Burgoo King (USA)
1929 – May 19, 1946
Bubbling Over (USA) x Minawand (USA), by Lonawand (GB)
Family 23-a
1929 – May 19, 1946
Bubbling Over (USA) x Minawand (USA), by Lonawand (GB)
Family 23-a
Burgoo King was not very prominent as a juvenile but was the best 3-year-old in the country during the spring of 1932 and ended up sharing year-end honors among the 3-year-old males with Belmont Stakes winner Faireno. He was the third of Colonel Edward Riley Bradley's four Kentucky Derby winners, though his edition of the Run for the Roses was considered one of the weakest in years so far as the overall class of the field went. It was also one of the unluckiest: six of the jockeys involved later died by suicide, accident or medical mischance, and five horses came out of the running with injuries. Even track management could not escape its share of misfortune as an unruly crowd estimated at 5,000 crashed the gates and swarmed into the infield, the grandstand and even the clubhouse. It was perhaps fitting that Burgoo King, the winner, was wearing saddlecloth #13.
Burgoo King did not escape whatever jinx hung over the 1932 Kentucky Derby. His time at the top of the 3-year-old class was brief as he was injured and forced to the sidelines soon after his Classic triumphs; a comeback attempt at 5 failed to add to his earlier laurels although he won two minor races from five starts. His bad luck continued into his stud career as he proved an indifferent stallion, effectively ending the male line of his grandsire, North Star III. His only influence on pedigrees is through his daughter Burgoo Maid, ancestress of 1991 Italian Horse of the Year Pigeon Voyageur, 1965 Oaks Stakes winner Long Look, 1976 American champion 2-year-old filly Sensational, European champion 2-year-old male Fasliyev, five-time South African champion sire Jungle Cove, and 1999 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Anne Campbell as well as others of merit.
Race record
21 starts, 8 wins, 2 seconds, 3 thirds, US$110,940
1931:
1932:
1934:
Honors
American co-champion 3-year-old male (1932)
As an individual
A chestnut horse, Burgoo King had a good shoulder and short cannons but was upright in his pasterns, over at the knee, and had a weakly constructed back. His 3-year-old season ended due to injury after he ran unplaced in the Withers Stakes in his next start after the Preakness (reports conflict as to whether he twisted an ankle or bowed a tendon, and also conflict as to the timing of the injury), and he was unable to run at all at 4.
As a stallion
According to records kept by The Jockey Club, Burgoo King sired 142 winners (72.4%) and 6 stakes winners (3.1%) from 196 named foals.
Connections
Foaled at Bluegrass Heights Farm in Kentucky, Burgoo King was bred by Horace N. Davis and Idle Hour Stock Farm (Colonel E. R. Bradley) in an unusual arrangement. Seeking to be rid of Minawand, Bradley offered her to his friend Davis, who refused to accept unless he was also given a free season to 1926 Kentucky Derby winner Bubbling Over (then serving his second season at stud) for Minawand. Further, Bradley was to share ownership of the resulting foal, hedging Davis' risk. On inspecting the colt at weaning time, Bradley took a liking to him and bought out Davis' interest, becoming the colt's sole owner. Burgoo King was trained by Herbert J. “Derby Dick” Thompson. The horse entered stud at Idle Hour Stock Farm in 1935. He died at Darby Dan Farm in Columbus, Ohio, in 1946 and was buried in the farm's equine cemetery.
Pedigree notes
Burgoo King is inbred 5x5 to 1887 English champion sire Hampton. He is a full brother to Mina Over, dam of multiple stakes winner Watch Over (by On Watch). The dam of Burgoo King, Minawand accomplished nothing else of any significance and was produced from the imported Minting mare Mintless, an undistinguished daughter of the equally mediocre Crowberry mare Gorseberry. Prior to the birth of Burgoo King, this direct female line had not produced anything of significance since the birth of Hagioscope, a handicap winner and useful sire of broodmares, who is a Speculum half brother to Burgoo King's fifth dam Sardica (by Camballo).
Books and media
Fun facts
Photo credit
Burgoo King at the 1932 Preakness Stakes, Eugene James up. Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: September 18, 2023
Burgoo King did not escape whatever jinx hung over the 1932 Kentucky Derby. His time at the top of the 3-year-old class was brief as he was injured and forced to the sidelines soon after his Classic triumphs; a comeback attempt at 5 failed to add to his earlier laurels although he won two minor races from five starts. His bad luck continued into his stud career as he proved an indifferent stallion, effectively ending the male line of his grandsire, North Star III. His only influence on pedigrees is through his daughter Burgoo Maid, ancestress of 1991 Italian Horse of the Year Pigeon Voyageur, 1965 Oaks Stakes winner Long Look, 1976 American champion 2-year-old filly Sensational, European champion 2-year-old male Fasliyev, five-time South African champion sire Jungle Cove, and 1999 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Anne Campbell as well as others of merit.
