Sickle’s Image (USA)
1948 – After January 1961
Sickletoy (USA) x Ariel Image (USA), by Ariel (USA)
Family 13
1948 – After January 1961
Sickletoy (USA) x Ariel Image (USA), by Ariel (USA)
Family 13
Had the career of Sickle’s Image been submitted to Hollywood as a script, it probably would have been rejected as too improbable. One of only two foals sired by an obscure stallion and produced from a cheap claimer, she could not gain registration with the Jockey Club for two years because of suspicions regarding her conception and parentage. Adding to the theme of her blue-collar origins, her breeder-owner-trainer was a small-time horse dealer and trainer from Michigan who arranged the mating of her parents as a matter of convenience. From these humble origins, Sickle's Image rose to become one of the best race mares of her crop. While her championship at age 5 represented something of a lifetime achievement award, her victims in the 1953 Washington Park Handicap included Calumet’s brilliant handicapper Mark-Ye-Well and probably constituted the best field of milers gathered all year in Chicago. (The quality of her rivals can be gauged by the fact that she went off at 24-1.) Unfortunately, Sickle’s Image had only a short career as a broodmare, and neither of her foals came close to her in ability.
Race record
73 starts, 27 wins, 13 seconds, 16 thirds, US$413,275
1950:
1951:
1952:
1953:
1954:
Honors
American champion handicap female (1953)
Assessments
Rated at 110 pounds among American juveniles of 1950, 4 pounds below Aunt Jinny (the official champion juvenile filly) and How.
Ranked third among American 3-year-old fillies of 1951 by The Blood-Horse.
Rated at 125 pounds on the Daily Racing Form’s Free Handicap for American fillies and mares of 1953, 1 pound below Real Delight.
As an individual
A muscular but feminine brown mare standing no more than 15.3 hands, Sickle’s Image had excellent balance and textbook legs and feet. She was tough and durable with an excellent constitution, though a mile was about as far as she truly stayed. She was an excellent mover and had a brilliant turn of foot. She was a fine weight carrier and a good shipper. Her disposition was equable and she could be placed as her jockey desired during the running of a race. She was indifferent as to track conditions and had a strong will to win. She finally pulled up lame from her last race, the 1954 Beverly Handicap.
As a producer
Sickle’s Image produced only two named foals, both winners. The more important of the two was Roman Image (by Roman), whose most notable racing exploit was setting a track record for a mile at River Downs in 1960. Roman Image later produced 1966 Kent Stakes winner Gunflint (by Rough’n Tumble), a useful sire whose 19 stakes winners were headed by mutliple Grade 2 winner Miss Musket.
Connections
Foaled in Michigan, Sickle’s Image was bred, owned, and trained by Clarence Hartwick. She was ridden by a number of jockeys, but her usual pilot was Bill Fisk. She is last mentioned in produce records as barren in 1960.
Pedigree notes
Sired by the Sickle horse Sickletoy, Sickle’s Image is outcrossed through five generations. She was the first of two foals produced by Ariel Image, a mare that Hartwick had unsuccessfully tried to sell for US$800 before losing her in a US$2,000 claiming race and then claiming her back from another race for US$2,500. The hardy mare eventually won seven of 98 starts, placing another 32 times, but earned only US$10,722 during her long racing career. She was permanently retired after conceiving Sickle’s Image in 1947. The only other foal of Ariel Image, the Bolero mare Mama’s Image, failed to win or place in nine starts.
Ariel Image is the only foal of any significance produced from Imaginary (a full sister to juvenile stakes winner Bonanza), whose sire, the Swynford horse Swift and Sure, won the 1926 Chester Vase over about 13.5 furlongs in England before being imported to the United States. Imaginary’s dam, El Dorado, who was stakes-placed as a juvenile, represented the other side of the distance spectrum as she was by the speed influence Ultimus. El Dorado’s other foals include Mad Delight (by Mad Hatter), dam of multiple stakes winner Sir Marlboro (by Swift and Sure) and Canadian juvenile stakes winner Sure Delight (by Swift and Sure).
