Bally Ache (USA)
February 3, 1957 – October 28, 1960
Ballydam (IRE) x Celestial Blue (USA), by Supremus (USA)
Family 12-b*
February 3, 1957 – October 28, 1960
Ballydam (IRE) x Celestial Blue (USA), by Supremus (USA)
Family 12-b*
A US$2,500 yearling, Bally Ache had the breeding and conformation of a sprinter combined with the heart and determination to stay out classic distances. His rags-to-riches background and his gameness made him a crowd favorite, but he never received the opportunity to see if his racing form could be parlayed into a successful stud career as he dislocated a fetlock in October 1960 and died of colitis before the month was out.
Race record
31 starts, 16 wins, 9 seconds, 4 thirds, US$758,522
1959:
1960:
Assessments
Ranked second among American juvenile males of 1959 in the Daily Racing Form/Morning Telegraph poll and by The Blood-Horse.
Rated at 122 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1959, 4 pounds below champion Warfare.
Rated at 126 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1960, second to champion Kelso at 128 pounds.
Ranked second among American 3-year-old males of 1960 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A short-coupled bay colt, Bally Ache stood about 16.1 hands (per trainer Jimmy Pitt) and had a deep, well-sprung barrel and extremely powerful hindquarters. His shoulders were well laid with heavy muscles and his legs were clean and set well under him. He tended to loaf if he got an easy lead but was utterly determined and game if hooked. His action was collected and balanced rather than long-striding. He was businesslike and pleasant to handle.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky at Twin Oaks Farm, Bally Ache was bred by the brothers Marvin and Alan Gaines. He was owned by Leonard Fruchtman, who purchased Bally Ache for US$5,000 as part of a two-horse package deal when the colt was a yearling and raced him under the name of Edgehill Farm. Bally Ache was trained by Homer J. “Jimmy” Pitt. A week before the Preakness Stakes, Bally Ache was purchased by the Turfland Syndicate (in which Fruchtman had an interest) for US$1.25 million, then the second largest valuation ever placed on a horse in training. Unfortunately, the colt was forced to miss the Belmont Stakes after going lame the day before the race, and after winning two allowance races and finishing third against older males in the United Nations Handicap during a fall comeback, the colt dislocated his right front fetlock during a prep race for the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap, in which he was to have met Kelso. Although the dislocated joint was successfully reduced, he still had ruptured ligaments and required a blood transfusion. He was moved to Bosque Bonita Farm near Versailes, Kentucky, in the hope that he could be saved for stud duty but developed a fatal case of acute colitis. He was buried at Bosque Bonita, now Lane's End Farm.
Pedigree notes
Bally Ache's pedigree is outcrossed through five generations. Sired by Ballydam, a minor stakes winner in England and the United States, he was produced from Celestial Blue, who produced four other winners but nothing else of significance. She, in turn, was produced from the Blue Larkspur mare Vanda Cerulea, whose half sister Tediana (by Teddy) produced 1947 Bay Meadows Handicap winner Artillery (by Alibhai) and stakes winner Ball and Chain (by Cohort). Another half sister to Vanda Cerulea, Licketysplit (by Canter) produced juvenile stakes winner Dawn Flight (by Devil Diver).
Vanda Cerulea and her sisters were produced from the Man o' War mare Binnacle, a half sister to 1923 Hopeful Stakes winner Diogenes (by Ballot) and to stakes-placed Golden Haze (by Golden Broom), third dam of two-time American champion sprinter Sheilas Reward and 1957 Louisiana Derby winner Federal Hill. The next dam in Bally Ache's tail-female line is the Plaudit mare Smoky Lamp, an animal who apparently rivaled her paternal granddam Cinderella for nastiness.
Books and media
Bally Ache is profiled in Chapter 9 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: December 2, 2020
Race record
31 starts, 16 wins, 9 seconds, 4 thirds, US$758,522
1959:
- Won Great American Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Jamaica)
- Won Juvenile Stakes (USA, 5FD, Belmont)
- Won Comely Stakes (USA, 5FD, Jamaica)
- Won Mayflower Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Suffolk)
- Won Hialeah Juvenile Stakes (first division) (USA, 3FD, Hialeah)
- 2nd Arlington Futurity (USA, 6FD, Arlington Park)
- 2nd Garden State Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Garden State)
- 2nd Washington Park Futurity (USA, 6.5FD, Washington Park)
- 2nd Sapling Stakes (USA, 6FD, Monmouth)
- 2nd World's Playground Stakes (USA, 7FD, Atlantic City)
- 2nd Cherry Hill Stakes (USA, 5FD, Garden State)
- 3rd Champagne Stakes (USA, 8FD, Aqueduct)
- 3rd Cowdin Stakes (USA, 7FD, Aqueduct)
- 3rd Tremont Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Belmont)
- Also set a new track record of :57-4/5 for 5 furlongs at Jamaica
1960:
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Jersey Derby (USA, 9FD, Garden State)
- Won Flamingo Stakes (USA, 9FD, Hialeah)
- Won Florida Derby (USA, 9FD, Gulfstream Park)
- Won Hibiscus Stakes (USA, 6FD, Hialeah)
- Won Bahamas Stakes (USA, 7FD, Hialeah)
- 2nd Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- 2nd Fountain of Youth Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Gulfstream Park)
- 3rd United Nations Handicap (USA, 9.5FT, Atlantic City)
Assessments
Ranked second among American juvenile males of 1959 in the Daily Racing Form/Morning Telegraph poll and by The Blood-Horse.
