Carry Back: The People’s Choice

Carry Back became only the second Florida-bred to win the Kentucky Derby in 1961. (Photo by HorsePhotos)
In the early 1960s, he was a TV idol, the most popular Thoroughbred since the time of the great Native Dancer.
Carry Back was a small, plain brown horse with a long, flowing tail. His typical running style was to drop well off the pace early, then unleash a furious and heart-stopping burst of acceleration through the stretch that frequently produced impossible rallies to the finish line that drove fans wild.
During his 1961 championship season, the colt ran 16 times at eight tracks in front of crowds totaling 533,325.
Late Kentucky Derby historian Jim Bolus wrote that Carry Back was a colt “whom fans flocked to the racetrack to see. People’s moods, not just their money, were affected by the outcome of races involving Carry Back. His appeal stretched beyond the racetrack itself, and it seemed even the man on the street had heard of his racing exploits.”
Carry Back was a son of the sprinter Saggy out of the Star Blen mare Joppy, who was banned from racing because of a nasty temper and her refusal to leave the starting gate.  The Maryland-based Saggy had a few stellar connections in his pedigree, including Equipoise, the two-time Horse of the Year in 1932 and 1933 and later a leading sire. Saggy also whipped the regal Triple Crown champion Citation in the 1948 Chesapeake Trial.
Breeder-owner Jack Price had acquired Joppy in lieu of a $150 board bill owed by a client.  Price negotiated a deal to have Saggy cover all three of his Florida-bound mares for a discounted stud fee of $400 each. One of those matings was Carry Back, foaled at Ocala Stud Farm in 1958.
Jack and Kay Price were Ohioans from Cleveland, far from racing’s East Coast elite horsemen and owners. They owned Dorchester Farm Stable, a small operation from which they bred and raced a few horses at local Ohio tracks at Randall Park and Thistledown.
Jack Price was a savvy businessman, crafty horseman and outspoken showman. A self-made entrepreneur, he ran a successful tool manufacturing firm in Cleveland during the war years of the 1940s. By 1955, Price had sold his stake in the family business to his brothers and put the money into Thoroughbreds. Within five years of his “retirement,” he had embarked on a new career as a racehorse trainer. Price enjoyed the life, but wasn’t overly fond of his trainees and had little interest indulging in horse racing’s traditions.
Then Carry Back came along. Named for the accounting loss carry-backs Price could take on his taxes from any winnings the colt might earn, Carry Back was hyperactive. Biting was his favorite pastime. His grooms shied away from giving him a bath since they often wound up taking one with him.
At age 2, Carry Back raced seven times in Florida between January and April of 1960. He caught the attention of the railbirds one afternoon in a five-furlong win at Gulfstream Park when he uncorked a record time of :57 3/5.
Racing in the blue and white silks of Kay Price and under Price's tutelage, Carry Back raced 21 times as a 2-year-old. He won three stakes, including the richest race in the world, and finished second or third in five other added-money events, but was outvoted for champion that year by Hail to Reason. He earned $286,299.
Carry Back didn't get much of a winter break in South Florida. Price cranked up his 3-year old colt and he ripped off victories in the Flamingo and Everglades Stakes and the Florida Derby. He was third in the Fountain of Youth and ran second in the Wood Memorial STakes at Aqueduct in April.
As the 1961 calendar flipped to May, Carry Back headed to Churchill Downs in an attempt to follow in Needles' footsteps to become the second Florida-bred Kentucky Derby winner. Despite drawing post 14, Carry Back went to post in the 87th running of the Derby as the 5-2 favorite. A special train ferried 175 people from Marion County, Fla. to Louisville to see the Sunshine State's second starter in the run for the roses.
When the gates snapped open, Carry Back dropped back to next-to-last in 11th place. Race announcer Bryan Field reported: “Carry Back is too far back to make it ... he can't unless he hurries.”
But Fields quickly learned what rival jockey Braulio Baeza would later state: “You never think you have a race won as long as Carry Back is behind you.”
Jockey John Sellers and Carry Back bided their time and waited until well after the far turn to make their move. Trailing by nearly 15 lengths heading into the stretch, Carry Back relentlessly closed ground on Baeza's mount, Crozier. As they came down to the sixteenth pole, it was still Crozier. But Carry Back had never been known to quit.
Charging tenaciously on the outside, Carry Back wore down Crozier. Barely 40 yards from the finish their noses were together. Then, in the last few strides, it was Carry Back drawing triumphantly off to win by three-quarters of a length. The crowd was in a frenzy. It was one of the greatest “come-from-behind” victories in horse racing history.