Race record
21 starts, 8 wins, 2 seconds, 3 thirds, US$110,940
1931:
- 3rd Pimlico Futurity (USA, 8.5FD, Pimlico)
1932:
- Won Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
1934:
- 3rd Queens County Handicap (USA, 8FD, Aqueduct)
Honors
American co-champion 3-year-old male (1932)
As an individual
A chestnut horse, Burgoo King had a good shoulder and short cannons but was upright in his pasterns, over at the knee, and had a weakly constructed back. His 3-year-old season ended due to injury after he ran unplaced in the Withers Stakes in his next start after the Preakness (reports conflict as to whether he twisted an ankle or bowed a tendon, and also conflict as to the timing of the injury), and he was unable to run at all at 4.
As a stallion
According to records kept by The Jockey Club, Burgoo King sired 142 winners (72.4%) and 6 stakes winners (3.1%) from 196 named foals.
Connections
Foaled at Bluegrass Heights Farm in Kentucky, Burgoo King was bred by Horace N. Davis and Idle Hour Stock Farm (Colonel E. R. Bradley) in an unusual arrangement. Seeking to be rid of Minawand, Bradley offered her to his friend Davis, who refused to accept unless he was also given a free season to 1926 Kentucky Derby winner Bubbling Over (then serving his second season at stud) for Minawand. Further, Bradley was to share ownership of the resulting foal, hedging Davis' risk. On inspecting the colt at weaning time, Bradley took a liking to him and bought out Davis' interest, becoming the colt's sole owner. Burgoo King was trained by Herbert J. “Derby Dick” Thompson. The horse entered stud at Idle Hour Stock Farm in 1935. He died at Darby Dan Farm in Columbus, Ohio, in 1946 and was buried in the farm's equine cemetery.
Pedigree notes
Burgoo King is inbred 5x5 to 1887 English champion sire Hampton. He is a full brother to Mina Over, dam of multiple stakes winner Watch Over (by On Watch). The dam of Burgoo King, Minawand accomplished nothing else of any significance and was produced from the imported Minting mare Mintless, an undistinguished daughter of the equally mediocre Crowberry mare Gorseberry. Prior to the birth of Burgoo King, this direct female line had not produced anything of significance since the birth of Hagioscope, a handicap winner and useful sire of broodmares, who is a Speculum half brother to Burgoo King's fifth dam Sardica (by Camballo).
Books and media
- The tale of Burgoo King's Kentucky Derby is told in “The 1932 Derby: The Year 'Hoodoo King' Won,” the sixteenth chapter of Jim Bolus' Derby Magic (1997, Pelican Publishing Company).
- Burgoo King is profiled in Chapter 6 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- Burgoo King was named for James T. Looney, called the "Burgoo King" for his preparation of this traditional Kentucky stew. Looney had prepared burgoo for Colonel Bradley's charity race meeting for orphans in 1930, and Bradley told him that he would someday name a horse "Burgoo King" in Looney's honor. Looney later landed US$2,000 by betting US$50 on his namesake in the Kentucky Derby winter book at 40-1 odds.
- While Burgoo King failed to win a stakes at 2, he showed enough improvement over the winter that Bradley announced he would wager US$5,000 that Burgoo King could beat any other 3-year-old in the country on their first meeting. There were no takers, which may have been fortunate for Bradley as the colt finished second to his stablemate Brother Joe (who was breaking his maiden) in his lone Derby prep.
- Burgoo King was the subject of one of Colonel Bradley's frequent experiments in racehorse care and nutrition; in his case, he was given cod liver oil and dried fish livers as part of his rations. Whether the odd foods did him any good is questionable, but they apparently did him no harm.
- Burgoo King was the third of four Kentucky Derby winners for Colonel Bradley and trainer "Derby Dick" Thompson. The others were Behave Yourself (1921), Bubbling Over (1926) and Brokers Tip (1933).
- Bubbling Over and Burgoo King formed the second father-and-son tandem to win the Kentucky Derby. The feat had previously been accomplished by 1895 victor Halma and his son Alan-a-Dale, the 1902 winner.
- Burgoo King did not start in the 1932 Belmont Stakes, but the reasons for this are uncertain. Some sources indicate that he was injured prior to the race; others state that he was ineligible because the nomination paperwork had not been filled out properly.
- As Jim Bolus suggested, Burgoo King perhaps should have been named “Hoodoo King” due to the bad luck that seemed to dog him and anything or anyone associated with him on the track. Of the four jockeys who rode him during his racing career, two—Laverne Fator and Gilbert Elston—committed suicide; a third, Eugene James, was the victim of accidental drowning. The fourth, Don Meade, had a career marked by frequent clashes with the stewards.
- To avoid placing extra stress on Burgoo King's legs while he was getting back into condition for his comeback, he was broken to harness and trained from a sulky, a tactic also used with 1914 Kentucky Derby winner Old Rosebud. Unlike Old Rosebud, however, Burgoo King never quite recaptured his earlier form when returned to the track.
- Burgoo King was the only one of Colonel Bradley's four Kentucky Derby winners to win another race after the Kentucky Derby.
Photo credit
Burgoo King at the 1932 Preakness Stakes, Eugene James up. Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: September 18, 2023