The only stakes winner sired by Brokers Tip, an unsound horse whose claim to fame was scoring his sole win in the 1933 Kentucky Derby, Market Wise was produced from a mare who failed to place in her only start. The unlikely combination produced a champion, as Market Wise developed into the best stayer of his crop after racing for claiming tags as low as US$1,500 as a juvenile. Unfortunately, he suffered the fate of most unfashionably bred horses at stud and failed to make much of the indifferent opportunities he was given.
Race record
53 starts, 19 wins, 7 seconds, 10 thirds, US$222,140
1941:
1942:
1943:
Honors
American co-champion handicap male (1943)
Assessments
Rated second among American 3-year-old males of 1941 by The Blood-Horse.
Rated second among American older males of 1942 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A bay horse, Market Wise was lanky and light-boned with rather long cannons, upright pasterns and bad feet. He had good rein length, a long, well-angled shoulder and strong hindquarters. He preferred to come from off the pace with a strong stretch drive when racing.
As a stallion
According to Jockey Club records, Market Wise sired 103 winners (68.7%) and 4 stakes winner (2.7%) from 150 named foals.
Notable progeny
To Market (USA), Wise Margin (USA)
Connections
Market Wise was bred by Admiral Cary T. Grayson, who died later in 1938. He was purchased for US$2,300 as a yearling by Mrs. Isabel Dodge Sloane, who raced him in the colors of her Brookmeade Stable as a juvenile with Hugh Fontaine as his trainer. After the colt failed to win when dropped into US$1,500 claimers, Mrs. Sloane sold him to Louis Tufano for US$2,000 in a package deal with another colt, Flank. Following the sale, Market Wise was trained by George Washington Carroll and raced for Tufano's Marise Farm. Market Wise entered stud in 1944 in Kentucky at Hedgewood Farm. His last foals were registered in 1960.
Pedigree notes
Market Wise is inbred 4x4 to Commando and Ben Brush. He is a half brother to 1943 Coaching Club American Oaks winner Too Timely (by Discovery), second dam of 1960 Bed o' Roses Handicap winner Chistosa and 1961 Governor's Gold Cup winner Bal Musette. He is also a half brother to Hand Organ (by Strolling Player), dam of 1948 Widener Handicap winner El Mono (by Head Play), and to Handful, third dam of multiple Grade II winner Special Tiger.
Market Wise's dam On Hand is a full sister to 1930 Brooklyn Handicap winner Sortie and to juvenile stakes winner On Post. She is also a half sister to stakes winner Tweedledee (by Twink). On Hand and her siblings were produced from the Broomstick mare Kippy, a full sister to 1925 Manhattan Handicap winner Pepp. The next dam in Market Wise's tail-female line, the Star Shoot mare Seamstress, is out of Busy Maid (by Meddler), making her a full sister to 1917 Manhattan Handicap winner Stargazer and a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Busy (by Galore).
Fun facts
Race record
53 starts, 19 wins, 7 seconds, 10 thirds, US$222,140
1941:
- Won Wood Memorial Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)
- Won Gallant Fox Handicap (USA, 13FD, Jamaica)
- Won Edgemere Handicap (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct; new track record 1:50)
- Won Governor Bowie Handicap (USA, 13FD, Pimlico; new track record 2:43-1/5)
- Won Jockey Club Gold Cup (USA, 16FD, Belmont; new American record 3:20-4/5)
- Won Pimlico Special (USA, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Rockingham Park Handicap (USA, 9FD, Rockingham)
- 2nd New York Handicap (USA, 18FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Yankee Handicap (USA, 9.5FD, Suffolk Downs)
- 2nd Dwyer Stakes (USA, 10FD, Aqueduct)
- 2nd Potomac Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Havre de Grace)
- 3rd Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- 3rd Aqueduct Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Aqueduct)
- 3rd Granite State Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Rockingham)
- 3rd Hialeah Stakes (USA, 6FD, Hialeah)
1942:
- Won Suburban Handicap (USA, 10FD, Belmont)
- Won McLennan Handicap (USA, 9FD, Hialeah)
- 2nd Grey Lag Handicap (USA, 9FD, Jamaica)
- 3rd Metropolitan Handicap (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
1943:
- Won Massachusetts Handicap (USA, 9FD, Suffolk Downs)
- Won Narragansett Special (USA, 9.5FD, Narragansett Park)
- 2nd Brooklyn Handicap (USA, 10FD, Aqueduct)
- 3rd Butler Handicap (USA, 9.5FD, Jamaica)
- 3rd Edgemere Handicap (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct)
Honors
American co-champion handicap male (1943)
Assessments
Rated second among American 3-year-old males of 1941 by The Blood-Horse.
Rated second among American older males of 1942 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A bay horse, Market Wise was lanky and light-boned with rather long cannons, upright pasterns and bad feet. He had good rein length, a long, well-angled shoulder and strong hindquarters. He preferred to come from off the pace with a strong stretch drive when racing.
As a stallion
According to Jockey Club records, Market Wise sired 103 winners (68.7%) and 4 stakes winner (2.7%) from 150 named foals.
Notable progeny
To Market (USA), Wise Margin (USA)
Connections
Market Wise was bred by Admiral Cary T. Grayson, who died later in 1938. He was purchased for US$2,300 as a yearling by Mrs. Isabel Dodge Sloane, who raced him in the colors of her Brookmeade Stable as a juvenile with Hugh Fontaine as his trainer. After the colt failed to win when dropped into US$1,500 claimers, Mrs. Sloane sold him to Louis Tufano for US$2,000 in a package deal with another colt, Flank. Following the sale, Market Wise was trained by George Washington Carroll and raced for Tufano's Marise Farm. Market Wise entered stud in 1944 in Kentucky at Hedgewood Farm. His last foals were registered in 1960.
Pedigree notes
Market Wise is inbred 4x4 to Commando and Ben Brush. He is a half brother to 1943 Coaching Club American Oaks winner Too Timely (by Discovery), second dam of 1960 Bed o' Roses Handicap winner Chistosa and 1961 Governor's Gold Cup winner Bal Musette. He is also a half brother to Hand Organ (by Strolling Player), dam of 1948 Widener Handicap winner El Mono (by Head Play), and to Handful, third dam of multiple Grade II winner Special Tiger.
Market Wise's dam On Hand is a full sister to 1930 Brooklyn Handicap winner Sortie and to juvenile stakes winner On Post. She is also a half sister to stakes winner Tweedledee (by Twink). On Hand and her siblings were produced from the Broomstick mare Kippy, a full sister to 1925 Manhattan Handicap winner Pepp. The next dam in Market Wise's tail-female line, the Star Shoot mare Seamstress, is out of Busy Maid (by Meddler), making her a full sister to 1917 Manhattan Handicap winner Stargazer and a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Busy (by Galore).
Fun facts
- Never an entirely sound horse, Market Wise owed part of his physical woes to having been trampled by another horse when he was a foal.
- Market Wise scored the first major victory of his career, the 1941 Wood Memorial Stakes, under jockey Don Meade—the same jockey who had ridden his sire Brokers Tip to his Kentucky Derby victory seven years earlier.
- Market Wise made 26 starts as a 3-year-old, one of the toughest campaigns for an American horse of his class in the 20th century.