Myrtlewood (horse)

Myrtlewood
Sire	Blue Larkspur
Grandsire	Black Servant
Dam	Frizeur
Damsire	Sweeper
Sex	Filly
Foaled	1932
Country	United States
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Brownell Combs
Owner	Brownell Combs
Trainer	Ray Kindred
Record	22: 15-4-2
Earnings	$40,620
Major wins
F. S. Peabody Memorial Handicap (1935) Hawthorne Sprint Handicap (1935 & 1936) Match Race with Clang (1935) Quickstep Handicap (1936) Lakeside Handicap (1936) Motor City Handicap (1936) Cadillac Handicap (1936) Keen Handicap (1936) Ashland Stakes (1936) Match race with Miss Merriment at Keeneland Race Course (1936)
Awards
American Champion Older Female Horse (1936) American Champion Sprint Horse (1936)
Honours
U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1979)
Horse (Equus ferus caballus)
Last updated on December 21, 2007

Myrtlewood (foaled 1932 in Kentucky) was a champion Thoroughbred race horse as well as an exceptional broodmare. She was by Blue Larkspur, himself by Black Servant by the great sire Black Toney, which means she went back to Ben Brush. Her dam was the French-bred Frizeur, by Sweeper, a son of another great sire, Broomstick by, again, Ben Brush. Frizeur’s dam was the racing mare Frizette (after whom the Frizette Stakes is named), by Hamburg, taking her back to Hanover, St. Simon and Hindoo.

A sensation at three (when Seabiscuit was also racing but making little impact), at four in 1936, Myrtlewood made ten starts under jockey George South and won eight, seven of which were stakes races. In the Lakeside Handicap, she equaled the track record, which was a world record for a female. In the Motor City Handicap and Cadillac Handicaps she set track records at the Detroit Race Course.

Myrtlewood was involved in match races with two exceptional racers of her day, one a colt, Clang (winner of the 1936 Clark Handicap), the other a filly, Miss Merriment (starting in 77 races and a winner or placer 2/3s of the time). Myrtlewood won her match with Miss Merriment under a hand drive. In the Midwest, both Clang and Myrtlewood had set records. Myrtlewood had beaten the time established by Iron Mask for six furlongs while Clang had equaled Roseben’s seven furlong record. After Myrtlewood beat Clang three times, a match race was proposed. In the first at Hawthorne Race Course, Mrytlewood beat Clang a fourth time, winning by a nose. In their second meeting in Cincinnati, Clang beat her by a nose...which represents 1/5 of a second.^{[citation needed]}

As a broodmare

Myrtlewood proved a splendid broodmare, producing two great fillies: Durazna, the champion two-year-old in 1943, and Miss Dogwood, winner of the 1942 Kentucky Oaks.

Mrytlewood was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979.

References

• "Champions, The Lives, Times, and Past Performances of America's Greatest Thoroughbreds, Revised Edition, Champions from 1893-2004," the Daily Racing Form
• Myrtlewood’s pedigree
• Myrtlewood in the Hall of Fame