (1949)
Vanity Handicap (1950)
awards= American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly (1947)
American Champion Older Female Horse (1949)
honours = U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1977)
#89 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
updated= December 12, 2007

Bewitch was a Thoroughbred race horse born in 1945 at Calumet Farm, Kentucky, USA in the same crop in which the stallion Bull Lea produced Citation and Coaltown. Each of these exceptional Bull Lea foals would, in time, be inaugurated into the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame. Bewitch was the only filly.

As a sire Bull Lea has proved himself many times over, but from her dam, the mare Potheen (purchased by Walter Wright for the small sum of $500), Bewitch inherited the blood of Broomstick whose sire was the great Ben Brush. On her mother’s side also flowed the blood of Peter Pan (sired by Commando, and Hanover sired by Hindoo.

Trained by the Hall of Famer, Ben A. Jones, as a two-year-old Bewitch was all but unstoppable, winning her first eight starts, six of them consecutive stakes races. In her very first effort, she led from the onset and won by six lengths. One of these stakes was the Washington Park Futurity in which she beat her half-brother Citation, the only defeat he suffered as a two-year-old.

Before the end of her first season, Ben Jones turned her training over to his son, Jimmy Jones, who was also to become a member of the Hall of Fame. Bewitch was named the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly for 1947. At the end of her third season, even though she was out of action with bucked shins until late June, she still won four of her six starts.

When she was four, winning the Beverly Handicap at the old Washington Park Race Track in Chicago, Illinois, she ran the fastest mile ever run by a filly.

At the age of five she raced from one end of the country to the other, unplaced only once. And when she was six, she ran fifteen times, twelve of those races against males. When she retired, Bewitch had earned $462,605 which made her the greatest money-earning filly of her time. In 1977, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame along with both her trainers, father and son, as well as her two half-brothers, Citation and Coaltown.

Racing Record

* At two: Won the Washington Park Futurity, the Arlington Lassie Stakes, the Pollyanna Stakes, the Princess Pat Stakes, the Hyde Park Stakes, the Debutante Stakes, and came in third in the Futurity Stakes.

* At three: Won the Cleopatra Handicap, the Artful Handicap, the Modesty Stakes, the Ashland Stakes, and was third in the Dick Welles Stakes.

* At four: Won the Misty Isle Handicap, the Beverly Handicap, the Vineland Handicap, and placed in the Arlington Matron Handicap.

* At five: Won the Black Helen Handicap, placed in the Vanity Handicap and the Columbiana Handicap, and was third in the Premiere Handicap and the Vineland Handicap.

* At six: Won the Vanity Handicap, placed in the Hollywood Gold Cup (on the heels of Citation), placed in the Santa Margarita Handicap, the American Handicap, and the St. Patrick's Day Handicap.

Of interest

In a poll among members of the American Trainers Association, conducted in 1955 by Delaware Park, Bewitch was voted the ninth greatest filly in American racing history. Gallorette was voted first.

Retired

Bewitch had only two foals, both of which died before they reached racing age. When she herself died in 1959, she was buried at Calumet.

External links

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/bewitch2 The pedigree of Bewitch plus photo]
* [http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=29 Bewitch in the Hall of Fame]