Stagehand (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Stagehand


caption =
sire = Sickle
grandsire = Phalaris
dam = Stagecraft
damsire = Fair Play
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1935
country = United States
colour = Bay
breeder = Joseph E. Widener
owner = Col. Maxwell Howard
trainer = Earl Sande
record = 25: 9-3-6
earnings = $200,110
race = Empire City Handicap (1938)
Santa Anita Handicap (1938)
Governors Handicap (1938)
Narragansett Special (1938)
Santa Anita Derby (1938)
awards= American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse (1938)
honours =
updated= CURRENTTIME, CURRENTDAYNAME CURRENTMONTHNAME CURRENTDAY CURRENTYEAR (UTC)

Stagehand (foaled 1935 in Kentucky) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the only horse to ever win the Santa Anita Handicap and the Santa Anita Derby in the same year.

Bred by the prominent horseman Joseph E. Widener, Stagehand was sired by Sickle who was a son of the influential English sire, Phalaris. His dam was Stagecraft, a daughter of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee and Leading broodmare sire in North America, Fair Play.

Stagehand was purchased for $8,000 by Maxwell Howard of Dayton, Ohio who raced him at tracks on the U.S. East Coast as well as in California. Trained by former jockey and future Hall of Fame inductee, Earl Sande. Stagehand was winless at age two, but matured into a champion at three. He began his three-year-old campaign with a second-place finish in a 7-furlong race for maidens and then won three one-mile races in a row. In the March 5th, 1938 Santa Anita Handicap, Stagehand was up against older horses. Champion jockey Nick Wall brought the colt from three lengths back to overtake and beat Seabiscuit by a nose while setting a new track record in winning California's most prestigious race. As at 2007, Stagehand remains the only three-year-old to ever win the Santa Anita Handicap. He was then ridden to victory by Jack Westrope in the Santa Anita Derby, California's most important race for three-year-olds. His win made him the only horse only horse to ever win both the Santa Anita Handicap and the Derby in the same year. From his fifteen starts in 1938, Stagehand won eight races, finished second twice, and was third three times. His performances earned him 1938 U.S. Champion Three Year Old Colt honors.

Stagehand raced at age four in 1939 with his best result coming in the Widener Handicap when he finished third to winner, Bull Lea. Retired to stud duty, he had modest success as the sire of several stakes race winners. His last foal was born in 1953.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/stagehand Stagehand's pedigree and partial racing stats]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/seabiscuit/filmmore/ps_stagehand.html PBS detailed article on Stagehand's defeat of Seabiscuit in the Santa Anita Handicap]