Produced from 1912 American champion older female Helen Barbee (by Peep O’ Day), El Dorado is a half sister to the tough race mare Helen’s Babe (by Brown Prince II), whose wins included the 1926 Dixie Handicap and 1927 Clark handicap against males. Helen Barbee’s dam, Lady Bramble (by Bramble), is out of Charity (by Spendthrift), whose dam Kalula is a King Alfonso half sister to three-time American champion older male Kingston (by Spendthrift).
Fun facts
Last updated: September 6, 2025
Race record
73 starts, 27 wins, 13 seconds, 16 thirds, US$413,275
1950:
- Won James H. Connors Memorial Stakes (USA, 6FD, Narragansett Park)
- Won Hollywood Lassie Stakes (USA, 6FD, Hollywood Park)
- 3rd Pollyanna Stakes (USA, 6FD, Arlington Park)
1951:
- Won Ashland Stakes (USA, 6FD, Keeneland)
- Won Modesty Handicap (USA, 6FD, Arlington Park)
- Won Cleopatra Stakes (USA, 6FD, Arlington Park)
- Won Arlington Matron H. (USA, 8FD, Arlington Park)
- 2nd Santa Susana Stakes (USA, 7FD, Santa Anita; from third by disqualification)
- 3rd Las Flores Handicap (USA, 6FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Kentucky Oaks (USA, 8.5FD, Churchill Downs)
1952:
- Won Vineland Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Garden State)
- Won Los Cerritos Handicap (USA, 6FD, Santa Anita)
- Won F. M. Alger Memorial Stakes (USA, 6FD, Detroit)
- 2nd Billings Handicap (USA, 6FD, Hawthorne)
- 2nd Regret Handicap (second division) (USA, 6FD, Monmouth)
- 2nd Lincoln's Birthday Handicap (USA, 6FD, Santa Anita)
- 2nd Regret Handicap (USA, 6.5FD, Hawthorne)
- 2nd Modesty Handicap (USA, 8FD, Arlington Park)
- 3rd Midwest Handicap (USA, 6.5FD, Hawthorne)
- 3rd Correction Handicap (USA, 6FD, Jamaica)
- 3rd Washington Park Handicap (USA, 8FD, Washington Park)
- 3rd Beverly Handicap (USA, 8FD, Washington Park)
- 3rd Bridal Flower Handicap (USA, 6FD, Aqueduct)
- Also set a new Washington Park track record of 1:21-1/5 for 7 furlongs on dirt in an allowance race
1953:
- Won Washington Park Handicap (USA, 8FD, Washington Park)
- 2nd Yo Tambien Handicap (USA, 6.5FD, Hawthorne)
- Also set an Atlantic City track record of 1:23 for 7 furlongs on dirt in an allowance race
1954:
- Won Modesty Handicap (USA, 6FD, Arlington Park)
- 2nd Clang Handicap (USA, 7FD, Washington Park)
- 3rd Tomboy Stakes (USA, 8FD, Detroit)
Honors
American champion handicap female (1953)
Assessments
Rated at 110 pounds among American juveniles of 1950, 4 pounds below Aunt Jinny (the official champion juvenile filly) and How.
Ranked third among American 3-year-old fillies of 1951 by The Blood-Horse.
Rated at 125 pounds on the Daily Racing Form’s Free Handicap for American fillies and mares of 1953, 1 pound below Real Delight.
As an individual
A muscular but feminine brown mare standing no more than 15.3 hands, Sickle’s Image had excellent balance and textbook legs and feet. She was tough and durable with an excellent constitution, though a mile was about as far as she truly stayed. She was an excellent mover and had a brilliant turn of foot. She was a fine weight carrier and a good shipper. Her disposition was equable and she could be placed as her jockey desired during the running of a race. She was indifferent as to track conditions and had a strong will to win. She finally pulled up lame from her last race, the 1954 Beverly Handicap.