Rated at 122 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1959, 4 pounds below champion Warfare.
Rated at 126 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1960, second to champion Kelso at 128 pounds.
Ranked second among American 3-year-old males of 1960 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A short-coupled bay colt, Bally Ache stood about 16.1 hands (per trainer Jimmy Pitt) and had a deep, well-sprung barrel and extremely powerful hindquarters. His shoulders were well laid with heavy muscles and his legs were clean and set well under him. He tended to loaf if he got an easy lead but was utterly determined and game if hooked. His action was collected and balanced rather than long-striding. He was businesslike and pleasant to handle.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky at Twin Oaks Farm, Bally Ache was bred by the brothers Marvin and Alan Gaines. He was owned by Leonard Fruchtman, who purchased Bally Ache for US$5,000 as part of a two-horse package deal when the colt was a yearling and raced him under the name of Edgehill Farm. Bally Ache was trained by Homer J. “Jimmy” Pitt. A week before the Preakness Stakes, Bally Ache was purchased by the Turfland Syndicate (in which Fruchtman had an interest) for US$1.25 million, then the second largest valuation ever placed on a horse in training. Unfortunately, the colt was forced to miss the Belmont Stakes after going lame the day before the race, and after winning two allowance races and finishing third against older males in the United Nations Handicap during a fall comeback, the colt dislocated his right front fetlock during a prep race for the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap, in which he was to have met Kelso. Although the dislocated joint was successfully reduced, he still had ruptured ligaments and required a blood transfusion. He was moved to Bosque Bonita Farm near Versailes, Kentucky, in the hope that he could be saved for stud duty but developed a fatal case of acute colitis. He was buried at Bosque Bonita, now Lane's End Farm.
Pedigree notes
Bally Ache's pedigree is outcrossed through five generations. Sired by Ballydam, a minor stakes winner in England and the United States, he was produced from Celestial Blue, who produced four other winners but nothing else of significance. She, in turn, was produced from the Blue Larkspur mare Vanda Cerulea, whose half sister Tediana (by Teddy) produced 1947 Bay Meadows Handicap winner Artillery (by Alibhai) and stakes winner Ball and Chain (by Cohort). Another half sister to Vanda Cerulea, Licketysplit (by Canter) produced juvenile stakes winner Dawn Flight (by Devil Diver).
Vanda Cerulea and her sisters were produced from the Man o' War mare Binnacle, a half sister to 1923 Hopeful Stakes winner Diogenes (by Ballot) and to stakes-placed Golden Haze (by Golden Broom), third dam of two-time American champion sprinter Sheilas Reward and 1957 Louisiana Derby winner Federal Hill. The next dam in Bally Ache's tail-female line is the Plaudit mare Smoky Lamp, an animal who apparently rivaled her paternal granddam Cinderella for nastiness.
Books and media
Bally Ache is profiled in Chapter 9 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- Bally Ache's dam, Celestial Blue, was one of the cheapest mares ever to produce an American Classic winner, as she raced for claiming tags of as little as US$1,750.
- Leonard Fruchtman became the owner of Bally Ache after a yearling colt caught his eye at Twin Oaks Farm. He sent trainer Jimmy Pitt around to look over the animal before buying. Pitt liked the yearling well enough but spotted another at the farm that he liked better and persuaded Fruchtman to buy both of them for US$5,000 in spite of Fruchtman's complaint that “I can do better for [US]$700 at the Keeneland sales” with regard to Pitt's choice. The colt Fruchtman had originally wanted, Keen Blade, was claimed away in a US$4,500 juvenile claiming event and never escaped obscurity, but the one Pitt liked and persuaded Fruchtman to add to the deal was Bally Ache.
- Fruchtman's explanation for Bally Ache's name was that he had been giving himself a stomachache trying to find a name The Jockey Club would accept after several other possible names had been rejected, and he named the colt accordingly.
- While going through his initial training at Sunshine Park in Florida, Bally Ache developed a liking for the water from one of the nearby sulphur springs, to the extent that he would kick up a shindy if he didn't get his daily ration.
- Following a frustrating series of close defeats in important 2-year-old races, Bally Ache's trainer, Jimmy Pitt, and groom, Bud Biggerstaff, conspired to teach the colt to stretch out his neck by putting his feed as nearly out of reach as possible. Both admitted that it might not have helped on the track, but it certainly didn't hurt the colt at 3.
- Bally Ache's Flamingo Stakes was the first win in a stakes race worth US$100,000 or more (then a very large purse) for jockey Bobby Ussery, who became the 10th American jockey to ride 3,000 or more winners and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1980.
- Bally Ache and 1960 Kentucky Derby winner Venetian Way met seven times during their careers, with Bally Ache winning five of the seven meetings.
- Bally Ache was insured for US$1 million at the time of his death.
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: December 2, 2020