Alsab

Alsab
Alsab winning over Whirlaway in 1942
SireGood Goods
GrandsireNeddie
DamWinds Chant
DamsireWildair
SexStallion
Foaled1939
CountryUnited States
ColourBay
BreederTom Piatt
OwnerAlbert Sabath
TrainerSarge Swenke
Record51: 25-11-5
Earnings$350,015
Major wins
Eastern Shore Handicap (1941)
Walden Stakes (1941)
Washington Park Futurity (1941)
Champagne Stakes (1941)
Mayflower Stakes (1941)
American Derby (1942)
Lawrence Realization Stakes (1942)
New York Handicap (1942)
Withers Stakes (1942)
U.S. Triple Crown series:
Preakness Stakes (1942)
Awards
U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (1941)
U.S. Champion Three-Year-Old Colt (1942)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1976)
#65 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
Last updated on April 28, 2007

Alsab (1939–1963) was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.[1]

Background

[edit]

Alsab was bred in Kentucky by Thomas Piatt. His sire was Good Goods, and his dam was Winds Chant. Buyers were not interested in him, and Alsab was sold in 1940 for only $700 to Albert Sabath. He was named after his new owner. [2]

Racing career

[edit]

As a two-year-old, Alsab won the Washington Park Futurity, Champagne Stakes, and Mayflower Stakes.

In his three-year-old season, he was ridden by Basil James. He finished second to Shut Out in the Kentucky Derby and then won the Preakness Stakes.[3] In the third leg of the Triple Crown, he finished second to Shut Out in the Belmont Stakes, thus achieving the status of first-ever racehorse to win one U.S. Triple Crown race and finish second in the other two, followed in later years by Sword Dancer in 1959, Arts and Letters in 1969, Bet Twice in 1987, Easy Goer in 1989, and Journalism in 2025. For 63 years, Alsab held distinction as the only racehorse ever to win the Preakness Stakes and finish second in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, until Journalism joined him in 2025 by winning the Preakness and finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes (run at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga that year instead of 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park, due to ongoing track renovations). As of 2025, Alsab remains the only racehorse ever to win the Preakness Stakes and finish second in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Belmont Stakes run at the traditional 1 1/2-mile distance.

On September 19, 1942, Alsab defeated the 1941 U.S. Triple Crown Champion Whirlaway in a match race at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.[4]

Assessment and awards

[edit]

Alsab was voted the 1941 U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. He also won 1942 U.S. Champion Three-Year-Old Colt honors.

In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Alsab was voted #65. In 1976, he was inducted in the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Pedigree

[edit]
Pedigree of Alsab
Sire
Good Goods

bay 1931

Neddie

black 1926

Colin Commando
Pastorella
Black Flag Light Brigade
Misplay
Brocastelle

bay 1915

Radium Bend Or
Taia
Pietra Pietermaritzburg
Briar-Root
Dam
Winds Chant

brown 1931

Wildair

bay 1917

Broomstick Ben Brush
Elf
Verdure Peter Pan
Pastorella
Eulogy

bay 1913

Fair Play Hastings
Fairy Gold
St. Eudora St. Simon
Dorothea

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Alsab at the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame
  2. ^ Tower, Whitney (20 August 1956). "Sires, Sales, and the Challenge". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  3. ^ The Portsmouth Times - 10 May 1942
  4. ^ Lawrence Journal-World - September 21, 1942