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MR and MRS GENE MARKEY Maintain the extensive Calumet Farm Photo by Meadors MeadorsCALUMET CALUMET FARM Homt of fiv Kentucky Derby winners Calumets Domination Unparalleled Appears Destined to Break Owners Breeders Records Story of Success Is Saga Of Warren Wright Who Was Satisfied Only With the Best BestBy By LEON RASMUSSEN RASMUSSENMy My how the mighty have risen risenCalumet Calumet Farm a colossus in thorough ¬ bred racing for nearly two decades never appeared more powerful than it does this season seasonToday Today at Churchill Downs it will be strongly favored to add a sixth Kentucky Derby to its record beadroll of five fiveLast Last year for the ninth time since 1941 wearers of the devils red and blue won more money than any other racing estab ¬ lishment And for the fifth time theKen tucky spawning ground of champions topped the million dollar figure No other stable has ever attained that figure even once onceAlso Also last year horses bred at Calumet Farm for the twelfth time since 1941 and for the tenth year in succession earned more money than horses bred at any other American thoroughbred farm Only once in those years did Calumetbreds also lead in number of races won illustrating the ob ¬ vious the production of quality rather than quantity 1947 Best Year YearThrough Through racing of April 25 Calumets performers had earned a substantial 546 345 well ahead of all pretenders With the richest part of the racing season still in the future the irrepressible Calumet forces may well break the record of 1402436 earned in 1947 and the 2060590 accumu ¬ lated by Calumetbreds in 1952 At any rate the stable seems almost a mortal to head the moneywinning list for the tenth tune and the moneywinning breed ¬ ers list for the thirteenth time timeThe The domination of racing and breeding to such an extent by one stable is certainly unparalleled in America only the late Harry Payne Whitneys homebreds exert ¬ ing an influence at all comparable to that attained by the Calumets CalumetsWhat What is the story behind the fabulous success of Calumet the Who What Where When Why and How of this re ¬ markable Kentucky nursery which pro ¬ duces champions in almost assemblyline fashion fashionTo To begin with it is the story of one man the late Warren Wright a smallish so ¬ berfaced pinkandwhite man with his rimless glasses and gray homburg hat Here was a man with an unswerving ambi ¬ tion an unyielding determination and an insatiable desire to succeed He had in ¬ herited Calumet in 1931 upon the death of his father William Monroe Wright who had reached an allpowerful eminence with his trotters on harness racings Grand Circuit CircuitPart Part of Arlington Group GroupNever Never too interested in the sulky sport and definitely not the type to want to build on an established success Warren Wright that same year decided to sell his fathers trotters and enter the thoroughbred sport from scratch In this decision he was greatly influenced by his good friend and business associate John Hertz who aroused his en ¬ thusiasm for the sport and was instrument ¬ al in Wright purchasing Nellie Morse the Preakness winner as a broodmare prospect from cartoonist Bud Fisher for 6100 Nellie Morse produced Nellie Flag the first home ¬ bred Calumet stakeswinner and herself the dam of the brilliant stakeswinner MarKell dam of the topflight star and promising sire prospect Mark YeWell YeWellIn In passing it should be noted that Wright was one of the men who joined with Hertz in bringing clean racing to Chicago by ac ¬ quiring Arlington Park and keeping it from the greedy clutches of the racketeers By the time they sold out to Ben Lindheimer public confidence had been restored restoredAlthough Although he inherited a fortune estimat ¬ ed at 70000000 Wright sold the Calumet Baking Powder Company in 1928 for 28 000000 Wright was not the kind to be happy with expensive success That had been the case with his father and his trot ¬ ters Warren insisted on profitable success He was aware that a foundation must first be secured and forthis he was prepared for the lean costly first years that must be endured despite extravagant outlays for promising stock Naturally there were the failures interspersed with the successes successesBut But with Wrights farsighted long range plan bolstered by an inexhaustable bank account eventual success was almost assured Whereas William Wright had made Calumet wellknown his son went on to make it famous famousWhile While it is true that Calumet f irst reached a position among the top ten leaders in 1940 concurrently with the beginning of Bull Leas career as a sire and Plain Ben Jones association with the stable as its trainer the policy of rigid selection of broodmares by Wright should never be overlooked in any analysis of the farms success Probably over 300 broodmares have been subjected to Calumets rigorous re ¬ quirements in the past 24 years They are ruthlessly culled This is the shortcut to founding a successful stud and while occa ¬ sionally a god one will get away the three strikes and youre out routine is notable for its successes rather than ils exceptions exceptionsGeorge George D Widener once said Usually it requires about 20 years to establish a suc ¬ cessful stud Calumet reached there with almost fantastic rapidity Its first home ¬ breds reached the races in 1935 In 1936 the farm stood 46th on the breeders list 26th in 1937 21st in 1938 19th in 1939 and ninth in 1940 before attaining the top in 1941 just six short years after Calumetbreds made