To be remembered a hundred years later is to hit a note that echoes through the years in between. In this decade of the 20th Century, an era that saw historic horses whose deeds made ever-resonant impressions, three names earned a place in the sport’s long memory with feats of stamina and speed that live on in the Hall of Fame and more.

During the years when a world war dominated the headlines, Whisk Broom II, Old Rosebud, and Omar Khayyam reminded us of the connection between England and America, where racing was resolute in its survival despite the challenges of war and politics. Heedless of those, these three showed once again the golden triumphs one must demonstrate to earn a place in the history of horse racing.

Whisk Broom II (1907-1928)

Whisk Broom II raced only three times in the United States, but those three were unforgettable shows of ability, enough to merit his inclusion in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

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The colt came from the first crop of Broomstick, standing at Senorita Stud in Kentucky after his own Hall of Fame career. Out of 1904 Kentucky Oaks winner Audience, Whisk Broom II was part of the late Samuel Brown’s last Senorita yearling consignment at the Fasig-Tipton yearling sale in New York, selling to trainer Andrew Joyner for $2,500. Joyner, who purchased the colt for Harry Payne Whitney, liked the colt so much that he recommended the breeder also buy Broomstick from the Senorita dispersal sale.

Whitney had intended to race this promising colt here in the United States, but the political climate of those early years of the 20^th Century changed that. New York passed the Hart-Agnew laws which essentially ended gambling in the state; in response, the state’s racetracks shut down for more than two years. In anticipation of this, Whitney sent Whisk Broom II to England and the stable of trainer Joyner, who had relocated as well.

At 2, Whisk Broom II broke his maiden in his second start and then finished 1909 as one of the top three juveniles of the year. The following year, he was third in the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket and won the Trial Stakes at Royal Ascot. He spent two more seasons in England, winning five more times, before Whitney brought him back to the United States in 1913.

With an eye toward trying the Metropolitan Handicap, trainer James Rowe prepared Whisk Broom II for racing on American soil at Whitney’s Brookmeade Farm in Kentucky. Racing returned to New York on May 30, 1913, with a six-race card at Belmont Park. The feature that day was the one-mile Metropolitan Handicap, where a skittish Whisk Broom II met the barrier for the first time on a dirt track of his native country. He won with ease, beating a field that included Meridian, the 1911 Kentucky Derby, winner by a length and a half. He followed that with a victory in the Brooklyn Handicap, run at Belmont Park rather than a closed Gravesend, where the son of Broomstick set a track record for 1¼ miles.

With two wins in two starts in his first season in the United States, Whitney started his great horse in the Suburban Handicap, also a 1 ¼-mile race. Whisk Broom II faced a field that again featured Meridian and four others; he carried high weight of 139 pounds, giving at least 20 pounds to every other horse in the Suburban. None of it mattered, though. Whisk Broom II raced in second behind his stablemate Nightstick until the six-furlong mark. Then, he made his move for the lead and held on to his advantage despite a late charge from Lahore. Victorious, jockey Joe Notter and Whisk Broom II returned to the winner’s circle to a cacophony of shouts.

Not only had the son of Broomstick won what would come to be known as the Handicap Triple Crown, but he had also been clocked at 2:00 for the ten furlongs. Other clockers disputed the time, saying that official clocker W.B. Barretto had misjudged the finish line. Yet the time stood, bettering the world record by more than three seconds and standing unbroken for 35 years.

Whisk Broom II was set to contest the Excelsior Handicap at 142 pounds, but soreness after a workout prevented him from trying the race. Whitney retired his son of Broomstick and sent him to stand stud alongside his sire at Brookmeade. Over his decade and a half stallion career, Whisk Broom II sired Upset, the only horse to ever finish ahead of Man o’ War; John P. Grier, the only horse to ever force Man o’ War to extend himself; and Whiskery, 1927 Kentucky Derby winner.

Old Rosebud (1911-1922)

Old Rosebud at Saratoga (Keeneland Library/Cook Collection)

John E. Madden knew a thing or two about good horses. He was the boxer turned harness racer turned owner, breeder, trainer, and salesman. Madden was the one who had famously sold his Hamburg to copper magnate Marcus Daly for $40,001, an unheard-of price for a 2-year-old in 1897. He bred his mare Ivory Bells to the stallion Uncle, who had been a contemporary of the legendary Colin, and produced a small and wiry colt, one that Madden decided to sell when he could. Included in a package with several fillies he sold to Hamilton C. Applegate was the Uncle colt.

He was gelded not too long after, in the hopes that the equipment change would help him grow, and named Old Rosebud after the bourbon that Applegate’s distillery produced. Though he did not grow much more – his sire, Uncle, had only been 15.3 hands – Old Rosebud showed himself to be quite the racehorse from his first start. He debuted in February 1913 at Juarez, winning the 3½-furlong Yucatan Stakes. He followed that with 11 more wins in 13 starts at age 2, racing primarily in Kentucky though he did win the United States Hotel Stakes at Saratoga.

His 3-year-old season was more of the same. He won his first start of 1914, an allowance race at the Kentucky Association racetrack in Lexington by six lengths and then went on to win the Kentucky Derby by eight lengths. Old Rosebud’s time of 2:03⅖ a new record for the race.