As a producer
Sickle’s Image produced only two named foals, both winners. The more important of the two was Roman Image (by Roman), whose most notable racing exploit was setting a track record for a mile at River Downs in 1960. Roman Image later produced 1966 Kent Stakes winner Gunflint (by Rough’n Tumble), a useful sire whose 19 stakes winners were headed by mutliple Grade 2 winner Miss Musket.
Connections
Foaled in Michigan, Sickle’s Image was bred, owned, and trained by Clarence Hartwick. She was ridden by a number of jockeys, but her usual pilot was Bill Fisk. She is last mentioned in produce records as barren in 1960.
Pedigree notes
Sired by the Sickle horse Sickletoy, Sickle’s Image is outcrossed through five generations. She was the first of two foals produced by Ariel Image, a mare that Hartwick had unsuccessfully tried to sell for US$800 before losing her in a US$2,000 claiming race and then claiming her back from another race for US$2,500. The hardy mare eventually won seven of 98 starts, placing another 32 times, but earned only US$10,722 during her long racing career. She was permanently retired after conceiving Sickle’s Image in 1947. The only other foal of Ariel Image, the Bolero mare Mama’s Image, failed to win or place in nine starts.
Ariel Image is the only foal of any significance produced from Imaginary (a full sister to juvenile stakes winner Bonanza), whose sire, the Swynford horse Swift and Sure, won the 1926 Chester Vase over about 13.5 furlongs in England before being imported to the United States. Imaginary’s dam, El Dorado, who was stakes-placed as a juvenile, represented the other side of the distance spectrum as she was by the speed influence Ultimus. El Dorado’s other foals include Mad Delight (by Mad Hatter), dam of multiple stakes winner Sir Marlboro (by Swift and Sure) and Canadian juvenile stakes winner Sure Delight (by Swift and Sure).
Produced from 1912 American champion older female Helen Barbee (by Peep O’ Day), El Dorado is a half sister to the tough race mare Helen’s Babe (by Brown Prince II), whose wins included the 1926 Dixie Handicap and 1927 Clark handicap against males. Helen Barbee’s dam, Lady Bramble (by Bramble), is out of Charity (by Spendthrift), whose dam Kalula is a King Alfonso half sister to three-time American champion older male Kingston (by Spendthrift).
Fun facts
- Sickle’s Image was one of only two foals sired by Sickletoy, who returned to the track after her conception and suffered a fatal breakdown while training at Oaklawn Park in 1949. The only other foal sired by Sickletoy was the gelded Sickle Star, a winner of four races from 68 starts. Sickletoy was bred to Ariels Image solely because both were on layups from racing injuries at Hartwick’s Michigan farm.
- After Howard “Babe” Wells gave Sickle’s Image her introductory lessons as a racehorse at his Kentucky training facility and reported that she seemed to have some ability, Hartwick offered to sell him the filly for a price variously reported as US$2,000 or US$2,500. Wells declined, leaving Hartwick in possession of the future champion. Later, when the filly was a 3-year-old, Hartwick reportedly turned down an offer of US$100,000 for her, noting that (per Daily Racing Form writer Charles Hatton) he would be “afraid to go home” if he did sell as the filly had become a family pet.
- Sickle’s Image did not begin racing until August of her juvenile season because Clarence Hartwick was unable to get registration papers issued by the Jockey Club until June 1950 due to questions about her parentage and conception.
- Sickle’s Image was so sweet-natured that, when at her owner’s Michigan farm for layups, children would ride her about her paddock, often with two or three of them aboard at the same time.
- Sickle’s Image won her title as 1953 American champion handicap mare in the Thoroughbred Racing Association poll by 14 votes to 12 for Real Delight. Sickle's Image also won the Triangle Racing Publications poll for her division over Real Delight but was weighted at 1 pound less than her rival on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap.
- Sickle’s Image became the namesake for a stakes race for Michigan-bred runners at Detroit Race Track.
Last updated: September 6, 2025