Every Triple Crown champion follows a distinct path in their racing career, shaped by their individual circumstances. While all secured wins in the three classic races, their methods of achieving those triumphs and their subsequent actions reflect their distinct abilities and the individuals associated with them. Among the thirteen celebrated horses, one distinguished member of this exclusive group undertook a feat unparalleled by any other: traveling abroad to compete on a different track type on a global platform, this horse was Omaha.
Due to a persistent ailment and his proprietor’s ambitions for worldwide success, the third horse to claim the Triple Crown embarked on a significant journey to confront a test unlike any available in American racing.
Excellence Fosters Excellence
Foaled by his owner William Woodward, Omaha’s lineage predestined him for the significant classic victories that marked his racing journey: his father was Gallant Fox, the second horse to achieve the Triple Crown, and his mother, Flambino, secured third place in the 1927 Belmont Stakes. A statuesque horse possessing an extended stride, Omaha frequently started slowly from the gate but was capable of unleashing a powerful, sustained surge in the final stretch, a manner of running far more advantageous for longer races. He claimed victory only once as a two-year-old, as the shorter lengths of juvenile contests were ill-suited to his racing style. However, at age three, he truly excelled, achieving wins in races of 1⅛ miles and greater.
His triumphs in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes were all achieved with considerable ease, securing wins by as much as six lengths at Pimlico and one and a half lengths in the other two. Following his victories in the Dwyer Stakes and the Arlington Classic, conditioner “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons transported Omaha to Saratoga for its late summer racing event, intending to redress his sire’s notable defeat by Jim Dandy in the 1930 Travers Stakes.
Nevertheless, Omaha would not participate in the “Midsummer Derby.” As Fitzsimmons made preparations for the third Triple Crown victor for the Travers, it became apparent that the young colt was not fit to compete. A shoulder ailment sustained during his run in the Arlington Classic diverted Omaha from the course his sire had taken in 1930, forcing Omaha to the sidelines while Fitzsimmons endeavored to restore his celebrated three-year-old to health. Yet, the injury proved recalcitrant, with persistent discomfort remaining after every training session. Consequently, Woodward chose to withdraw Omaha from competition for the year, dispatching him to Belair Stud in Maryland for recuperation.
This physical setback emerged as a pivotal moment in Omaha’s professional life, serving as the impetus for an endeavor no other Triple Crown champion, past or present, has ever undertaken: competing on English tracks.
A Fresh Endeavor
With Gallant Fox and two other Belair stallions already situated at Claiborne Farm, owner William Woodward made the decision to keep his champion colt under training, with the ambition of him competing as a four-year-old. Once Omaha demonstrated signs of readiness to resume racing, Woodward resolved to dispatch the colt to England to contend for the prestigious prizes offered there, rather than continuing his racing career in America. Prior to sending him overseas, however, the owner required confirmation of Omaha’s preparedness. This assessment was entrusted to Captain Cecil Boyd-Rochfort.
Woodward had enlisted Boyd-Rochfort, a conditioner for prominent Americans such as Marshall Field III and George Widener, to prepare the limited number of horses he dispatched to England annually, with the objective of securing victories in events like the Epsom Derby and the Ascot Gold Cup. The British trainer undertook his yearly journey to America in December 1935, visiting Fitzsimmons’s stable at Aqueduct to observe Omaha. Following an observation of a training session, Boyd-Rochfort pronounced the colt fit, thereby clearing the way for the third Triple Crown laureate to journey to England. His primary objective? The 2½-mile Ascot Gold Cup.
Subsequent to a week-long sea voyage aboard the Aquitania, Omaha disembarked in England and promptly commenced preparation for his appearance at Royal Ascot five months hence. He adapted effortlessly from racing counterclockwise on dirt to navigating clockwise on turf, triumphing in his initial two races there. This established the stage for his attempt at the Ascot Gold Cup, an event only ever won once by an American horse, although 1928 Kentucky Derby victor Reigh Count had come close, securing second place in 1929. The competitive field included Quashed, an English filly who had already claimed multiple wins at comparable distances that season.
Both Omaha and Quashed maintained a mid-pack position for the initial two miles of the Gold Cup, awaiting their opportune moment to surge forward. Quashed advanced to second place on the final turn, with Omaha pursuing her in third, having been nudged wide by another competitor. As the contenders entered the straightaway at Royal Ascot, Quashed seized the lead, with the American colt pressing vigorously on her outer flank. They engaged in a close struggle a quarter-mile from the finish, battling head-to-head, vying for any fractional advantage over one another. Should the filly gain a slight lead, Omaha would fiercely retaliate, the two reaching the finish line simultaneously in what appeared to be a dead heat. Nevertheless, the filly ultimately prevailed by a head, thereby denying Omaha an Ascot Gold Cup to complement his Triple Crown.
The Singular Champion
Omaha competed on one additional occasion during his stay in England, securing a second-place finish before being withdrawn from racing for the remainder of the 1936 season. Woodward retained the third Triple Crown victor in England for another year, affording Omaha a further opportunity to claim the Gold Cup. However, a tendon injury suffered merely a week prior to the 1937 running signaled the conclusion of his aspiration for Royal Ascot’s most significant trophy. Woodward then repatriated Omaha to the United States for stud duties, joining his sire Gallant Fox and his paternal grandfather Sir Gallahad III at Claiborne Farm.
Omaha stands as the solitary Triple Crown laureate to traverse the Atlantic and compete in England, the birthplace of the inaugural Triple Crown. If the colt from Belair had not sustained an injury in the Arlington Classic, it is improbable that he would have undertaken the journey to contend for the Ascot Gold Cup, thereby depriving us of what The Observer deemed one of history’s top ten equestrian contests. While that injury may have hindered him from emulating his sire’s stellar three-year-old campaign, it paradoxically served as the pivotal moment that gifted us something perhaps even more remarkable: Omaha’s global odyssey.
