Rated by legendary owner-breeder-trainer John E. Madden as one of the two best horses he ever bred (the other was 1908 American champion 2-year-old male Sir Martin), Grey Lag stepped into the void left by the retirement of Man o' War and earned a great reputation in his own right. While he was troubled by tender, thin-walled feet, he was a game and resolute performer capable of carrying high weights. He proved all but sterile at stud, and brief racing comebacks at 9 and 13 both failed to add to his reputation.
Race record
47 starts, 25 wins, 9 seconds, 6 thirds, US$136,375
1920:
1921:
1922:
1923:
1928:
Honors
Assessments
Grey Lag was rated #54 among the top 100 American racehorses of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by The Blood-Horse (Thoroughbred Champions, Eclipse Press, 7th printing, 2005).
Ranked third among American juveniles of 1920 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A tall chestnut, Grey Lag stood 16.2 hands. Like many of the get of Star Shoot, he had thin-soled feet and was not the soundest of individuals. He had a patch of gray on his barrel which was normally covered by his saddlecloth.
As a stallion
Grey Lag sired just 19 foals before becoming completely sterile. His only stakes winner was the filly Greyola, who won the 1930 Agua Caliente Derby but died soon afterward.
Connections
Grey Lag was bred by John E. Madden, who sold him to Max Hirsch as part of a package deal with a filly; the price for the pair was US$10,000. Grey Lag was owned and trained by Max Hirsch through his win in the Champagne Stakes at 2. After that, Grey Lag was sold to Harry F. Sinclair's Rancocas Stable for US$60,000 but carrried trainer Sam Hildreth's silks during the remainder of his 2-year-old season. At 3 and beyond Grey Lag carried the Rancocas silks, but Hildreth continued as his trainer. Grey Lag was retired to stud after his 5-year-old season but proved severely subfertile and was returned to racing at the age of 9. After making a total of six starts at ages 9 and 10, Grey Lag was retired again and was given to a veterinarian friend of Sinclair's for use as a riding horse. Unbeknownst to Sinclair, when the friend died a few years later, Grey Lag went to the auction block and was purchased by Mrs. J. Carson, who put the horse back into training. Trained by Willie Carson, Grey Lag made four starts in cheap claiming company in Canada, finishing third once, before being repurchased by Sinclair and retired once more, this time for good.
Pedigree notes
Grey Lag is inbred 5x5 to 1863 St. Leger Stakes winner and 1876 English champion sire Lord Clifden. He is a half brother to Minima (by Friar Rock), dam of 1938 Futurity Stakes and Champagne Stakes winner Porter's Mite (by The Porter), 1940 Flamingo Stakes winner Woof Woof (by Bull Dog) and minor stakes winner Maxima (by Sir Martin). Minima is also the ancestress of 1982 American champion older female Track Robbery and 1994 European champion older male Hernando. The second dam of Grey Lag, Spectrum (by Orvieto), is a multiple English stakes winner.
Books and media
Grey Lag is profiled in Chapter 5 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
Last updated: August 7, 2020
Race record
47 starts, 25 wins, 9 seconds, 6 thirds, US$136,375
1920:
- Won Autumn Day Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Empire City)
- Won Champagne Stakes (USA, about 7FD, Belmont)
- Won Remsen Handicap (USA, 6FD, Jamaica)
- 2nd Oakdale Handicap (USA, 6FD, Aqueduct)
- 2nd Oceanus Handicap (USA, 6FD, Jamaica)
- 2nd Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (USA, 8FD, Churchill Downs)
- 3rd Futurity Stakes (USA, 6FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Babylon Handicap (USA, 6FD, Aqueduct)
1921:
- Won Belmont Stakes (USA, 11FD, Belmont)
- Won Dwyer Stakes (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct)
- Won Empire City Derby (USA, 10FD, Empire City)
- Won Brooklyn Handicap (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct)
- Won Knickerbocker Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Empire City)
- Won Mount Kisco Stakes (USA, 8f+70yD, Empire City)
- Won Devonshire International (CAN, 9FD, Devonshire; new Canadian record 1:50)
- 2nd Lawrence Realization Stakes (USA, 13FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Jockey Club Gold Cup (USA, 16FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Withers Stakes (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
1922:
- Won Empire City Handicap (USA, 9FD, Empire City)
- Won Queens County Handicap (USA, 8FD, Aqueduct)
- Won Saratoga Handicap (USA, 10FD, Saratoga)
- Won Mount Kisco Stakes (USA, 8f+70yD, Empire City)
- 2nd Brooklyn Handicap (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct)
1923:
- Won Excelsior Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)
- Won Metropolitan Handicap (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
- Won Suburban Handicap (USA, 10FD, Belmont)
- Won Kings County Handicap (USA, 8FD, Jamaica)
- 2nd Long Beach Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)
1928:
- 3rd Excelsior Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)
Honors
- National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1957)
- American Horse of the Year (1921)
- American champion 3-year-old male (1921)
- American co-champion handicap male (1922)
- American champion handicap male (1923)
Assessments
Grey Lag was rated #54 among the top 100 American racehorses of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by The Blood-Horse (Thoroughbred Champions, Eclipse Press, 7th printing, 2005).
