Carry Back

Carry Back, (foaled 1958), American racehorse (Thoroughbred) that in 1961 won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but lost the Belmont Stakes, ending his bid for the coveted Triple Crown of American horse racing.

Carry Back was an unattractive, scrawny-looking colt. His owner thought so little of him that he raced Carry Back early and often to get the most out of him before he faded. By the end of the colt’s first year on the track, he had been in 21 races, and in his second year of racing, he won reputable events such as the Florida Derby, the Flamingo Stakes, and the Everglades Stakes.

Two days of torrential rain had turned Churchill Downs into a quagmire before the 1961 Kentucky Derby. That fact, combined with Carry Back’s reputation as a “mudder” (a horse that runs well in muddy conditions), made him the 5–2 favourite in a field of 15. His jockey, John Sellers, found himself and the colt in a scramble of horses early on and sent Carry Back to the outside, where he had room to put his speed to work. The colt ran down the opposition with a spectacular burst in the homestretch to score a three-quarters-of-a-length victory.

The Preakness Stakes had an even more exciting ending. Carry Back went up against eight Thoroughbreds as the 7–4 favourite and left the gate 14¹/₂ lengths off the pace but spectacularly caught the pack, winning by three-quarters of a length over Globemaster.

Oddsmakers responded by establishing him as the favourite at the Belmont Stakes in a field of nine horses, as they eagerly anticipated another of his thrilling stretch drives and the anointing of a new Triple Crown champion. Going into the stretch turn, Carry Back moved up to sixth place and was on the verge of overwhelming the front-runners in his usual way. However, when Sellers called on him to start his spurt, an ankle injury Carry Back had sustained early in the race caused him to “spit out the bit” (a racing expression for a horse not inclined to run), and he finished seventh. The winner was Sherluck, a 65–1 outsider. Carry Back was retired to stud in 1963 and died in 1983. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1975.