Look Back: Tomy Lee Cruises to Del Mar Futurity Win

In conjunction with Tom Hall's Throwback Thursday features in BloodHorse Daily, BloodHorse.com each Thursday will present corresponding race stories from the pages of the magazine. This week is a recap of the 1958 Del Mar Futurity won by *Tomy Lee. The story, headlined "Honey I've Got a Runner," and written by Robert Hebert, appeared in the Sept. 13, 1958 issue of The Blood-Horse.



"Honey, I've Got a Runner"

Del Mar. The first day that trainer Frank Childs breezed *Tomy Lee, he came home as excited as a kid and told his charming, blue-eyed wife Madeline: "Honey, I've got a runner!"

Frank has never had occasion to change his mind. His runner has now won six in a row, earning $138,880. His most recent victory in the 11th running of the Del Mar Futurity was the finest race he had ever run.

It was the most remarkable too, since only 36 days before, on Aug. 1, Tomy Lee's fore legs were "fired" to correct splint trouble. He wore bandages for the first time in the Futurity because there was still a raw spot on his right leg that had not yet healed.

After the race, Childs and owner Fred Turner Jr. of Midlands, Texas, outlined plans for Tomy Lee.

On Sept. 20 the leggy bay colt will leave by air for Belmont Park, where he will be made a supplementary nominee for the Champagne Stakes, to be run Oct. 11. Then will come his main objective, the $100,000-added Garden State Stakes on Oct. 25.

Childs is unwilling to speculate on how well Tomy Lee will do over a distance of ground.

"There's no question about his speed," Frank said, "and I'm sure he's the best horse I've ever trained. Whether he'll go a route is something we'll just have to see."

The Garden State is at a mile and a sixteenth, and in deciding to make the trip East, Childs and Turner indicate they feel strongly that Tomy Lee will carry his speed as far as any 2-year-old is ever asked to travel.

The Garden State also will lure Restless Wind and First Landing, which have been annihilating their rivals in the East and Midwest, so the race unquestionably will decide the 2-year-old championship of the nation.

In sharp contrast to some of his earlier races this year, Tomy Lee came out of the gate perfectly in the Del Mar Futurity. Willie Shoemaker, riding at Del Mar for the first time this season, rated him along in third place, about a length and a half behind the early pace of *Ole Fols and Djebah. Going into the turn, Willie relaxed his hold a little and the bay son of Tudor Minstrel—Auld Alliance began moving up on the outside.

Midway around the far turn, which is a quarter mile from the wire at Del Mar, Tomy Lee was in command by three parts of a length and the margin kept growing rapidly. It was two at the top of the stretch, and, although Shoemaker did not force Tomy Lee to do his best in the final furlong, he was breezing along three lengths in front as he reached the wire in 1:09 1/5 for six furlongs.

"The race shaped up perfectly for us," Shoemaker said after the victory. "Tomy Lee was perfect in the gate."

It was the first time he did not have an assistant starter in the stall with him.

"When I asked him to go to the front, he just got in gear and took the lead handily," Shoemaker said. "I shook him up once at the eighth pole. I'd say it was as good as any of his other races."

Addendum: Tomy Lee would reach the wire second to First Landing in the one-mile Champagne but was disqualified to third behind Intentionally after interfering with that one. He then finished second to First Landing in the 1 1/16-mile Garden State, where Sword Dancer finished third. At 3, Tomy Lee scored a nose victory over Sword Dancer in the Kentucky Derby, where a claim of foul against Tomy Lee and Shoemaker was not allowed. He did not race in the Preakness or Belmont stakes.