Who is Charles Hatton you may ask
 

Writer for the DRF. He coined the term Triple Crown.

One of the 3-4 greatest turf writers ever..
 

Charles Hatton was the pre-eminent turf writer in the US for decades and it his writing that inspired me to start Derby Trail '03. His annual Year in Review essays in the American Racing Manual are masterpieces. He, Evan Shipman, WHP Robertson and Hervey stand at the top of the profession, and lately Joe Hirsch, Ed Bowen and Steve Haskin continue their tradition.

Here's Hatton's immortal ode to Secretariat...


Haskin tells a great story of his first days at DRF when Hatton would send him for cups of scalding hot coffee... Hatton would take two sips and the cup would then be set aside and quickly get too cool for his taste... at which point the young Haskin would be dispatched to fetch a new, piping hot cup...

great story Steve. It's hard to picture Haskin having to get a guy's coffee...

Charles Hatton didn't coin the term "Triple Crown."

The term existed in England for over one hundred years ... applied to the 2,000 Guineas, Derby, and St. Leger stakes ... when American sports writer Grantland Rice began applying it to the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont stakes ... after Gallant Fox won all three races in 1930.

Charles Hatton was a most erudite and witty observer of thoroughbred racing. Here's a great anecdote about him ...

Because he had always maintained that Old Rosebud in 1915 was the greatest winner of the Kentucky Derby ... and that Man O' War 1919-20 was the greatest American race horse ... many people accused him of being an old fuddy-duddy. But Hatton always insisted that he was just being objective.

After Secretariat won an allowance race in his third start ... giving him two wins in three starts ... Hatton went to see him. On the following day ... in his Daily Racing Form column ... Hatton wrote, "Secretariat is the greatest race horse I have ever seen."

People were astounded when they read this. They said to him, "Charlie ... surely you meant to write that Secretariat ... a 2YO who has only a maiden win and an allowance win ... has the potential to become a great race horse."

"No," said Charlie, "I meant exactly what I wrote ... Secretariat is the greatest race horse I have ever seen."

How's that for brilliant prognostication?

i've always seen written that the term triple crown was applied to the derby, preakness and belmont after omaha, gallant fox's son, won the triple crown...

Grantland Rice ... the most popular and influential sports writer of the era ... started a modest campaign to get the three races recognized as an American version of the English Triple Crown ... right after Gallant Fox won all three races in 1930.

The campaign didn't get much traction until Gallant Fox's son Omaha won the races in 1935.

After that ... the Triple Crown was almost universally recognized ... and horsemen began preparing their best young horses to win it.

It's tough to say who was the first "real" Triple Crown winner ... definitely not Sir Barton or Gallant Fox ... maybe Omaha ... and certainly War Admiral was trained for it and won it.

Along a similar story line, a well known horseman (can't remember who), perhaps Sil Veitch or maybe Holly Hughes was asked his opinion of Secretariat after he won the Derby. He replied that he retained a list with five or six horses that were among the best he ever saw. He needed to see more but Secretariat might well earn his way on his list. Five weeks later after Super Red completed the triple crown sweep with his historic Belmont performance, this horseman was again asked if Secretariat had yet made his way on the list of five or six greatest horses. His quick response was "there is only one horse on my list."

I'm not familiar with that aspect of the story ...

... but I do know that Hollie Hughes ... who was born in 1889 ... called Secretariat "the horse of the century" in 1973.

Hollie died in 1981 ... at age 92 ... and I don't think he ever retracted that statement.

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