Old Rosebud followed that up with a turn in the one-mile Withers Stakes at Belmont Park. He should have had no trouble with the race, with only four others in the field. Even with fellow future Hall of Famer Roamer in the mix, Old Rosebud still went to the post as the favorite.

But, prior to 1921, races at Belmont were run clockwise rather than counterclockwise. When Old Rosebud bowed a tendon in the Withers, that change of direction was thought to have contributed to the injury as the star gelding had been asked to run and take the turns in a different way. Initial reports shared that Old Rosebud had ruptured the sheath of a tendon rather than bowing it, but the trouble would not go away. A year later, trainer Frank Weir put him back in training, but the gelding struck himself in a workout and needed even more time off. Weir sent him to recuperate on a farm in Texas, not expecting that Old Rosebud would ever race again.

The following year, Weir visited his charge and found him healed and ready to return to the track. In 1917, nearly three years after his last start, Old Rosebud won 15 of his 21 starts, including the Clark Handicap. The 1914 Kentucky Derby winner was back and then he aggravated that tendon, which knocked him out of competition for another 18 months. During that second convalescence, Weir bought Applegate out and took ownership of Old Rosebud. The gelding returned in 1919, racing 30 times and finishing in the money in 21 of those, but he was never the same.

By 1922, the 11-year-old gelding was still plodding along on the racetrack, though he was often seen outside of the bright days of his best years. With no options beyond the racetrack in these decades before aftercare, Weir kept Old Rosebud competing, racing 12 more times from 1920 to 1922 with just two wins. In late May 1922, the trainer sent his Kentucky Derby champion out for a workout at Jamaica Race Track. Old Rosebud stepped in a hole as he exercised, reaggravating those old injuries. This time, though, there was no saving the gelding.

His sad ending stood in stark contrast to the horse that he was, a Hall of Famer who had been spectacular when he was healthy and resolute in his recoveries from injuries. In addition to his spot in the Hall of Fame, Old Rosebud went down as the first of five Kentucky Derby winners bred by John E. Madden, a list that includes America’s first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton.

Omar Khayyam (1914-1938)

Omar Khayyam in 1926 (Keeneland Library/Sutcliffe Collection)

Three years after Old Rosebud’s record-breaking turn in the Derby, America’s most famous race had another milestone: its first victor bred outside of the United States. To date, Omar Khayyam counts as one of only four horses that were born in either England or Canada to win the run for the roses.

Marco did not compete in the English classics, but he was considered the best 3-year-old in England in 1895. Later, as a sire, he produced Two Thousand Guineas winner Neil Gow and a Grand National winner in Sprig. His pairing with Lisma, a daughter of St. Leger and Derby winner Persimmon, produced a chestnut colt who was later sold to the American partnership of Cornelius K.G. Billings and Frederick Johnson. The two brought this son of Marco to the United States and sent him to trainer Charles T. Patterson.

From the word go, Omar Khayyam impressed his trainer: “When I tried him, he frightened me — he was so fast,” Patterson said later. “I tried him a second time to see if it was right. It was.” At 2, he won only once, but had finished second in the prestigious Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. A week before the Derby, he tried the Derby Trial at the Kentucky Association track in Lexington, finishing fourth behind Ticket. On Derby day, Omar Khayyam met the barrier at 12.80-1, with Ticket going off as the favorite.

Under jockey Charles Borel and sporting blinkers for the first time, Omar Khayyam broke from post eight and settled back in 10th place early in the race. Entering the final turn, Borel began weaving the English-bred colt through the field, sixth at the six-furlong mark and second in early stretch. Running toward the inside of Ticket, who had grabbed the lead in the stretch, Omar Khayyam wore the favorite down, pulling ahead to win by two lengths. He paid $27.60 to his supporters, a healthy payout for this historic victor.

Soon after the Derby, Omar Khayyam was entered in a paddock sale at Belmont Park as part of the dissolution of Billings’s and Johnson’s partnership. Canadian owner Wilfred Viau purchased the colt for $26,600, with the intent of eventually retiring the colt to head his breeding operation. In his Viau’s colors, Omar Khayyam won the Brooklyn Derby, which was renamed the Dwyer Stakes the following year; the Kenner and the Travers Stakes at Saratoga; and then stretched out to wins in the Lawrence Realization and the Saratoga Cup. He also met Belmont Stakes winner Hourless in a match race at Laurel later that year, a controversial contest where notorious gambler Arnold Rothstein netted a large payday, which implied he may have influenced the outcome in some way.

At 4 and 5, burdened by the larger weight imposts his success had earned him, Omar Khayyam was not as successful, winning just three races over those two seasons. The memory of his winning 3-year-old season promised potential as a stallion, so Arthur B. Hancock of Claiborne Farm brought the English-bred to stand there. He produced 23 stakes winners from 237 foals, including Aga Khan, who won the Lawrence Realization for Belair Stud, one of William Woodward’s earliest stakes winners.

The second decade of the 20^th Century was one of records and firsts: the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, the first horse to win the Triple Crown, the first foreign-bred Derby winner, and, in the case of two of the horses featured, new records at a classic distance. Despite the interruptions brought on by the era’s political climate, the 1910s gave the sport familiar names that have become synonymous with greatness that a Thoroughbred can achieve. Whisk Broom II, Old Rosebud, and Omar Khayyam all gave performances that remain among the sport’s most memorable even a century later.