Ranked third among American juveniles of 1920 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A tall chestnut, Grey Lag stood 16.2 hands. Like many of the get of Star Shoot, he had thin-soled feet and was not the soundest of individuals. He had a patch of gray on his barrel which was normally covered by his saddlecloth.
As a stallion
Grey Lag sired just 19 foals before becoming completely sterile. His only stakes winner was the filly Greyola, who won the 1930 Agua Caliente Derby but died soon afterward.
Connections
Grey Lag was bred by John E. Madden, who sold him to Max Hirsch as part of a package deal with a filly; the price for the pair was US$10,000. Grey Lag was owned and trained by Max Hirsch through his win in the Champagne Stakes at 2. After that, Grey Lag was sold to Harry F. Sinclair's Rancocas Stable for US$60,000 but carrried trainer Sam Hildreth's silks during the remainder of his 2-year-old season. At 3 and beyond Grey Lag carried the Rancocas silks, but Hildreth continued as his trainer. Grey Lag was retired to stud after his 5-year-old season but proved severely subfertile and was returned to racing at the age of 9. After making a total of six starts at ages 9 and 10, Grey Lag was retired again and was given to a veterinarian friend of Sinclair's for use as a riding horse. Unbeknownst to Sinclair, when the friend died a few years later, Grey Lag went to the auction block and was purchased by Mrs. J. Carson, who put the horse back into training. Trained by Willie Carson, Grey Lag made four starts in cheap claiming company in Canada, finishing third once, before being repurchased by Sinclair and retired once more, this time for good.
Pedigree notes
Grey Lag is inbred 5x5 to 1863 St. Leger Stakes winner and 1876 English champion sire Lord Clifden. He is a half brother to Minima (by Friar Rock), dam of 1938 Futurity Stakes and Champagne Stakes winner Porter's Mite (by The Porter), 1940 Flamingo Stakes winner Woof Woof (by Bull Dog) and minor stakes winner Maxima (by Sir Martin). Minima is also the ancestress of 1982 American champion older female Track Robbery and 1994 European champion older male Hernando. The second dam of Grey Lag, Spectrum (by Orvieto), is a multiple English stakes winner.
Books and media
Grey Lag is profiled in Chapter 5 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- Grey Lag's name had nothing to do with his coat color; it came from the common European name for a species of wild goose.
- Sam Hildreth actually considered buying Grey Lag for Harry Sinclair after the colt finished an unlucky third in the Futurity Stakes but refused to buy at Hirsch's asking price of US$40,000 because of the colt's odd gray marking. (Hildreth was notoriously superstitious and may have felt the mark was bad luck.).
- Grey Lag was the fourth of five Belmont Stakes winners bred or co-bred by John E. Madden. The others were Joe Madden (1909), The Finn (1915), Sir Barton (1919) and Zev (1923).
- The Grey Lag Handicap was inaugurated in 1941. It was last run in 1999 as a Grade 3 race over 9½ furlongs on dirt for ages 3 and up at Aqueduct.
- The US$40 Grey Lag picked up for finishing third in a 1931 claiming race in Canada was the last purse money earned by any of the progeny of Star Shoot.
- Grey Lag appears to have played an incidental role in a gambling coup by notorious plunger Arnold Rothstein, a key figure in the 1919 "Black Sox" baseball scandal and one suspected of having manipulated the form or the odds in several other major horse races. Both Rothstein's colt Sporting Blood and the star filly Prudery were being pointed to the 1921 Travers Stakes, which Grey Lag was not expected to enter. Prudery had already beaten Sporting Blood in an earlier race and was favored in the early betting, but after Rothstein heard rumors that the filly was not quite right, he persuaded Hildreth to enter Grey Lag in the Travers at the last minute. The news both drove Sporting Blood's odds up and scared off any other competition, and after Grey Lag and Touch Me Not (the only other entrant) scratched from the race, Sporting Blood defeated Prudery. Travers Stakes historian Brien Bouyea commented that Rothstein was said to have made as much as US$500,000 from off-track betting on the race. Shortly afterward, Rothstein (who had been threatened with being ruled off the turf by August Belmont II) sold the colt to Bud Fisher, who won the Latonia Championship with him. (In a final touch of irony, Grey Lag was fourth in that race.)
Last updated: August 7, 2020