The 1961 television coverage of the Kentucky Derby propelled the colt from humble beginnings to a horse with star power. With his thrilling, late-running style Carry Back captivated millions of viewers and the colt soon was crowned “the people’s horse,” gaining as much popularity as an equine celebrity as any contemporary athletic hero.
When it was all over, the day's most appropriate remark came from Chuck Parke, Crozier's trainer: “I guess that little brown horse got my number, that's all.” 
The fact was that the little brown horse seemed to have everybody's number and the team of Jack and Kay Price, Sellers and Carry Back were now the most colorful group in racing. Carry Back pushed his earnings to $612,868.
Sellers, 23, was touted as a superb young rider. But it must have been difficult for him to sit back on a Derby favorite, knowing that three of the best mile horses in America were 15 lengths ahead of him and that any one of them might steal away and never give his late runner a chance.
“It wasn't easy,” Sellers said later with a half-smile, “but that's the way the horse runs. That's the way I know I can get the best performance out of him. I know that somewhere between three-eighths and a half-mile after the start, Carry Back will be ready to go. Not before. And when he's ready, it's just up to me to decide when to go with him.”
Next up was the Preakness. Sellers kept Carry Back a bit closer to the pace to accommodate the tighter turns and shorter stretch at Pimlico. Carry Back stopped the hearts of the crowd one more time with his seemingly impossible come-from-behind win. The Prices took home a handsome replica of the historic Woodlawn Vase trophy, and with the victory Carry Back moved into 13th position on the all-time earnings list.
CARRY BACK WINS THE 1961 PREAKNESS STAKES

Florida turf writer Joe Kolb wrote: “Carry Back isn't exceptionally fast, but somehow he manages to get the job done with a whirlwind finish. ... Carry Back is a router, a colt that lags behind while sprinters battle for the lead, but in the final quarter-mile, he appears to be assisted by a jet.”
Carry Back arrived at the Belmont Stakes as the 2-5 favorite in a field of nine. The hopes of his home state rode on the little brown colt, Florida's first shot at the coveted Triple Crown. Going in to the stretch turn, he moved up to sixth place and was getting ready to overtake the front-runners. But it was not to be. Carry Back rapped a front ankle, a misstep that contributed to his fading to a disappointing seventh-place finish, nearly 15 lengths behind winner Sherluck.
After a two-month break Carry Back returned that fall and he scored victories in the Jerome and Trenton Handicaps. He took seventh on the all-time earning list, trailing giants of the turf — Round Table, Nashua, Citation, Swoon's Son and Stymie — with earnings of $851,648. He was the richest horse still racing when named the 3-year-old champion of 1961.
At age 4, Carry Back defeated the great champion Kelso in a track record time in the Metropolitan Handicap. Less than two weeks later, he wheeled back in the Monmouth Handicap and Carry Back again ran away from Kelso and Beau Purple to score a 3-length victory in track-record time. Then Carry Back won the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga.
Still, Price had grander aspirations for his powerhouse colt. In the fall of 1962, he took Carry Back to Paris in an attempt to become the first Derby winner to capture the fabled Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Carry Back was badly ridden by Australian jockey Scobie Breasley in the 1 1/2-mile classic and was beaten by 5 3/4 lengths.
At age 4, he scored five wins, five seconds and three thirds in 19 starts. After three years of racing, Carry Back had gone to post 56 times, earning more than $1.1-million.
Price sent his horse to stud in Ocala in early 1963, but soon after reversed his decision. Carry Back started six times at age 5 and won twice, including the Trenton Handicap.
When he finally retired, only three other horses had higher career purse earnings. Carry Back entered stud for good in 1964, standing first in Kentucky, then coming home to Dorchester Farm in Ocala. He sired 12 stakes winners and the dams of 30 stakes winners. He was pensioned to the Ocala Jockey Club.
Carry Back died on March 24, 1983, only two weeks before a special “Needles and Carry Back” celebration at the Florida Thoroughbred Association annual dinner. The ceremony featured clips of Carry Back's brilliant racing performances.
Said an emotional Price: “He was our son, a member of our family. He introduced us to the top people of racing, including the top sports writers of the era. ... He was a terrific competitor and taught us the meaning of gameness. He might have been a great horse if I had managed his racing and stud career a little better.”
Carry Back was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1975. On May 5, 1985 Carry Back's ashes were buried at the new Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville. Etched on Carry Back’s gravestone are the words, “The People’s Choice,” a popular phrase used by sportswriters to describe the rag-to-riches star.