their first track appearances appearancesWrights Wrights insistence on nothing but the best was as obvious in his selection of men to help him run his vast and expanding racing and breeding empire as it was in his selection of broodmares Brooking no weak links in his operation Wright brought to ¬ gether the most able corps of assistants possible Benjamin A and his son H A Jimmy Jones as trainers Ben eventually became general manager of the racing string J Paul Ebelhardt manager of the farm about three miles outside of Lexing ¬ ton and Mrs Margaret Glass head of the office detail detailDevotes Devotes All Time to Thoroughbreds ThoroughbredsWright Wright became so avidly interested in his thoroughbred operation that he resigned all the executive positions and directorships he held in the business worldand built a new home at Calumet to be close to the empire he was building There wielding and molding and supervising he wrought a team of experts that could hardly be du ¬ plicated in racing At the time of his death on Dec 28 1950 the varsity he had formed was so capable and so respected and so Counted on the other members of the team that it has continued to function almost flawlessly in these intervening years without personality clashes or conflicting purposes Coach Wright in both his choice of men and horses continues to cast a lengthening shadow into racing and breeding s future a shadow in which the Stardust sparkles ever brighter brighterThe The Calumet that Wright built soared to its first great eminence on the first Satur ¬ day of May in 1941 when Whirlaway de ¬ molished his field in the Kentucky Derby Here was the first of a long parade of champions Whacky Whirly was Horse of the Year in both 1941 and 42 Twilight Tear became the first filly to attain that distinction in 1944 the golden gelding Armed reached that pinnacle in 1947 and in 1948 the incomparable Citation gave Wright still another horse of the year champion as well as his second Triple Crown winner the marvelous son of Bull BullContinued Continued on Page 43 D Calumet s Dolrrlinatidn tJnparallelect Appears Destined to Break Owners Breeders Records Story of Success Is Saga Of Warren Wright Who Was Satisfied Only With the Best BestContinued Continued from Page 3 D DLea Lea emulating the attainment of Whirla way in 1941 1941There There were also such stalwarts as Sun Again Some Chance and Wishbone there was Pensive and a second Derby win in 1944 there was Bull Lea as the leading sire in 1947 the same year the sensational filly Bewitch came out as a two year old with Citation there was the speed phenom Coaltown joining Citation in 1948 and in 1949 another Derby triumph with Ponder And in the same stream racing from stakes score to stakes score in a powerful current were such names as MarKell Miss Keene land Nellie L Ocean Wave Son of Peace Pot O Luck Good Blood Twosy High Shine Fervent Faultless Pep Well Whirl Some Free America In The Pink Wistful Two Lea Duchess Peg ReArmed and a passel of lesser lights lightsThose Those aware of two of Calumets biggest 3yearold guns this season Barbizon the 1956 juvenile champion and Gen Duke will notice that Barbizon is a son of Good Blood and Gen Duke a son of Wistful both outstanding race mares and Wistful herself a divisional champion among the 3year old fillies of 1949 with Two Lea LeaFine Fine Memorial to Founder FounderIt It is to the everlasting credit of the former Mrs Warren Lucille Wright now happily remarried as Mrs Gene Markey that she did not sell the Calumet stable following her husbands death The mag ¬ nificence of what he had builtwas too fine a thing to have destroyed and the annual success of the stable is a superb memorial to the man who made it possible possibleBut But just as it is a beautiful memorial to Wright so also is it a living testimonal to Mrs Markey an attractive lovely lady with a vibrant contagious personality A devoted and happy wife as Mrs Wright she spent and shared the enthusiasm of her husband in shaping the destiny of Calumet The stable had been too great a part of their lives to see it broken up When Ben and Jimmy Jones said they wanted to stay with herMrs Markey said Im going to keep the stable together I feel that Warren would want it that way waySince Since then the stable despite a few years of sagging fortune has continued to op ¬ erate on the efficient Calumet scale New stars and new champions have continued the parade the Hill Gails the Mark Ye Wells the Dukes Leas the Miz Clemen ¬ tines the A Gleams the Princess Turias the Fabiuses the Bardstowns the Barbi zons the Cen Dukes the Amorets et al And soon the 1957 twoyearolds who have already lighted the eyes of Ben and Jimmy Jones will make their debuts and who would bet there isnt a champion or two or three among them themDown Down on the farm where there are about 44 regular employees Paul Ebelhardt con ¬ tinues to give Calumet the soundest of management his care of broodmares year i lings weanlings stallions and his ideas on feeding and pasturage being highly ac ¬ claimed while Mrs Glass office is as effi ¬ cient if not more so as any in the Blue Grass GrassInspired Inspired by doing things the Wright way Calumet seems destined to dp all right for years to come comeTo To say they are The Yankees of Rac ¬ ing is a dismissive sobriquet The truth is The Yankees are the Calumets of Base ¬ ball Thanks to the straightforward inflexible uncompromising will land en ¬ deavor of the late Warren Wright for the creation of such an empire and to his widow for its triumphant and history making perpetuation
